Uniaxial compression CT and acoustic emission test on the coal crack propagation destruction process

Acoustic emission test and CT scanning are important techniques in the study of coal crack propagation. A uniaxial compression test was performed on coal samples by integrating CT and acoustic emission. The test comparison analyzes the acoustic emission load and CT images for an effective observation on the entire process, from crack propagation to the samples’ destruction. The box dimension of the coal samples’ acoustic emission series and the CT images were obtained through calculations by using the authors’ own program. The results show that the fractal dimension of both the acoustic emission energy and CT image increase rapidly, indicating coal and rock mass has entered a dangerous condition. Hence, measures should be taken to unload the pressure of the coal and rock mass. The test results provide intuitive observation data for the coal meso-damage model. The test contributes to in-depth studies of coal or rock crack propagation mechanisms and provides a theoretical basis for rock burst mechanism.