Construction and Building Materials 224 (2019) 306–316

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Construction and Building Materials

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Failure mechanism of different types of shotcrete based on modified

Weibull distribution model
Qiangqiang Zheng a,b,⇑, Yunhai Cheng a,⇑, Qi Zong b, Ying Xu b, Fenghui Li a, Peiyuan Chen b
a
State Key Laboratory of Mining Response and Disaster Prevention and Control in Deep Coal Mine, Anhui University of Science and Technology, Huainan 232001, PR China
b
School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Anhui University of Science and Technology, Huainan 232001, PR China

h i g h l i g h t s g r a p h i c a l a b s t r a c t

Modified Weibull distribution model

can describe the whole failure
process.

The damage degree of shotcrete is
characterized by AE hit ratio.

The damage of shotcrete can be
divided into three stages.

The value of DHR in initial hit stage
cannot be neglected.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Many scholars have used the Weibull distribution model to analyze the damage of shotcrete, but it can-
Received 6 May 2019 not entirely describe the whole process of failure, especially after the peak stress. In this paper, based on
Received in revised form 5 July 2019 the Weibull distribution model modified by the writer with the aim of exploring different mechanical
Accepted 10 July 2019
properties of three types of shotcrete, the acoustic emission (AE) technique is used to carry out uniaxial
compression tests on different shotcrete, and the failure mechanism of different shotcrete is analyzed
according to the AE energy value and cumulative hit counts under loads. The experimental results are
Keywords:
consistent with the damage mechanism quantitatively described by the modified Weibull distribution
Shotcrete
Mechanical properties
model. This damage model with fewer parameters and simple form, which can quantitatively described
Failure mechanism the whole process of specimens, including post-peak stress, from the beginning of loading to the com-
Revised Weibull distribution model plete failure. The research results thus provide a basis for quantitatively describing the damage of shot-
Acoustic emission crete or rock, and provide a reference for the selection of shotcrete in different engineering environments.
Quantitatively analyzed Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction and mechanical properties have been significantly improved

Since its successful application in the United States in 1907,
shotcrete has been rapidly popularized in geotechnical engineering
such as tunnels, slopes, metros and tunnels [1]. During this period,
the shotcrete quality, working environment, production efficiency
⇑ Corresponding authors at: School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Anhui
University of Science and Technology, Huainan 232001, PR China (Q. Zheng).
E-mail addresses: qiangqz@163.com (Q. Zheng), chengyunhai2005@126.com (Y.
Cheng).
through continuous reform of technology and improvement of
the composition of shotcrete raw materials. That notwithstanding,
these studies only focused on the composition, proportion and
additives of shotcrete raw materials [2–5]. The theoretical studies
are based on the macro-mechanical properties such as compres-
sive strength [6], splitting tensile strength [7] and flexural strength
[8], and external environmental conditions, for instance freeze-
thaw cycle [9], dry-wet cycle [10] and high temperature environ-
ment [11,12]. Mastering the failure mechanism of different shot-
crete as well as quantitative analysis has certain guiding

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.07.071
0950-0618/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Q. Zheng et al. / Construction and Building Materials 224 (2019) 306–316 307

significance for improving the lining quality of shotcrete. Against 2. Construction of mechanical model
this backdrop, it is necessary to study the mechanical properties
and failure mechanism of different shotcrete. Weibull distribution model has been successfully applied in
The mechanical properties of shotcrete are related to the phys- other disciplines [29–32], which solves many practical engineering
ical and chemical properties of its internal components [13], and problems. The Weibull distribution model established by predeces-
also to the construction technology. The porosity of shotcrete is sors in civil engineering field is shown in Formula (1) and Formula
larger than that of ordinary concrete and its pore volume is larger (2). However, the Weibull distribution model should be revised to
[12,14]. Accordingly, its mechanical properties and failure mecha- explain the failure mechanism of different shotcrete reasonably.
nism are slightly different from ordinary concrete. When studying Combining with the AE, in order to fully characterize the damage
the failure mechanism of different shotcrete, temperature and time degree inside the specimen, the AE hit ratio (HR) is defined, as
should be strictly controlled [11]. The higher the temperature, the shown in Eq. (3). In order to satisfy the whole stage of stress and
more obvious the deterioration of pore structure is [12], and the strain curve by the revised Weibull distribution, the function value
lower the bond strength of shotcrete-rock interface is [15]. In order corresponding to the post-peak stress should be larger and mono-
to solve the problems of low strength and large cracks of shotcrete, tonically increase than that which comes before the peak stress.
various types of fiber shotcrete consequently emerge. Especially Definition functions f ðrt Þ and g ðet Þ are shown in Eqs. (4) and (5),
the shotcrete with polypropylene coarse fiber has a reasonable bal- respectively.
ance in economy, safety and applicability. Although the compres-
sive strength of fiber-reinforced shotcrete is lower than that of Nt
HR ¼ ð3Þ
fiber-reinforced concrete composed of similar materials [17], it is N0
higher than that of ordinary shotcrete, which can effectively solve ( rt
the dry shrinkage cracking of shotcrete and restrain the formation 2rb
ðet  e0 Þ
f ðrt Þ ¼ ð4Þ
of cracks [18–22]. 1  2rrt ðet > e0 Þ
b
Since Tang [23] and Xie [24] introduced Weibull distribution to
characterize the damage mechanics model of concrete (as shown et
in Eq. (1)), many scholars have established the damage model of g ðet Þ ¼ ð5Þ
eAE
concrete [25–27] or shotcrete [28] (as shown in Eq. (2)) based on
this model, but these models have some defects. For Eq. (2) the where Nt represents the cumulative number of AE events generated
damage is calculated from a certain point rather than the origin, within the specimen at 0–t time, and N 0 represents the cumulative
and the micro-damage caused by crack closure and expansion is hit count of AE events until the specimen is completely destroyed
neglected, which is not suitable for shotcrete with more larger (at the end of the test), rt represents the stress value of the speci-
micro-voids. Although Eq. (1) can solve this problem, it only con- men at t time, rb represents the peak stress of the specimen, et rep-
siders the damage before the peak stress as Eq. (2), for the damage resents the strain value of the specimen at t time, eAE represents the
after the peak stress, its value is the same as that before the peak strain value of the specimen at the last monitoring of AE hit counts.
stress and smaller than that under the peak stress, which contrasts First, the defined functions f ðrt Þ and g ðet Þ are introduced into
reality. Eq. (2), as shown in Eqs. (6) and (7), respectively.

