Experience of acoustic emissions of masonry

Acoustic emission (AE) has been used since long on metal elements and structures. More recently applications have widened to other construction materials such as concrete, fibre reinforcement and timber. Applications on masonry are few. In view of experimenting AE monitoring of historical structures on-site, an experience has been conducted on a large masonry element in the lab, during mechanical testing up to development of a full crack pattern. In addition to traditional measurements tools (LVDTs for displacement measurement) numerous acoustic emission sensors have been coupled to the masonry wall specimen. The experiment served as calibration of future work on-site and brought to investigate the acoustic emission phenomena in relation to the development of cracks and to the level of damage. Triangulations for identification of crack starting point and path following were also carried out.