Time-dependent Benioff strain release diagrams

New time-dependent Benioff strain (TDBS) release diagrams were analyzed for acoustic emission during various loading tests and for electromagnetic (EM) radiation emanating during compression and, tension, which end in failure. TDBS diagrams are Benioff diagrams that are built consecutively, each time using a greater number of events (acoustic or EM emissions) using the last event as if it were associated with the 'actual failure'. An examination of such TDBS diagrams shows that at a certain time point (this time point is denoted by the term 'alarm' time), a comparatively short interval prior to actual collapse, their decreasing part is broken by a positive 'bulge'. This 'bulge' is quantified and an algorithm proposed for its assessment. Using the alarm time and other parameters of the failure process (fall, bulge size and escalation factors, bulge slope and slope fall time), a criterion for estimating the time of the actual collapse is developed and shown to agree well with laboratory experimental results.