k  8 

r < 1  exp  f ðrt Þf ðr0 Þ k r  r0
PðrÞ ¼ 1  exp  ð1Þ Pðf ðrt ÞÞ ¼ k
ð6Þ
k :
0 r < r0
( h  k i
1  exp  rkr0 r  r0 8 

PðrÞ ¼ ð2Þ < 1  exp  gðet Þgðe0 Þ k e  e0
0 r < r0 Pðg ðet ÞÞ ¼ k
ð7Þ
:
0 e < e0
where r0 is the stress at the beginning of calculating the damage, r
As the definition domain of compound function, the range of
is the axial stress of the specimen, and K, k are the parameters
related to the material. f ðrt Þ and gðet Þ are both [0, 1]. When the range of definitions is
In sum, most of the current studies are aimed at the changes of extended to r < r0 and e < e0 , the range of composite functions
macro-mechanical properties caused by the changes of raw mate- may be less than 0, which is inconsistent with the reality. There-
rial composition and external environment of shotcrete. The failure fore, it needs to be revised. The range of revised functions is (0,
mechanism is mostly studied for ordinary concrete, and the exist- 1) and the range of definitions can satisfy the whole set of real
ing damage models are only applicable to the parts before the peak numbers. In order to facilitate the calculation of f ðrt Þ and gðet Þ
stress, however there are few studies on the failure mechanism substituted by x0, K is taken as 1 and the correction coefficient g
including the post-peak part, and there is no reasonable mechani- is multiplied by the subtraction. AE cumulative hit counts N t can
cal model. indicate the degree of damage in the specimen [33,34]. Therefore,
According to the above research results, it is necessary to find a HR can be used to express the damage degree of shotcrete, and the
simple damage model with fewer parameters, including the front two composite functions are shown in Eqs. (8) and (9), respec-
and back sections of peak stress suitable for different shotcrete. tively, so that the defects can be solved on the basis of satisfying
In this paper, the modified Weibull distribution model is used to the expression of the above model.
analyze the failure mechanism of shotcrete. Based on the on-site g
HR ¼ Pðf ðrt ÞÞ ¼ 1 
 ð8Þ
preparation and maintenance samples of return air roadway in
1 þ exp f ðrtkÞx0
No. 1 mining area of Tongxin Coal Mine, the loading process is
monitored and verified by AE, and the damage model of shotcrete
g

with different post-peak parts is established. The research results HR ¼ Pðg ðet ÞÞ ¼ 1   ð9Þ
g ðet Þx0
can provide design and reference for the improvement of mechan- 1 þ exp k
ical properties of different shotcrete and its application in geotech-
nical engineering. where x0 and k are material-related parameters.
308 Q. Zheng et al. / Construction and Building Materials 224 (2019) 306–316

Eqs. (8) and (9) effectively connect HR with the damage degree,
reasonably expound the damage mechanism, quantitatively ana-
lyze the damage degree, simple in form, less in parameters, includ-
ing the pre-and post-peak stress stages. So is this model applicable
to the failure mechanism of different shotcrete? Next, we carry out
experimental verification.

