Journal of Sound and Vibration (1983) 91(4), 583-593

VIBRATION OF CRACKED SHAFTS IN BENDING

A. D. DIMAROGONAS AND C. A. PAPADOPOULOS

Machine Design Laboratory, University of Patras, Patras, Greece

(Received 19 January 1983, and in revised form 14 March 1983)

Cracked rotating shafts exhibit a certain particular dynamic response due to the local
flexibility of the cracked section. In this response, most of the features of the response of
a shaft with dissimilar moments of inertia can be identified. Moreover, the non-linear
behavior of the closing crack introduces the characteristics of non-linear systems. For
many practical applications, the system can be considered bi-linear and analytical methods
can be applied. A de Lava1 rotor with an open crack is investigated by way of application
of the theory of shafts with dissimilar moments of inertia. Furthermore, analytical solutions
are obtained for the closing crack under the assumption of large static deflections, a
situation common in turbomachinery. Finally, a solution is developed for the case in which
the local flexibility function is found experimentally.

1. INTRODUCTION
The behavior of a rotating shaft with a transverse surface crack was first observed in the
later 1960’s in connection with the possibility of crack identification on a large steam
turbine where there was a suspicion that one of the rotors had such a crack. As a result
of efforts by the first author and his colleagues, the problem was the subject of a thorough
investigation by experimental and numerical techniques and this led to the development
of a supervisory instrument which can give an early crack warning [l]. After 1975 there
were a number of publications in the open literature dealing with this problem.
Dimarogonas [2] observed the local flexibility of the shaft due to the crack and gave
an analytical expression for the crack local flexibility in relation to the crack depth, and
also showed the influence of the crack upon the dynamic response of the rotor.
Gasch [3] and Henry and Okah-Avae [4] considered the non-linear mechanism of a
closing crack with different flexibilities for the open and closed crack. Applying this
principle on a De Lava1 rotor they derived the equations of motion on the rotating and
stationary co-ordinate systems. These equations were solved in an analog computer. The
crack flexibility was measured by experiment.
Mayes and Davies [5] performed a detailed analytical and experimental investigation
for turbine shafts with cracks. They derived a rough analytical estimation of the crack
compliance based on the energy principle of Paris and measured it on a test rig. Though
they considered the non-linear equations for a simple rotor, they obtained analytical
solutions by considering an open crack, which leads to a shaft with dissimilar moments
of inertia in two perpendicular directions, a problem with a known analytical solution.
Grabowski [6] argued that in shafts of practical interest the shaft deflection due to its
own weight is orders of magnitude greater than the vibration amplitude. Therefore he
suggested that non-linearity is not affecting the shaft response since the crack opens and
closes regularly with the rotation. Therefore the equations of motion can be considered
linear with variable coefficients. Further, he used modal analysis, as did Mayes and Davies
583
0022-460X/83/240583+11 $03.00/O @ 1983 Academic Press Inc. (London) Limited
584 A. I>. DIMAKOGONAS AND C. A. PAPADOPOULO!,

[5], and numerically integrated the resulting system of equations for a multidegree of
freedom shaft. Similar results were presented also by Ziebarth [7].

2. LOCAL FLEXIBILITY OF A CRACKED SHAFT

A transverse crack of depth a is considered on a shaft of radius H (see Figure 1I. The
shaft has local flexibility due to the crack, in many directions, depending on the direction
of the applied forces. A complete flexibility matrix has been presented elsewhere [S] but
here only bending deformation will be considered. Axial forces which give coupling with
transverse motions of the cracked shaft will not be considered here. Shear stresses are
not considered, on the assumption of a rather long shaft. Therefore, the shaft is bent by
a pure bending moment M and the additional angular deflection of the one shaft end
relative to the other will be computed.

‘E

Figure 1. Geometry of a cracked section of a shaft.

