The continuous crack flexibility model for crack identification

The presence of a crack in a structural member introduces a local flexibility that affects its dynamic response. Moreover, the crack will open and close in time depending on the loading conditions and vibration amplitude. The changes in dynamic characteristics can be measured and lead to an identification of the structural changes which eventually might lead to the detection of a structural flaw. The results of various independent evaluations of changes in the natural frequency of vibrations of cracked structural elements are reported. A crack model of a continuous flexibility, found with fracture mechanics methods using the displacement field in the vicinity of the crack developed recently is used here. The analytical results for the cracked elements behaviour based on the continuous crack flexibility vibration theory were correlated with numerical solutions, the lumped-crack beam vibration analysis and experimental results obtained on aluminium and steel beams with open cracks.