3. Experiment

3.1. Material

According to the Standard for Testing Methods of Concrete Structures [35], and
subsequent availability ordinary Portland cement P.C 42.5 is selected. The particle
size of crushed stone is 5–12 mm, the fineness modulus is more than 2.5 of medium
and coarse sand and the accelerator. The accelerator of dry-mixed shotcrete (DS) is
powder aluminate accelerator, and the accelerator of wet-mixed shotcrete (WS) is
alkali-free liquid accelerator. The proportion of shotcrete is cement: sand: Fig. 1. Polypropylene coarse fibers.
stone = 1:2:2, water-cement ratio is 0.5, powder aluminate accelerator:
cement = 0.035, alkali-free liquid accelerator: cement = 0.06, water reducer:
cement = 0.8%. Wet-mixed polypropylene fiber shotcrete (WPFS) is made by mixing uniaxial loading test and AE monitoring test were carried out simultaneously. The
1 kg/m3 of polypropylene coarse fiber into WS. The properties of polypropylene loading system controlled loading by axial displacement with loading rate of
fiber are shown in Table 1. Table 1 shows that polypropylene coarse fibers are 1.2 mm/min and recorded the mechanical test parameters in real time. The AE sig-
lighter in weight than steel fibers with the same action properties and do not nal amplifier was set to 40 dB, the threshold of each channel was set to 100 mV, and
increase the quality of concrete which is already heavier. The shape of polypropy- the sampling frequency was 3 MHz. The AE monitoring system processes and stores
lene coarse fibers and its distribution in WPFS are shown in Fig. 1. It can be seen the signals monitored by eight sensors, and obtain the red AE source location mark.
that even though the WPFS has been destroyed, the polypropylene coarse fibers
are still in the WPFS and keep its original length, which shows that the polypropy-
lene coarse fibers play a role in strengthening the strength of shotcrete. 4. Results and analysis

3.2. Preparation of samples 4.1. Strength results

According to the Technical Code for Engineering of Ground Anchorages and Shot-
crete Support (GB50086-2015) [36], and Standard for Testing Methods of Mechanical
Properties of Ordinary Concrete (GB/T50081) [37], specimens were prepared by using
shotcrete test slabs with a size of 500 mm  500 mm  130 mm
(length  width  height) under the condition of actual engineering environment
(as shown in Fig. 2). One day later, the mould was removed and the shotcrete would
be maintained at the project site for 28 days. After the maintenance is completed,
the standard specimens for the experiment are obtained indoors by drilling core
method, and the bearing surfaces at both ends are polished to a flatness tolerance
of no more than 0.01 mm. Ten specimens for each type of shotcrete, and six stan-
dardized specimens for each type of shotcrete are selected for experiments. DS
specimen number: D1–D6, WS specimen number: W1–W6, WPFS specimen num-
ber: F1–F6, a total of 18. The sample size is D50 mm  H100 mm.
3.3. Experiment process
In this test, two sets of systems, Rock Mechanics Test System (RMT) developed
by Wuhan Institute of Geotechnics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and DS5 series full
information AE signal analyzer of Beijing Soft Island Science and Technology are
used (as shown in Figs. 3 and 4). RMT experimental system can record and store
the stress changes with strain and time in real time. AE monitoring system can track
and record the parameters of AE events and the location of the source in real time.
In this experiment, eight sensor probes are used to collect the AE signals of samples,
which can realize real-time monitoring and three-dimensional positioning of AE
signals. The geometric positions of the acquisition points of different AE probes
must be the same to reduce the interference of sample size.
In order to enhance the monitoring effect of AE, Vaseline was evenly applied on
the signal acquisition surface of sensor probe, then pasted on the pre-designed
monitoring point and fixed with a rubber band. Before the start of the test, the pen-
cil lead was used as the analog source to detect the degree of its response to the sig-
nal source, while eliminating the external impact, friction and other mechanical
noise interfered, and the test started after the debugging is normal. During the test,
Table 1
Material characteristic table of polypropylene coarse fiber.
Material properties Description
Length 48 mm
Structure Wave shape along
length
Steel fiber quality equivalent to per kilogram 6–10 kg
polypropylene fiber
Number of fibers per kilogram 44000–78000
Tensile strength 530 MPa
Young’s modulus 7 GPa
According to the test results, the uniaxial compressive strength
of the specimens is arranged as shown in Table 2. The average com-
pressive strength of three types of shotcrete is obtained. On the
basis of the average compressive strength obtained, the specimen
with the smallest absolute difference from the average value is
selected for strength analysis.
The results show the uniaxial compressive strength of DS, WS
and WPFS are 18.13 MPa, 26.17 MPa and 33.47 MPa, respectively.
The strains corresponding to the peak stress of the three specimens
are 0.211%, 0.282% and 0.439%, respectively. As a result, compared
with DS, the uniaxial compressive strength of WS and WPFS
increased by 44.34% and 84.61%, respectively, while the strain of
peak stress increased by 33.65% and 108.06%, respectively. The
compressive strength and strain at peak stress of shotcrete
increased significantly after mixing polypropylene coarse fiber into
shotcrete, which is consistent with the results of Christopher et al.
[17]. Therefore, when DS and WS cannot meet the safety require-
ments of lining support in coal mine roadways or tunnels with high
geostress and large deformation, WPFS can give full play to its good
mechanical properties.
4.2. Mechanical property analysis
The workability of WS is higher than that of DS. The hydration
reaction of WS is sufficient, resulting in an increase in the gel con-
tent of calcium silicate (C-S-H), and then filling in the capillary
pore of hardened cement stone to increase the compactness [16],
so the strength of WS is higher than that of DS. At the same time,
the volume and quantity of internal pore in DS with insufficient
hydration of cement is larger [14,38], and the van der Waals force
in the interface transition zone is smaller than that of WS [16], so
the deformation capacity of DS is smaller than that of WS. There-
fore, the strain corresponding to the peak stress of WS is larger
than that which is corresponding to the peak stress of DS.
The WS mixed with polypropylene coarse fiber does not only
inhibit the sinking of coarse aggregate, but also improves its uni-
formity [39]. It also prevents water from spilling through the pas-
sage and reduces the loss of water [16]. The hydration reaction of
 Q. Zheng et al. / Construction and Building Materials 224 (2019) 306–316 309