Paris [9] computed the displacement u of a cracked elastic structure due to the action
of force P as

J(T) dn (1)

where 17 is the crack depth and J(T) is the strain energy density function, which, for a
rectangular beam with a crack of constant depth 7, is (for unit width) for plane strain

J = [( 1 - u2)/E]K:. (2)
For a crack with varying depth, the strain energy density function has the form

J=

where E is the Young’s modulus, Y the Poisson ratio and 2b the crack width. The local
flexibility due to the crack is [2]

d5 dv. (4)
 VIBRATION OF CRACKED SHAFTS IN BENDING 585
The solution for the stress intensity factor KI is not available. The solution for a strip
with width d[ and depth q = u+JR*-_~~- R will be used. This solution is [9]

KI =(4M/?rR4)&%&&F2(~1/h), (5)
F2(q/h)=~(2h/~~)tan(~~/2h){0.923+0.199[1-sin(.rr~/2h)]4}/cos(~~/2h),
h being the local height, h = 2m. Therefore, for P = M, equation (4) becomes

dv d5. (6)
In dimensionless form

[qE’R3] = I,:‘R c,z 5 [1-(5/R)21~(77/R)F:(77/h) d ; d ; . (7)

00
This integral expression is a function of a/ RD only and it has been computed by numerical
integration and plotted in Figure 2(a). Certain experimental data are also shown in the
figure for comparison. These results were obtained with a Plexiglas shaft with a sharp
notch of varying depth.
For a moment about the n axis the cracked shaft has another flexibility coefficient [9]

32t2+‘: (n/h) dn d5
T2RB
9 (8)

Fl(q/h) =JCWw) tan(v/2h)

x{0*752+2.02(_r7/h)+0*37[1-sin (rv/2h)]3}/cos (q/2h).

01 I I I I I I
0.001 0.01 0.1 I IO 100

CE’R3
Figure 2. Dimensionless flexibility of the cracked section, (a) load direction normal to crack edge and (b)
load direction parallel to cracked edge. 0, Experimental results.
 586 A. Il. DIMAKOGONAS AND (‘. A PAPADOPOlll.O\

In dimensionless form

[c,E’R3] = $SIR)‘~(~lR)Fi!n/h) d (9)

This integral expression again is a function of a/R only and it is plotted in Figure 2(b).
The integration was carried out over only half of the crack width because only positive
tension stresses cause extension and opening of the crack.
The results plotted in Figures 2(a) and (b) can be combined for a general orientation
of the crack edge by analyzing the applied force along the main directions of the crack
edge and depth and adding vectorially the corresponding deflections. Although not needed
for the following discussion, the vertical deflection in the static load direction is plotted
in Figure 3 to compare it with experimental results given by Grabowski [6]. It is apparent
that the present analysis gives larger values for the deflection than these experimental
results. This was expected because Grabowski’s results were obtained with a notched
rather than cracked shaft. The same argument explains the smaller values of the experi-
mental results for the compliance obtained in this investigation and shown in Figure 2(a).

I I I

Anqle

Figure 3. Static deflection of a cracked shaft for changing crack edge orientation. a/D = 0.5

3. THE OPEN CRACK

Analysis of a system with an open crack introducing only a dissimilar moment of inertia
has not only a theoretical value. Many features of rotors with dissimilar moments of
inertia are found in the behavior of cracked rotors and in many situations open cracks
can be assumed to occur for small vibration amplitudes, when static deflections are not
too substantial.
Consider a de Lava1 rotor with a disc of mass m supported by a massless elastic shaft
of stiffness k without the crack, damping c and eccentricities of the mass el and c2 along
the rotor fixed co-ordinates 5 and 7. The edge of the crack is along the rotor fixed
 VIBRATION OF CRACKED SHAFTS IN BENDING 587
co-ordinate 5. Therefore, the shaft spring constant will be different along the two axes 5
and 7. If k, and k, are the respective spring constants, c, and c, the respective crack
flexibilities and 1 the shaft length, then
k,=k/(l+c,k1*/8), k, = k/( 1 + c,k12/8). (10)
The equations of motion in the rotor-fixed co-ordinate system are [2], if fl is the
angular velocity of rotation,
m[~-2R~-R2(~+~,)]+c(~-~~)+k~~=mgcos~t,

m[;i+2L@-~2(n+~2)]+c(7j+O~)+k,n=-mgsinRz. (11)
Upon introduction of the dimensionless parameters wf = k/m, c/m = 2~~5, k,/ m = CO:
and k,/ m = CO:,application of stability criteria [8] to equation (11) shows that instability
occurs in the range

