Abstract: The acoustic emission (AE) and Geiger location algorithm were used to experimentally investigate failure process of different Brazilian disc samples under loading conditions. The results showed that AE events are mainly resulting from the propagation of crack. In the period beginning with loading up to crack initiating the AE activities are unobvious, but the AE events increase obviously once the initial crack occurs at the relevant stress monitoring point. Then, the microcracks are propagated unstably more and more, until finally the rock fails, and in such a period the AE activities increase unusually, i.e., AE events come up to its highest rate of change. Therefore, the experiments visually showed the occurrence of initial crack in samples and propagating space/orientation. For most of the samples failure begins from a loading position, and for the rest the initial crack occurs within the samples. Moreover, the location of AE events reflects the macro-evolution of the interior stress field, which is of significance to the investigation on the destabilization mechanism of rock failure.