Fig. 2. The manufacturing process of the specimens.

Table 2
Test results statistics.

Number DS (MPa) WS (MPa) WPFS (MPa)

1 16.739 26.166 33.216
2 19.601 25.585 32.796
3 18.300 25.701 33.475
4 18.126 26.747 33.124
5 19.594 26.282 35.745
6 16.392 26.515 32.491

x (mean) 18.125 26.166 33.474

cement is further enhanced on the basis of WS. In addition, the

development of microcracks in the specimens after loading needs
to overcome the dowel action of polypropylene fibers and consume
energy [40,41]. Therefore, the strength of WPFS is obviously higher
than that of WS. During the formation process of WPFS structure,
the fibers prevent crack initiation and reduce the size and number
Fig. 3. AE operating interface.
of crack sources [38]. In the process of loading, the extension and
expansion of cracks are restrained, and the stress concentration
at the crack tip is weakened [42,43]. This means that the internal
cracking and deformation of WPFS specimens may occur, but it still
maintains a strong ability to adapt to deformation. Therefore, the
strain corresponding to the peak stress of WPFS has the highest
value.

4.3. AE signal parameter analysis

The AE signals of the specimens are analyzed, the relationship

Fig. 4. Sensor arrangement for loading samples.
between the four parameters of time-stress-AE energy-
cumulative hit number of three types of samples are obtained.
Due to the length of an article, here, only one set of each specimen
is selected for analysis, as shown in Figs. 5–7, respectively. Taking
time as abscissa and stress, AE energy and cumulative hit number
as ordinates, the four parameters of shotcrete are plotted on a
graph. By comparing the four parameters of three types of shot-
crete, the mechanical properties and differences among them are
explored.
310 Q. Zheng et al. / Construction and Building Materials 224 (2019) 306–316
Fig. 5. The relationship between stress and AE parameters of DS.
Fig. 6. The relationship between stress and AE parameters of WS.
Fig. 7. The relationship between stress and AE parameters of WPFS.
The results show that the cumulative AE hit count increases
monotonously until the specimen is completely destroyed, the
cumulative AE hit count of DS is the smallest and that of WS is
the largest. The cumulative hit number curves of each specimen
underwent three stages. First, they rose rapidly in a short time,
then kept the growth rate constant. Finally, they increased rapidly
until the specimen was completely destroyed and the test was
completed.
The DHR value (the difference between the maximum and min-
imum HR value in a certain stage, which reflects the proportion of
the cumulative hit counts of AE to the cumulative hit counts of the
specimens in that stage) of the same specimen is different in differ-
ent stages. Among the three stages of the same sample, the value of
DHR is the largest in the third stage. AE cumulative hit counting
curves of different specimens have different characteristics at the
same stage. The first stage of comparison curves shows that the
value of DHR of DS is the largest and that of DHR of WPFS is the
smallest. In the second stage of the curves, it is found that the value
of DHR of WS is the largest and that of DHR of WPFS is the smallest.
In the last stage of the curves, the DHR value of WPFS is the largest
and the DHR value of DS is the smallest. Through comparison, it is
found that the AE events of WS and WPFS are concentrated near
and after point rb , DS has already entered the region when
f ðrt Þ ¼ 20%.
The magnitude of AE energy varies in different stages of the
same sample and in the same stage of different samples. Compared
with the three stages of the same sample, the energy value of AE in
the third stage is the largest and that in the first stage is the small-
est. For different specimens in the same stage, the AE energy of DS
is greater than that of WS and WPFS in the first stage, WS has the
largest AE energy value in the second stage and WPFS has the
smallest AE energy value. In the third stage, the maximum AE
energy is WPFS. In two points of WPFS, the maximum AE energy
is 452.59 mV*ms, while the maximum AE energy of DS and WS is
no more than 260 mV*ms.
4.4. Failure mechanism analysis
The difference of mechanical properties and failure mechanism
of the three specimens is mainly due to the difference of raw mate-
rial composition and construction technology of shotcrete. DS is a
method of mixing cement, sand and gravel evenly in the dry state,
then sending them and accelerator to the nozzle with compressed
air, and finally mixing them with pressure water and spraying
them, while WS is a method that pre-mixed concrete is pumped
to the nozzle by grouting and then sprayed with compressed air.
WPFS is based on WS and blended with polypropylene coarse
fibers in a certain proportion in concrete [1]. In order to analyze
the failure mechanism of different shotcrete more accurately, the
stress and strain of each AE event is correlated with the cumulative
hit counts of AE through time parameters. At the same time, the
failure mechanism after peak stress should be considered. The