A first observation is that when the radical is negative there is always stability. With l4
neglected, the condition for global stability is
1*> (CO?- w:)*/4&LJ:+w:). (13)
If the system is undamped, equations (12) suggest that the range w1> R > w2 is unstable.
Damping makes the range of instability shorter or vanishing. For shallow cracks the local
flexibility is small and condition (13) is usually satisfied. The propagation of the crack
causes w1 and o2 to be progressively different from one another until inequality (13) is
violated. At this point the instability range starts developing. As the difference between
w1 and w2 increases the influence of damping tends to be minimized and the situation is
gradually approaching the undamped instability range w1> R > w2.
For the forced response, equations (ll), upon multiplication of the second by i and
addition becomes for p = [+in,
2 2
CO:+&
Z;+2(w,C+iO)P+
(--_*+2iflw,~
2
>
~+~p=02(c,+i~2)+ge-in’,(14)

where an overbar denotes the complex conjugate. Since the problem is linear, the
influences of unbalance and of the disc weight can be assessed separately.
To this end the unbalance response is the steady state solution, with the term g ePiRt
neglected. The length of the response vector, from equation (14), is

As one would expect, this function has maxima near the frequencies o1 and o2 and the
respective amplitudes are, for small damping,

(RLWI = (c1/452)l&w:I/&Y (K),=,, = (E~/~L*)Iw$--&wE. (16)

For high values of damping, one maximum may exist between o1 and w2. These amplitudes
become infinite for zero damping. Therefore, it is expected that critical speeds are present
588 :\. D. DIMAKOGONAS AND c‘ ,\ l’APADOPOC!L.O4

during speeding up or coasting down near the natural frequencies wi and wZ which are
both below the untracked shaft frequency w,~.
The influence of the disc weight can be found by neglecting the eccentricities E, and
gZ in equation (6). A solution of the resulting equation exists in the form
pr: = u c’“‘+ V c ““. (17)
Ke{U}=!(g/A)(wz- wT)[wIwj---?R’(wf+w~)],

Im{U}=(g/A)5w,.n(w~-W~)(W~+W:),

Re{V}=(g/A){[$(o: +w:)-4n2][~:~22-2n’(~I +o~~)+-y~~wf,fl~(wf +w:)]},

Im{V}=(g/A)2~w,R{[~(w:+wf)-4~2](w:+w~)-2[wfw~-2R’(w:+w~)]},
A = [CL+&- 2n2(w:+W:)12+452~~~2(~):+W:)2.

The magnitudes of U and V are finite for all 0 for non-zero 5, because A is positive.
For zero damping, A becomes zero and the amplitude infinite for a particular speed of
rotation,

w,=~~~,w~/~2(w:+w;)=~w,Jl-[(k~-k,)/(k~+k,)]. (18)
For small crack depth w, = w2 = w, and this particular speed equals half the untracked
rotor natural frequency. This observation is used for crack detection on rotating shafts
because only mechanisms of dissimilar moments of inertia can introduce such a frequency.
For non-zero damping the amplitude at R = w, is near maximum and this speed is called
the secondary critical speed due to the weight of the disc.
To consider the forced response due to both unbalance and disc weight one performs
the transformation z = p elf” into the stationary co-ordinate system, and finds that the
rotor response is
z = U e21Rr+ V+p, e’“‘. (19)
The first term represents whirl at double the running frequency. The second term is the
static deflection of the shaft. The third term is the unbalance response at the running
frequency. The response as a function of the running speed is shown in Figure 4.

