Large-Deflection Analysis of Cracked Beam by Boundary Integral Equation Method

This paper is concerned with the large-deflection analysis of cracked beams by the boundary integral equation method (BIEM). In the analysis, a crack is simulated by an equivalent rotational spring, which connects two segments of the beam. The BIEM formulation is applied to each segment of the beam and the resulting nonlinear boundary integral equations are solved iteratively. Numerical computations for the cracked beams under the various boundary conditions are carried out and the influences of the crack depth and location on the center deflection and the stress distribution of the beams are investigated.