Comparison of polarity and moment tensor inversion methods for source analysis of acoustic emission data

摘要

During rock deformation tests, energy may be released as high-frequency acoustic emissions (AE) from microfractures within the sample. These emissions provide a passive indicator of the progression of inelastic damage, during the approach to sample failure. Characterisation of the sources that produce AE can provide us with an insight into the microscopic processes that are involved in the initiation and coalescence of damage within a loaded rock sample. Such work has relevance within the field of seismology and earthquake physics; earthquakes and acoustic emissions display similar, power law, frequency-magnitude distributions [1,2] and Omori law aftershock behaviour [3].