Free vibration analysis of non-uniform beams with an arbitrary number of cracks and concentrated masses

An exact approach for free vibration analysis of a non-uniform beam with an arbitrary number of cracks and concentrated masses is proposed. A model of massless rotational spring is adopted to describe the local flexibility induced by cracks in the beam. Using the fundamental solutions and recurrence formulas developed in this paper, the mode shape function of vibration of a non-uniform beam with an arbitrary number of cracks and concentrated masses can be easily determined. The main advantage of the proposed method is that the eigenvalue equation of a non-uniform beam with any kind of two end supports, any finite number of cracks and concentrated masses can be conveniently determined from a second order determinant. As a consequence, the decrease in the determinant order as compared with previously developed procedures leads to significant savings in the computational effort and cost associated with dynamic analysis of non-uniform beams with cracks. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the proposed method and to study the effect of cracks on the natural frequencies and mode shapes of cracked beams.