Effect of Crack on Modal Parameters of a Cantilever Beam Subjected to Vibration

Crack hinders the optimum performance of a machine. Presently most of the failures encountered by machines are due to material fatigue. Therefore crack detection and localization is the main topic of discussion for various researchers across the globe. The dynamic behaviour of a whole structure is affected due to the presence of a crack as the stiffness of that structural element is altered. The cracks in the structure change the frequencies, amplitudes of free vibration and dynamic stability areas to an inevitable extent. So a diagnosis of the changes allows the experimenter to identify the cracks without aborting the system applications. The effect of an open crack on the modal parameters of the cantilever beam subjected to free vibration is analysed and the results obtained from the numerical method i.e. finite element method (FEM) and the experimental method are compared. It is concluded that results obtained from experiment have a very good agreement with the results obtained from FEM and the structure vibrates with more frequency in the presence of a crack away from the fixed end. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.