stress and strain should be brought into Eqs. (4) and (5), then,
the function values obtained are taken as abscissa and HR as ordi-
nate. The scatter plots constructed are shown in Figs. 8 and 9,
respectively. It can be seen from the Figs. 8 and 9 that the failure
process of the three types of shotcrete has gone through three
stages, and the failure trend is the same, but the nodes of each
stage are different in numerical value. In order to show the damage
stage of shotcrete more prominently, the first stage is enlarged as
shown in the following figures.
It can be clearly seen on the f ðrt Þ-HR and gðet Þ-HR images
(Figs. 8 and 9) that the curves of three types of shotcrete are all
divided into three stages by two dividing points, which are shown
in Table 3. From the results of the Table 3, we can see that the val-
ues of HR, f ðrt Þ and gðet Þ the first stage DS are the largest, while the
HR and A values of the second stage WS are the largest, and the
WPFS values of the second stage WS are the largest.
Through the analysis of the segment points of f ðrt Þ-HR and gðet Þ
-HR, it can be seen that the hit ratio of the two at the dividing point
is the same, which also shows the reliability of the dividing points.
In addition, in order to verify the representativeness of the dividing
points, the demarcation points of the remaining specimens are
arranged as shown in Table 4. In order to calculate conveniently,
the dividing points should be taken as integer values as possible.
From Table 4, it can be seen that the difference between the data
in Table 3 and the average value is small, so the data in Table 3
can be used as the theoretical basis for calculation. Moreover, the
reliability of the test results and the representativeness of the
 Q. Zheng et al. / Construction and Building Materials 224 (2019) 306–316
Fig. 8. Relation diagram of f ðrt Þ and HR of three types of shotcrete.
selected three specimens can be obtained by comparing the two
tables.
From Figs. 8 and 9, it can be seen that the hit ratios of the three
specimens are divided into three stages: initial hit stage, hit stabil-
ity stage and hit instability stage. The response distribution of AE
signal sources in different stages and different specimens is shown
in Figs. 10–12. Compared with the three pictures, the distribution
of AE source response points of DS is more concentrated, while that
of WPFS is more discrete, which shows that the non-uniformity of
shotcrete is obviously improved by mixing polypropylene coarse
fibers. It is also observed that the value of f ðrt Þ of DS is the largest
and the WPFS is the smallest when the number of AE source
response points is equal.
The pores in shotcrete are larger than those in ordinary concrete
in volume and quantity [39]. We can refer to the pores with larger
volume as characteristic-voids in shotcrete. At the initial stage of
loading, the characteristic-voids in shotcrete are closed and the
AE events are triggered. The shape and distribution of the
characteristic-voids in shotcrete with different proportions and
materials are different [44].
The results of Jeffrey et al. [45] show that the hydration degree
of cement directly affects the porosity of concrete. The lower the
hydration degree, the higher the porosity and the larger the pore
volume [14,41]. In addition, the hydration reaction of cement is
311
uneven and insufficient, and the unhydrated cement particles tend
to agglomerate, forming a flocculating structure to wrap a large
amount of water [16], resulting in uneven meso-structure. As a
result, the number and volume of the voids in shotcrete are rela-
tively large, and the incorporation of polypropylene coarse fibers
can improve this disadvantage [36]. In addition, the wave structure
along the length of polypropylene coarse fibers is tightly mixed
with cement paste [46], which further reduces the characteristic-
voids and pores. Therefore, in the first stage, the values of DHR
and AE energy of DS are the largest, while the values of DHR and
AE energy of WPFS are the smallest. At the end of this stage, the
values of f ðrt Þ of DS and WS are different, but the values of stress
are basically the same. That is to say, the stress values of closure of
characteristic-voids in DS and WS are the same. This further proves
that initial hit stage is only caused by the closure of characteristic-
voids in shotcrete. DS with poor homogeneity will cause crack tip
effect while closing micro-voids in the specimens under load [47].
After the closure of the characteristic-voids and before the micro-
pores are fully closed, DS undergoes a short hit stability stage, and
then enters the hit instability stage due to the accelerated propaga-
tion of cracks. The degree of hydration of WS cement is higher [16],
and the stage of hit stability is relatively long. Within the range
before f ðrt Þ ¼ 15%, the micro-pores in specimens have gradually
closed [42]. In this region, the number of AE hits is big, but the
312 Q. Zheng et al. / Construction and Building Materials 224 (2019) 306–316

Fig. 9. Relation diagram of gðet Þ and HR of three types of shotcrete.

