Longitudinal vibrations of a cantilever beam with a transverse crack. Part 2. Piecewise-linear model

A model of vibrations of a cracked body that is based on the difference in the stiffness characteristics in tension and compression is represented as a linear system with piecewise-constant parameters. We determine the parameters of vibrations of this system. We plot the relative crack size as a function of the difference in amplitudes in tension and compression, which is related to the vibration amplitude of a crack-free body with account for the resistance. The approaches described are applicable to evaluation of the "survival" of a structure (i.e., evaluation of the residual durability of a cracked structure). © 2000 Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.