Using disturbance function for vibration analysis of a beam with an open edge crack

In this article, the model presented by Shen and Pierre to investigate the transverse vibration behavior of a simply supported beam has been revised. This is done by applying more realistic assumptions. The crack is modeled as a continuous disturbance and the disturbance function is provided based on fracture mechanics. Next, the natural frequencies corresponding to the model are extracted using the Galerkin method. The effect of crack parameters on the vibration behavior of the cracked beam is investigated. The obtained results show that the natural frequencies of the beam decrease with increasing crack depth. At the end, the obtained results are compared with the experimental results. The results show that the presented model is improved compared to previous models and predicts the vibration behavior of cracked beams with better accuracy for different crack parameters.