MODELLING OF TRANSVERSE VIBRATION OF SHORT BEAMS FOR CRACK DETECTION AND MEASUREMENT OF CRACK EXTENSION

The method of detection of location of crack in beams based on frequency measurements is extended here to short beams, taking into account the effects of shear deformation and rotational inertia through the Timoshenko beam theory and representing the crack by a rotational spring. Methods for solving both forward (determination of frequencies of beams knowing the crack parameters) and inverse (determination of crack location knowing the natural frequencies) problems are included. A method to estimate crack extension from a change in the first natural frequency is presented. Both numerical and experimental studies are given to demonstrate the accuracy of the methods. The accuracy of the results is quite encouraging.