Table 4
Table 3
The numerical values corresponding to the dividing points of different shotcrete for
Numerical values corresponding to the boundary points of different shotcrete.
all specimens.
Parameters DS WS WPFS
Types HR f ðrt Þ g ðet Þ
Part 1 Part 2 Part 1 Part 2 Part 1 Part 2
Part 1 Part 2 Part 1 Part 2 Part 1 Part 2
HR 20% 25% 12% 30% 8% 10%
D1 18.85% 24.08% 3.44% 19.53% 6.11% 29.62%
f ðrt Þ 4% 20% 3% 47% 0.4% 48%
D2 21.11% 26.30% 4.08% 20.84% 8.04% 32.34%
g ðet Þ 7% 30% 4% 74% 1.4% 72%
D3 19.25% 24.41% 3.82% 19.87% 6.83% 29.62%
D4 20.03% 25.11% 3.98% 20.07% 7.14% 30.42%
D5 20.47% 25.84% 4.75% 20.68% 7.31% 30.94%
energy value of AE is relatively small. From then on until about D6 19.27% 24.48% 3.93% 20.04% 6.39% 30.32%
f ðrt Þ ¼ 30%, the micro-cracks in the interface transition zone in W1 12.16% 30.51% 3.21% 48.17% 4.14% 74.21%
W2 11.54% 29.76% 3.04% 46.21% 3.81% 73.68%
this region expand due to the stress concentration at the crack W3 11.87% 30.00% 2.47% 46.74% 3.91% 73.98%
tip [48], but the mortar matrix has not cracked and the AE energy W4 13.14% 31.92% 4.07% 48.41% 4.94% 75.04%
is low, while in the last part of the hit stability stage, cracks grad- W5 12.95% 31.17% 3.27% 47.81% 4.61% 74.87%
ually penetrate through the mortar and cracks begin to appear W6 11.47% 29.37% 2.81% 46.87% 3.81% 73.51%
F1 8.15% 10.18% 0.44% 49.03% 1.37% 71.57%
[49]. At this time, the energy of AE is larger than the first two parts F2 7.54% 9.97% 0.37% 47.84% 1.31% 71.81%
of this stage. For WS, mixing polypropylene coarse fiber will help to F3 8.77% 10.63% 0.41% 48.10% 1.43% 72.21%
absorb the energy released during cracking of cement matrix, inhi- F4 7.58% 10.31% 0.39% 48.15% 1.39% 72.83%
bit crack propagation when cracking develops, and stress concen- F5 8.78% 11.11% 0.47% 48.57% 1.44% 72.61%
F6 7.32% 9.07% 0.35% 47.27% 1.33% 71.24%
tration at crack tip will not only ease but also possibly disappear 
xD 19.83% 25.04% 4.00% 20.17% 6.97% 30.54%
[50]. Thus, in the hit stability stage, the DHR value of WS and the 
xW 12.19% 30.46% 3.15% 47.37% 4.20% 74.22%
energy value of AE are the largest, while the two values of WPFS 
8.02% 10.21% 0.41% 48.16% 1.38% 72.05%
are the smallest. However, WPFS has the largest increase in f ðrt Þ
xF
  
and the smallest increase in DS. Note: xD , xW and x F are the average values of DS, WS and WPFS respectively.
 Q. Zheng et al. / Construction and Building Materials 224 (2019) 306–316 313

short time rather than all of them being released suddenly. So in

this stage, the proportion of the larger AE energy value of WPFS
is smaller, but the AE energy value and DHR are the largest, while
the values of DS are the opposite.

5. Verification of modified Weibull distribution model

In order to verify whether Eqs. (8) and (9) can reasonably

explain the failure mechanism of different shotcrete, the data uti-
lization Eqs. (8) and (9) in Figs. 8 and 9 are fitted. However, if the
f (σ t ) = 4% f (σ t ) = 20% f (σ t ) = 50% f (σ t ) = 85% fitting method is used directly, it will be found that the initial hit
stage is neglected in both Weibull distribution model and Eqs.
Fig. 10. The response distribution of AE signal sources in different stages in DS. (8) and (9), and the DHR of the three types of Shotcrete in this stage
are 20%, 12% and 8%, respectively. The larger proportion of the
three types of shotcrete cannot be neglected directly, so it needs
to be verified by stages. In the original Weibull distribution model,
1 before minus sign is related to the range of distribution function.
Because of the influence of the first part, the first stage 1 should be
added to the DHR before the second part (hit stability stage and hit
instability stage) minus sign, that is, the end point of the first part
must be taken as the starting point of the second part, which is also
the necessary condition to ensure that the range does not repeat.
The modified Weibull distribution model is obtained by further
modifying Eqs. (8) and (9) as shown in Eqs. (10) and (11).
g
HR ¼ Pðf ðrt ÞÞ ¼ a 
 ð10Þ
f (σ t ) = 3% f (σ t ) = 15% f (σ t ) = 47% f (σ t ) = 87% 1 þ exp f ðrtkÞx0

Fig. 11. The response distribution of AE signal sources in different stages in WS.
g
HR ¼ Pðg ðet ÞÞ ¼ a 
 ð11Þ
1 þ exp gðet kÞx0

