A FINITE-ELEMENT MODEL OF CRACKED PLATES AND APPLICATION TO VIBRATION PROBLEMS

In this paper, the vibration behaviour of cracked plates is investigated. The stress intensity factor (SIF) of finite plate with a through crack under bending, twisting and shearing is estimated first; the element stiffness matrix of plate with a crack is derived from integration of SIF. A finite element model (FEM) of cracked plates is consequently established. Applying the FEM to a simply-supported square plate and cantilever plate with a through crack, the eigenfrequencies are determined for different crack lengths. The results in this paper show good agreement with those by the previous investigators and experimental data of the present paper.