Abstract: A series of uniaxial compressive tests were carried out on rock-like brittle specimens with pre-existing edge-opened cracks to investigate crack propagation characteristics using the method of uniaxial loading,AE monitoring technique and FRACOD^2D simulation technology. The results showed that the uniaxial compression strength and crack initiation stress both decrease with the increase of the crack width into the specimens. But the occurrence time of mode I tensile crack was more and more early,and that of shear crack was more and more late with the increase of the crack width into the specimens. The failure mode of the specimens didn’t change due to the different width of the pre-existing edge-opened cracks,and the ultimate failure modes were tensile failure. AE had the characteristics of step wave and high energy when crack initiation and overall failure of the specimen. With the increase of edge crack width,the time of the first energy peak was earlier. Most of the shear and secondary cracks occurred near the peak strength,and their energy levels were much higher than that of the tensile crack initiation point. The crack initiation angle was closer to the loading direction,the number of cracks increased,the total displacement decreased from 4.7 mm to 1.07 mm,and the maximum tensile stress decreased from 58.2 MPa to 26.8 MPa with the increase of the crack width. The failure modes of the specimens in the numerical simulation were the same as those in mechanical tests.