ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: The effect of natural frequency shift due to crack propagation through a steel plate was investigated. For the experimental measurements of the vibration signature, the impulse resonant spectroscopy (IRAS) method was used by utilizing software able to extract the frequency domain from the recorded vibration response by fast Fourier transform (FFT). An FEA modefrequency analysis was conducted in order to gain more insight of the phenomenon considering the first three flexural modes of vibration. In addition, using the crack propagation history as input for fatigue analysis the remaining life of the part at each stage of damage was predicted based on the well-known Paris formulation. Both, the vibration and the fatigue analytical and experimental results showed very good agreement.
