Vibration Analysis of Cracked Cantilever Beam Using Response Surface Methodology

Purpose The vibration characteristics of the beam depend upon its uniformity, material density, and presence of any defects like cracks. The present study investigated the vibration characteristics of a cracked cantilever beam comprised of structural steel and E-glass fiber using ANSYS 18.1 FEA software. Method The effect of crack parameters, such as crack depth and width, are analyzed using the Taguchi response surface method. The sensitivity and response surface plots are constructed to determine the critical range of values for which deformation is obtained as maximum or minimum values. The comparative results are portrayed wherein the cracked beam of E-glass epoxy is observed to be of lower natural frequency and higher total deformation than the cracked steel beam. The present study is extended to showcase the effects of the first two modes of transverse vibration and the first mode of torsional vibration. Result and Conclusion Concerning the sensitivity plot, it is observed that structural steel crack height has a predominant effect on total deformation corresponding to first, third, and fifth natural frequencies as compared to crack width, while in contrast, for E-glass epoxy crack height has a significant effect on total deformation corresponding to the fundamental natural frequency and third natural frequency only but for fifth natural frequency crack width has a significant impact as compared to crack height on total deformation.