Implementation of Information Entropy, b-Value, and Regression Analyses for Temporal Evaluation of Acoustic Emission Data Recorded during ASR Cracking

This study investigates the efficacy of differing information entropy calculation approaches for concrete structures undergoing alkali-silica reaction (ASR)-induced cracking. In prior work, information entropy has only been utilized for a better understanding of the damage in metallic structures under external loading. To our knowledge, no research has been published regarding information entropy for concrete structures affected by ASR. This scientific gap is addressed in this paper. Furthermore, the innovation lies in using coefficients of determination instead of b-values for cracking identification. The entropy results show that the randomness of events increases at the earlier stage of ASR, which is expected due to the microcrack formation, and decreases at the later stage due to the formation of macrocracks. Moreover, a correlation is observed between the coefficients of determination and the evolution of the cumulative signal strength.