Nondestructive health monitoring of cracked simply supported fiber-reinforced composite structures

A crack on a structural member introduces a local flexibility that is a function of crack depth. This flexibility changes the dynamic behavior of the system and its stability characteristics. A continuous cracked beam vibration theory is implemented for the lateral vibration of cracked Euler–Bernoulli beams with single-edge open cracks. In this study, the crack identification (health monitoring) for simply supported graphite/epoxy fiber-reinforced composite beams is considered. The effects of crack depth and location, fiber orientation, and fiber volume fraction on the flexibility and consequently on natural frequency and mode shapes for cracked fiber-reinforced composite beams are investigated.