WC w2 WI w/l n

Figure 4. Vibration amplitude of a cracked shaft.

4. THE CLOSING CRACK

The rotation of a cracked shaft loaded laterally by its own weight, or a static load, for
a crack closing at positions where compressive stresses occur at the location of the crack,
introduces time varying coefficients into the equations of motion. In this case, if the time
 VIBRATION OF CRACKED SHAFTS IN BENDING 589
t = 0 corresponds to a position when the crack starts opening, equation (19) becomes
2 2
W:+U:
;+2(w,l+iR)b+
( P-R2+2ian0,t
2
>
~+~P_~~~2(~1+i82)+ge-inr,

o<nt<?r,

~+2(w,~+iR)~+(02,-02+2i0w,~)p=02(~1+ic2)+ge-iR’, 7r<nt<27r. (20)

Although, in principle, these equations can be solved with analytical methods [8] the
usual procedure is the numerical solution of these equations. In this manner, one can
take into account the non-linear behavior for high enough vibration amplitudes.
For shafts with more complicated geometry, it is preferable to work in the stationary
co-ordinate system. A shaft element in the vicinity of the crack has the following flexibility
matrix in the rotating co-ordinate system:

1
Cl 0
[0 c2’

As obtained by multiplying by the transformation matrix, the same matrix in the stationary
co-ordinate system is

1’
c2 + (Cl - c2) cos* nt $( c1 - c2) sin 2Rt
$( ci - c2) sin 20t c2+(c1-c2) sin2Rt

for 2rrn < Rt < 2rn + n: In the second half of the period, the flexibility matrix is

I
c 0
[0 c’
for 2rn + T < f2t < 2r( n + 1). Several investigators have used such equations to obtain
responses of cracked shafts [2-51.
Whereas a slotted shaft has only two speeds at which the synchronous response becomes
unbounded, the cracked shaft has the possibility of either a range of speeds where a
bounded synchronous response does not exist or a range of speeds where there are two
possible synchronous responses. Which of these alternatives is realized depends upon the
phase of the out-of-balance with respect to the crack. With the out-of-balance in phase
with the crack a band of speeds occurs where the equations have no solution, whereas
with the out-of-balance in antiphase with the crack a band of speeds exists where there
are two solutions of the equations. One of these solutions is unstable and the slightest
disturbance would cause the system to jump from the stable to the unstable solution.
This phenomenon (switching from one solution to another) is characteristic of non-linear
systems.
A first analytical approach to the problem of the closing or breathing crack can be
made considering the motion in the rotating co-ordinate system. The equation of motion
for the de Lava1 rotor is, with damping neglected, in the 5 co-ordinate

m~+2m12i~+(k-mR2),$=mge-iR’+meR2, (21)

where the shaft stiffness k takes the value k( 1 - S) for negative 5, which is equivalent to
T/O < t < 27r/R. If kT is the shaft local stiffness to bending the corresponding linear
stiffness of the shaft in the lateral direction is

(22)
590 A. 0. DIMAKCX;ONAS AND C‘ A I’4PAI~OPOlil.O\

with 6 = l/(1 +16k,./kf.‘). The null equation has the torm

{+20ii+(w’-R’)t=O, (23)

with w = w, =Jk/rn for [> 0 and w = w? = w,\.:‘G for t < 0. It admits solutions of the
form

5, =[A, cos w,t+B, sin w,t] e ~““, [? = [A, cos w,t+ B2 sin w,tj e “I’. (24)

during the first and second half of one rotation respectively.

