Crack identification in a beam by measure of the response to white noise

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to inspect the vibrational response of a beam with an edge non-propagating crack by means of stochastic analysis, in order to detect the presence and the location of structural damage. The non- linear behavior of the beam due to the opening and closing of the crack is fully exploited. The non-linearity measure is based on the response evaluation of the beam subjected to a white noise process. Both numerical and experimental investigations regarding a cantilever beam with a crack are reported in the paper.