Vibration-based non-destructive technique to detect crack in multi-span beam

Abstract

This article presents the study on identification of a single open crack in a straight multi-span beam using natural frequency-based non-destructive technique. The crack is assumed to be transverse and one-dimensional partial cut of a beam, and is modelled as equivalent elastic rotational spring. The effects of crack location and depth on the natural frequency for multi-span uniform beam are demonstrated. The reduction in natural frequency due to presence of crack is utilised to detect crack location and its severity. The formulation is validated experimentally.

Keywords::

• Euler-Bernoulli beam
• crack
• non-destructive technique
• multi-span beam
• rotational spring