If the system is forced to rotate with angular velocity fl instability may occur. This
can be found by observing some compatibility conditions: (a) at the end of the half cycle
(t = r/L?) displacements and velocities are the same; (b) at the end of the complete cycle
(t = 27r/0) displacements and velocities are A times greater than the values at the
beginning of the cycle (t = 0). These conditions lead to four homogeneous linear equations
in A,, A,, B1 and B2. The condition that these equations have solution other than the
trivial one is

A’-2qh+l=O (25)
from which

A =q*Jq2-1, (26)
q=cos(~w,/(2)cos(~~2/n)-[(W:+w:)/2 w,wz] sin (~w,/R) sin (nw,/R). (27)

It is apparent that A > 1 will lead to growing vibrations and instability. The threshold of
instability is at A = 1 in which case q = 1. The speeds at which instability occurs are given

Figure 5. Stability chart for a cracked shaft. Shaded areas indicate instability
 VIBRATION OF CRACKED SHAFTS IN BENDING 591
as solutions of the equation

q=I, (28)
or, in terms of the dimensionless parameters, l1 = w,/R and & = ~*/a, where w1 is the
natural frequency of the untracked shaft and & = <,6,
q = cos rrl, cos ~5~ - [(S:+ 3$)/2J1 l,] sin ~5, sin ~5~ = 1. (29)
Solutions of this equation are plotted in Figure 5 as functions of the parameters 6 and
wi/fl. Of these, 6 is a function of the crack depth, as described above. With dotted lines,
the instability region for the shaft with an open crack is indicated. It is obvious that there
is a substantial difference between the two models.
For the forced response, a particular solution of the non-homogeneous equation is
&,=[meR*/(k--d2*)]+(mg/k) epiR’. (30)
The general solution is

5 = ( Aj cos wit + Bj sin Wit)e -iR’+[mef22/(k-m122)]+(mg/k) emin’, (31)

where the subscript j takes the values 1 and 2 in the intervals 0 < t < s-/l2 and r/R < t <
27r/R, respectively. Application of the continuity conditions with A = 1 for steady state
yields
La=f, (32)

a ={A, & A2 B21, f={f1 f2 f3 fJ?

l ,] +g(+-$)> f*=-g(+&),
fl=e[(Y2,~~*-1-(~~,n)“-

l I]+~)~ f4=g($-$),
f3 = 4,w,,t,*- 1 -(q,Ly-

cos 7r(w,/R - 1) sin 7r(w,/R - 1) -cos 7r(o,/D- 1) -sin 7r(w2/0 - 1)

L=

!-sin 7r(01/0 - 1)

Therefore,
1
-1
cos 5r(w,/0 - 1)
1

the coefficients of equation (31) are

1
sin 7r(w2/0 - 1)
-1
1
-cos 7r(w*/L? - 1)
-1
-1 1.
a = L-‘f. (33)

Equation (31) then yields the rotor response in the rotating co-ordinate system and the
transformation z = 5 exp (iat) gives the response in the stationary co-ordinate system.
This analysis is based on the assumption that the static deflection is much greater than
the vibration amplitude and that there is a sharp transition of the shaft stiffness from
untracked to cracked at the time that the crack is vertical. This is not exactly correct at
times when the crack is near the vertical position. For such cases the local stiffness is
measured experimentally as a function of the angle of the crack to the vertical. The
analytical procedure in this case is based on the expansion of this function in Fourier
series. To this end, proper selection of the zero time permits the shaft stiffness to be set
up in the form

k = c Ai cos iat. (34).

i=O
592 A D. DIMAKOGONAS AND C’ /i PAPADOPO~~l_OS

Usually, this series converges very rapidly and no more than the first few terms are
significant.
The shaft equation in the stationary co-ordinate system for the vertical motion is
m..?+ kz = meLI’ e’.“‘+ mg. (35)
The solution is sought in the form

z = C ai cos jot. (36)

j=O

By substituting this expression into equation (35) and collecting similar terms cos kwt,
after expressing the products cos a cos b = [cos (a + 6) +cos (a - b)]/2, a series of
equations is obtained. The kth of the p = I + 1 equations is

-mL12akk2+ f: iaj(A,+j+A\k_,i)= [ymeL?’ ZzzJ, (37)

,=o

where if k = 0 and k-j < 0 then Alk_j/ = 0, if k = j and k # 0 then A\,_j/ = 2Ao, and if
k + j 2 1 then Ak+, = 0. The coefficients aj are computed from the solution of the system
of linear algebraic equations
Da=f, (38)
where the i, j element of the p X p matrix D is

D, = A;;;‘;~2~‘j” mn2iz ;,D: ; ‘;}.

