Abstract: The acoustic emission (AE) characteristics during caving process of rock mass under different geo-stress field and joint distribution were simulated by using RFPA software. It demonstrates that the AE in horizontally jointed roof is concentrated in upper arch corner of stope, and the AE in vertically jointed roof is distributed along the vertical damage surface and shear failure surface. The AE in roof with conjugated joints locates at the joint end along the 45°+φ/2 direction between mined out area and horizontal plane. For the highly stressed rock mass, the AE is distributed along line of caving arch. The AE energy change during the caving process can be divided into two stages, i. e. the first stationary stage and the second catastrophic stage. This result manifests that the energy release rate during the catastrophic stage of AE release is above 5 times of the first stationary stage, which could provide guidance on engineering to predict collapse and caving.