Shear test on damage evolution of brick masonry based on acoustic emission technique.

• Qualitative assessment using variation of the AE parameters. • Quantitative assessment of damage evolution with AE rate-process analysis. • Proposing the polynomial model between AE events and stress level. Shear is the dominant mode of masonry structural failure. A shear test of brick masonry specimen based on acoustic emission (AE) monitoring was performed in this study to assess the damage state of masonry structure reliably. AE parameters and rate-process analysis were used to analyze the damage evolution of brick masonry in shear failure from qualitative and quantitative perspectives. Results showed that variation characteristics of different AE parameters of multiple channels are basically the same throughout the test process. The specimen enters the rapid failure stage when the relative stress reaches 80%. The fourth-order polynomial fitting model between the number of AE events and their corresponding was proposed in this study for quantitative assessment. Analysis of the AE rate-process based on the fourth-order polynomial demonstrated that AE probability density f (V) and damage index D can quantitatively reflect the damage degree of brick masonry in real time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]