Effect of Coarse Aggregate Gradation on the Acoustic Emission and Microseismic Behavior of Concrete Under Load

In this paper, uniaxial compression tests were carried out on nine concrete specimens with different coarse aggregate particle size ranges in single and continuous gradation at curing ages of 3, 7 and 28 d, respectively. The acoustic emission (AE) and microseismic (MS) signals of the whole loading process were monitored by combining AE and MS to investigate. The AE and MS signals characteristics of concrete with different coarse aggregate gradations during load damage at different curing ages were analyzedand the effect of the maximum coarse aggregate size on the damage evolution of concrete were investigated. Based on findings from experiments, as the maximum particle size of the coarse aggregate increases, the initial defects within the concrete specimens initially decrease and then increase. A larger size and the more heterogeneous of the coarse aggregate has an accelerating effect on the emergence and expansion of cracks throughout the load-induced damage process in concrete structures. In addition, when the curing age is brief, the expansion of internal cracks in concrete predominantly depends on the curing age, with the relationship to the maximum particle size of coarse aggregate being less evident.