No abstract

No abstract

Free vibration of bidirectional functionally graded sandwich (BFGSW) beams is studied by using a first-order shear deformation finite element formulation. The beams consist of three layers, a homogeneous core and two functionally graded skin layers with material properties varying in both the longitudinal and thickness directions by power gradation laws. The finite element formulation with the stiffness and mass matrices evaluated explicitly is efficient, and it is capable of giving accurate frequencies by using a small number of elements. Vibration characteristics are evaluated for the beams with various boundary conditions. The effects of the power-law indexes, the layer thickness ratio, and the aspect ratio on the frequencies are investigated in detail and highlighted. The influence of the aspect ratio on the frequencies is also examined and discussed. Keywords: BFGSW beam; first-order shear deformation theory; free vibration; finite element method.

A new approach is proposed for calculating natural frequencies and crack detection in a stepped cantilever beam with arbitrary number of cracks. This is based an explicit expression of the natural frequencies in term of crack parameter derived in the form similar to the so-called Rayleigh quotient for vibrating beam. The obtained simple relationship between natural frequencies and crack parameters enables not only accurate calculating the natural frequencies but also to develop an efficient procedure for detecting multiple cracks from given natural frequencies. The proposed technique called crack scanning method is illustrated and validated by numerical results.

The present study addresses the modal analysis of multistep beam with arbitrary number of cracks by using the transfer matrix method and modal testing technique. First, there is conducted general solution of free vibration problem for uniform beam element with arbitrary number of cracks that allows one to simplify the transfer matrix for cracked multistep beam. The transferring beam state needs to undertake only at the steps of beam but not through crack positions. Such simplified the transfer matrix method makes straightforward to investigate effect of cracks mutually with cross-section step in beam on natural frequencies. It is revealed that step-down and step-up in beam could modify notably sensitivity of natural frequencies to crack so that the analysis provides useful indication for crack detection in multistep beam. The proposed theory was validated by an experimental case study.