Vibration characteristics of cracked functionally graded structures using XFEM

Abstract

Crack is critical for structural health and their service life under dynamic condition. Vibration characteristics of cracked functionally graded structures have been investigated using extended finite element method (XFEM). A small crack in structures can leads to catastrophic failure. Vibrations of structures may initiate cracks and also causes opening and closing of cracks. Therefore the study of cracked geometry especially in dynamic condition becomes more important. The location of cracks is tracked by level set functions. Numerical results for both crack and un-crack plates have been presented. The effect of crack on natural frequency has been studied in detail. Natural frequency for in-plane free vibration of functionally graded structures with various crack length and crack orientation has been presented for different crack position. Further, different cases are considered with multiple crack systems to understand dynamic response of cracked structures.