Complex fracture on thin-wall textile reinforced cement (TRC) shells monitored by acoustic emission

Novelly-designed thin-wall TRC shells are tested simulating service loads. The study tracks the main damage modes (cracking/interfacial delamination) using the Acoustic emission (AE) wave parameter trends and based on it, a novel multi-sensing and multi-input (experiments/simulations) methodology is built. It is shown that stronger shell curvature influences the stress field and the damage mode towards shear, something monitored by early AE even before visible cracks occur, while boundary conditions and the textiles volume content also have an effect on the TRC shell damage progress. The AE inspection efficacy is critically assessed considering the detrimental wave attenuation effect.

Automated summary

The study tested novel thin-wall TRC shells under service loads and tracked damage modes using Acoustic emission (AE) wave parameters. It was found that stronger shell curvature leads to shear damage mode, monitored by early AE signals, while boundary conditions and textiles volume content also affect damage progress. The efficacy of AE inspection was critically assessed considering wave attenuation.