The data in Figs. 8 and 9 are fitted and analyzed by using the
modified Weibull distribution model. As shown in Figs. 13 and
14, for the three types of shotcrete, the relationship between stress
and strain and HR is consistent, but the specific numerical values
are different, which not only reflects the consistency of failure
mechanism, but also shows the difference. The values of parame-
ters and the complex correlation coefficients of fitting curves are
shown in Table 5. As shown in Table 5, the correlation of fitting
curves is relatively high, which indicates that the modified Weibull
distribution model has high reliability and can be used as a basis
for explaining the failure mechanism of shotcrete.
f (σ t ) = 0.4% f (σ t ) = 48% f (σ t ) = 78% Taking the parameters into the modified Weibull distribution
model, the fitting functions of f ðrt Þ-HR of DS, WS and WPFS are
Fig. 12. The response distribution of AE signal sources in different stages in WPFS. shown in Eqs. (12)–(14), and the fitting functions of gðet Þ-HR are
shown in Eqs. (15)–(17), respectively.
8
In the stage of hit instability, cracks expand rapidly and induce < 0:2  1þexpf ðrt Þ0:01725
> 0:2
0  f ðrt Þ  0:04
HR ¼ ð12Þ
0:00786
the extension of secondary cracks. AE events are more concen-
>
: 1:2  f ðr1 Þ0:37138 0:04  f ðrt Þ  1
trated, the energy value of AE is larger, and growth rate of HR is fas- 1þexp t
0:07425
ter until the final complete destruction. The crack propagation of
8
DS is relatively rapid [47], and the secondary crack is penetrated >
> 0:12 
0:2  0  f ðrt Þ  0:03
before it extends in time, but this process mainly occurs in the area < 1þexp
f ðrt Þ6:57104

HR ¼ ð13Þ
0:00135
before the peak stress, and also occurs at the area after the peak >
>
: 1:12  f ðr1 Þ0:64941 0:03  f ðrt Þ  1
stress, but relatively less. Additionally, WS begins to enter the 1þexp t
0:11288
stage of hit instability at f ðrt Þ ¼ 47%, at this time, mortar cracks
8
and continuous cracks rapidly expand and penetrate, and in the >
> 0:08 
0:2  0  f ðrt Þ  0:004
area after peak stress, secondary cracks also rapidly expand and < 1þexp
f ðrt Þ2:66105
6:42104
HR ¼ ð14Þ
gradually penetrate [49], with the main crack penetrating speci- >
> f ðr1 Þ0:65136 0:004  f ðrt Þ  1
men losing bearing capacity. While WPFS with polypropylene
: 1:08  t
1þexp 0:07258
coarse fibers inhibit crack propagation. From f ðrt Þ ¼ 48%, the inhi-
8
bition weakens with the increase of stress, the accumulated elastic
< 0:2  1þexpgðet Þ0:00393
> 0:2
0 < g ðet Þ  0:07
energy abruptly releases, cracks suddenly penetrate [51], sec- HR ¼
0:01212
ð15Þ
ondary cracks gradually develop, and the energy conceived in the >
: 1:2  gð1e Þ0:5550
t
0:07 < g ðet Þ  1
1þexp
first two stages is released. Again, as the polypropylene fibers are 0:11245

pulled out of plain concrete, they are released step by step in a

314 Q. Zheng et al. / Construction and Building Materials 224 (2019) 306–316

cates that the correction coefficient of different shotcrete is the

Fig. 13. Fitting f ðrt Þ-HR curves of three types of shotcrete with modified Weibull
distribution model.
same at the same stage. The correction coefficient g is 0.2 in the
first part and 1 in the second part, which also shows that the mod-
ified Weibull distribution model has simple form, fewer parame-
ters and high reliability.
The two modified Weibull distribution models are processed
with unified unknowns to form a function h(x). By deriving Eqs.
(18) and (19), we can see that the first derivative is always greater
than 0, that is, the function h(x) is a monotonic increasing function.
Because f ðrt Þ and gðet Þ are monotonic increasing functions, their
composite functions HR ¼ Pðf ðrt ÞÞ and HR ¼ Pðg ðet ÞÞ are also
monotonic increasing functions, i.e. the hit ratio is monotonic
increasing, which is consistent with the experimental results. The
second derivative represents the inflection point of the corre-
sponding curve at x = x0, that is, the growth rate of the hit ratio
increases gradually before the point x0, but decreases gradually
after the point x0. Table 5 shows that the inflection points of the
second part of the three types of shotcretes are all in the stage of
hit instability, because the hit rate is relatively stable in the stage
of hit stability. In the early stage of hit stability stage, cracks
expand rapidly and the growth rate of hit ratio increases gradually
until the main crack penetrates. After that, the hit ratio still
increases, but the growth rate of hit ratio is slower than that before
x0. The main reason is that after the main crack penetrates, the
derived crack penetrates slowly, which is consistent with the char-
acteristics of concrete after the stress-strain curve peaks. For the
initial hit stage, there are more initial defects such as
characteristic-voids in the specimen in the initial region, and the
growth rate of hit ratio is larger. When the initial defect closes to
a certain extent, the stress concentration phenomenon slows down
and the growth rate of hit ratio decreases, but the hit ratio
increases gradually.

