DOI: 10.1051/jp1:1995156
J. Phys. I France 5 (1995) 631-638

Universal Log-Periodic Correction to Renormalization Group Scaling for Rupture Stress Prediction From Acoustic Emissions

J.-C. Anifrani¹, C. Le Floc'h¹, D. Sornette^{2, 3} and B. Souillard<sup>3

1</sup>  Aérospatiale, B.P. 11, 33165 St Médart en Jalles, France
²  Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée, CNRS URA 190 Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, B.P. 71, 06108 Nice Cedex 2, France
³  X-RS, Parc-Club, 28 rue Jean Rostand, 91893 Orsay Cedex, France

(Received 20 December 1994, revised 26 January 1995, accepted 31 January 1995)

Abstract
Based on the idea that the rupture of heterogenous systems is similar to a critical point, we show how to predict the failure stress with good reliability and precision ( ) from acoustic emission measurements at constant stress rate up to a maximum load 15-20% below the failure stress. The basis of our approach is to fit the experimental signals to a mathematical expression deduced from a new scaling theory for rupture in terms of complex fractal exponents. The method is tested successfully on an industrial application, namely high pressure spherical tanks made of various fiber-matrix composites. As a by-product, our results constitute the first observation in a natural context of the universal periodic corrections to scaling in the renormalization-group framework. Our method could be applied usefully to other similar predicting problems in the natural sciences (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc.).

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