Free Vibration Analysis of a Cracked Functionally Graded Beam

The study of the vibration of cracked functionally graded beams is very important for structural analysis and design, although not much attention has been focused on theoretical analysis so far In this study, free vibration analysis of a cracked functionally graded beam was performed in order to acquire its modal properties which will be beneficial to crack identification using vibration-based techniques. A multilayer plate model is employed to represent this cracked functionally graded beam and subsequently the two-dimensional finite element analysis is carried out to obtain the dynamic characteristics of this beam. The influences of crack parameters, material gradient and boundary conditions on the dynamic characteristics of a cracked functionally graded beam are investigated.