 
Fig. 14. Fitting gðet Þ-HR curves of three types of shotcrete with modified Weibull 0 g  exp xxk 0
h ðxÞ ¼   2 ð18Þ
distribution model. k 1 þ exp xx
k
0

8 xx   
< 0:12  1þexpgðet Þ0:00158
> 0:2
0 < g ðet Þ  0:04 00 g  exp k
0
1  exp xx k
0

h ðxÞ ¼  xx0 3 ð19Þ

HR ¼ ð16Þ
0:00212 2
k 1 þ exp k
>
: 1:12  gðe1 Þ0:87168 0:04 < g ðet Þ  1
t
1þexp 0:06467
Comparing the parameters of modified Weibull distribution
8 model of different shotcrete, it is not difficult to find the value of
< 0:08  1þexpgðet Þ0:00107
> 0:2
0 < g ðet Þ  0:014 x0. In the first part of the function, the order of magnitude is: the
HR ¼
0:00273
ð17Þ value of DS is the largest while that of WPFS is the smallest. The
>
: 1:08  gðe1 Þ0:91427 0:014 < g ðet Þ  1 inflection point of DS is the largest while WPFS is the smallest;
t
1þexp 0:04448
the second part of the function has the opposite order of inflection
The values of the first and second parts a of different specimens point size. The meaning of inflection point has been explained
have been explained before, and will not be repeated here. By com- before. Combining with the inflection point value of different shot-
paring the parameters, it is easy to find that the values of the cor- crete, it is found that this is consistent with the failure mechanism
rection coefficient g are the same in the same part, whether it is of different shotcrete in this test. The accuracy of the revised Wei-
f ðrt Þ-HR fitting function or gðet Þ-HR fitting function, which indi- bull distribution model is further verified.

Table 5
Values of three types of shotcrete parameters at different stages.

Parameters DS WS ISFS
Stress Strain Stress Strain Stress Strain
Part 1 Part 2 Part 1 Part 2 Part 1 Part 2 Part 1 Part 2 Part 1 Part 2 Part 1 Part 2
a 0.2 1.2 0.2 1.2 0.12 1.12 0.12 1.12 0.08 1.08 0.08 1.08
g 0.2 1 0.2 1 0.2 1 0.2 1 0.2 1 0.2 1
k 0.00786 0.07425 0.01212 0.11245 0.00135 0.00135 0.00212 0.06467 6.42  104 0.07258 0.00273 0.04448
x0 0.01725 0.37138 0.00393 0.555 6.57  104 0.64941 0.00158 0.87168 2.66  105 0.65136 0.00107 0.91427
R2 0.97627 0.99567 0.98052 0.99596 0.98316 0.98879 0.98942 0.97739 0.99874 0.98006 0.99563 0.98642

Note: R2 is the complex correlation coefficient of each fitting curve.

 Q. Zheng et al. / Construction and Building Materials 224 (2019) 306–316
6. Conclusions
In this paper, the failure mechanism of three types of shotcrete
is studied by using AE device, and the modified Weibull distribu-
tion model is used to verify the following conclusions:
(1) In shotcrete, fuller hydration reaction of cement or the incor-
poration of fiber materials with better ductility are con-
ducive to improving the uniaxial compressive strength and
homogeneity of shotcrete, enhancing the ability to adapt to
the deformation of surrounding rock, and can be used for lin-
ing support of roadway with larger mining depth. The mod-
ified Weibull distribution model quantifies the effect of
improvement, and provides reference for the improvement
of shotcrete.
(2) The whole process of the three types of shotcrete until the
complete failure acting under uniaxial loads undergoes three
stages: initial hit stage, hit stability stage and hit instability
stage. In the three stages mentioned above, the largest val-
ues of AE energy, increase value of stress ratio and DHR are
DS, WS and WPFS respectively.
(3) The initial hit stage of shotcrete is caused by its internal
characteristic-voids, and the value of DHR cannot be
neglected. Quantitative damage analysis of shotcrete must
be considered in stages.
(4) The modified Weibull distribution model is simple in form,
with fewer parameters and contains the pre-peak stress
and post-peak stress stages. It is applicable to different
stages of different shotcrete, and can reasonably quantify
the failure mechanism and the damage degree of different
shotcrete.
(5) In the post-peak stress stage, there are fewer AE events
when DS is about to completely destroy, while WS and WPFS
have just entered the hit instability stage at the peak stress.
In this stage, the HR growth rate of DS gradually decreases
and HR gradually increases. However, the HR growth of WS
and WPFS increases first and then decreases gradually, while
HR always increases.
(6) The modified Weibull distribution model is used to quantita-
tively describe the failure mechanism of shotcrete from two
independent variables r and e, which are in good agreement
with the experimental results and further verify the reliabil-
ity of the model.
Declaration of Competing Interest
None.
Acknowledgements
The work was funded by the China National Natural Science
Foundation of China Overseas and Hong Kong-Macao Scholars
Cooperation Research Foundation (51728201) and the Key
research and development projects in Anhui (201904a07020081).
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