Time–Frequency Characteristics and Evolution Law of Acoustic Emission Signals during the Deformation and Failure of Deformed Coal

[Image: see text] The research on the time–frequency characteristics and evolution law of acoustic emission (AE) signals during deformed coal failure is more conducive to understand the damage mechanism of coal. In this study, the experiments of AE monitoring during the intact and deformed coal failure were first conducted under loading axial stress and unloading confining stress conditions. Based on the evolution characteristics of volume strain and AE event rate, the damage process of coal was divided into three stages: nonfracture development stage, stable development stage of fracture, and unstable development stage of fracture. The distribution and evolution of AE waveform time–frequency properties under different damage processes were then analyzed and discussed. Besides, the evolution of the average value of different time–frequency parameters per 200 s for the intact coal and per 25 s for the deformed coal was discussed. The results show that the amplitude of most AE events stabilizes in 40–50 dB during the intact and deformed coal failure. The average amplitude of the deformed coal has an approximate positive correlation with the loading stress. The percentage of AE events with longer duration and rise time increases suddenly before the peak stress for the intact coal and after the peak stress for the deformed coal, which corresponds to the abrupt increase property of the average duration and rise time. For the frequency properties, the peak frequency and frequency centroid of the intact coal are distributed within 50–125 and 75–150 kHz, with those of the deformed coal located within 20–120 and 80–130 kHz, respectively. The average peak frequency and frequency centroid of the intact coal show an upward trend except for the initial fracture closure stage, while the average peak frequency and average frequency centroid of the deformed coal present a downward trend before the peak stress and have a smaller growth after the peak stress. According to the above-mentioned analysis, the sudden increase of the average duration and rise time, the lower average peak frequency, and the lower frequency centroid can be regarded as the precursor for the instability and failure of deformed coal. This research can provide a new idea and theoretical guidance for the early warning of outbursts.