Crack detection of cantilever beam by natural frequency tracking using experimental and finite element analysis

The investigation of a crack in a cantilever beam is very imperative in various mechanical applications such as turbo machinery impeller blades, propeller shafts and airplane wings. As a result, a full study is performed in this paper to investigate the crack consequences on a cantilever beam; this is carried out by monitoring the natural frequency of the beam, taking into consideration the probe mass used in data collection. The investigation is divided into two phases; the first phase is experimentally performed by measuring the natural frequency of a specimen with different thicknesses and widths while changing specimen material to illustrate the specimen dimensional and material effect on natural frequency reduction. This is carried out on different specimen configuration by changing crack location and depth. The second phase is to validate the acquired results from the first phase. This is achieved by using finite element analysis (FEA) techniques, this is performed by modeling the experimental phase conditions into ANSYS 16.2, one time considering the probe mass and other time without putting probe mass into consideration. Finally, the FEA results are compared with experimental phase results.