Developing a Generalized Harmonic Balance Method for Accurate Identification of Crack Depth in a Continuous Shaft-Disc System

In this work, the effect of a crack on the vibrational properties of a shaft-disc system has been studied applying a generalized harmonic balance method. In the reviewed literature, the reported methods to find the unbalance response of a continuous shaft-disc system provide only the first harmonic component of the response; whereas, the presented method gives the super-harmonic components as well. The shaft-disk system consists of a flexible shaft with a single rigid disc mounted on rigid short bearing supports. The shaft contains a transverse breathing crack (fatigue crack). The main concept for crack detection in vibration-based methods is basically the investigation of crack-induced changes in the selected vibrational properties. Shaft critical speeds and harmonic and super-harmonic components of the unbalance lateral response have been used as typical vibrational properties for crack detection in a rotating shaft system. A generalized harmonic balance method has been developed to efficiently investigate changes in vibrational properties due to the effect of crack properties, depth and location. The results of the developed analytical model have been compared with those obtained from the finite element model and close agreement has been observed.