High Frequency Acoustic Emissions Observed during Model Pile Penetration in Sand and Implications for Particle Breakage Behavior
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 18, Issue 11
Abstract
Particle breakage has a significant impact on the mechanical properties of soils and has drawn continuous concerns among researchers. This study aims to deepen the current understanding on the particle breakage phenomenon through insights of high frequency acoustic emission (AE) signals. Two series of physical model pile tests were performed with AE instrumentation, using two different materials: silica sand and coral sand. The AE signals were digitalized continuously throughout the tests with a sampling interval of 0.5 μs (2 Mps), which enabled the signals with a maximum frequency of 1 MHz to be captured, and the AE signals with a frequency higher than 100 kHz were interpreted to be associated with particle breakage mechanism. Results show that the high frequency AE (i.e., particle breakage) occurred throughout the tests. An initial period of rapid rising and a following period of relatively stable high frequency AE signals were observed in all tests. Based on AE characteristics, the extent of particle breakage was found to be related to the material property, the pile penetration depth, and the ground density. In general, silica sand was found to be more emissive, although coral sand was more prone to break, and the dense ground was more emissive and more prone to break than the loose ground. In conclusion, the asymptotic evolving trend is suggested for simplified estimation of particle breakage during the pile penetration process.
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Acknowledgments
This study was supported by the Shanghai Sailing Program (Grant 18YF1424000), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (Grant 22120170118), and Shanghai Education Commission (Peak Discipline Construction; Grant 0200121005/052). The authors are grateful to Professor Junichi Koseki of the University of Tokyo for his valuable advice on this work.
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Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 18 • Issue 11 • November 2018
Copyright
© 2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 12, 2018
Accepted: May 18, 2018
Published online: Aug 23, 2018
Published in print: Nov 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Jan 23, 2019
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