21 0
Of course A, =0 when i> n, and Ali_jl=O for i =O. The forcing vector has only two
non-zero terms: fo= mg; f, = melI*. D is a banded matrix and the width of the band
depends on the number it of harmonics of the stiffness function. In general, the response
has 2n harmonics and I = 2n. Hence the size of the matrix D is p = 3n + 1. Therefore
z = DP’fc, (39)
where c =[l cos Rt cos 20nt ... cos (2n + l)nt]. Critical speeds will be roots of the
equation
ID(=O. (40)
Due to the term i2 in the diagonal of matrix D the system has several subharmonics.
Their magnitude depends strongly on S. For an untracked shaft, equation (40) degenerates
to the well known relation R* = k/m, for A0 = k, A, = AZ = . 1 .= 0.

5. CONCLUSION
By using the Paris energy equation for a crack, the local flexibility of a cracked section
of a cylindrical shaft has been found.
The computation of the local flexibility was based on the plane strain assumption for
the shaft and the stress intensity factors used are for the plane strip, since such factors
are not available for the transverse crack on a cylinder. However, the experimental results
available render this approach adequate.
Furthermore, the case of uncoupled bending vibration of a de Lava1 rotor with a
transverse surface crack has been investigated. The assumption of an open crack leads
to analytical solutions based on the theory of rotating shafts with dissimilar moments of
 VIBRATION OF CRACKED SHAFTS IN BENDING 593
inertia. Solutions known already from previous investigations, based mostly on experi-
mental determination of the local flexibility, are found analytically. The most important
aspect of these solutions is the near-half-critical speed which clearly identifies a crack in
an isotropic cylindrical shaft. This speed has been used as the primary source of information
for the identification of the existence of a crack in turbomachinery rotors.
Moreover, an analytical approach was presented for a closing crack under the assump-
tion of large static deflections in comparison with vibration amplitudes. This is a realistic
assumption for turbomachinery and leads to a bilinear spring behavior of the cracked
section of the shaft. For a rotating shaft this leads to equations with periodic coefficients
and appropriate analytical solutions for natural and forced vibrations.
As expected, higher harmonics have been identified. A stability chart gives, for varying
crack depths, the areas of instability.
Finally, the case, sometimes used in practice, when the local flexibility is found experi-
mentally in the form of a periodic function of the angle of rotation, under the above
assumption of a large static deflection, has been considered. The flexibility function is
used in the form of a truncated Fourier series. The response also is obtained in a series
form.
In the case of a closing crack with large vibration amplitudes, in comparison with the
static deflection, the system of equations is non-linear and one has to resort to numerical
integration.

REFERENCES
1. T. A. PAFELIAS 1974 Technical Information Series of General Electric, No. DF-74-LS-79.
Dynamic behavior of a cracked rotor.
2. A. D. DIMAROGONAS 1976 Vibration Engineering. St Paul: West Publishers.
3. R. GASCH 1976 IME Conference Publication Vibrations in Rotating Machinery, Paper No.
C178/76. Dynamic behavior of a simple rotor with a cross-sectional crack.
4. T. A. HENRY and B. E. OKAH-AVAE 1976 IME Conference Publication, Vibrations in Rotating
Machinery, Paper No. C162/76. Vibrations in cracked shafts.
5. I. W. MAYES and W. G. R. DAVIES 1976 ZME Conference Publication, Vibration in Rotating
Machinery, Paper No. C168/76. The vibrational behaviour of a rotating shaft system containing
a transverse crack.
6. B. GRABOWSKI 1979 ASME Design Engineering Technology Conference, St. Louis, Paper No.
79-DET-67. The vibrational behavior of a turbine rotor containing a transverse crack.
7. H. ZIEBARTH, H. SCHERDTFEGER and E:-E. M~~HLE 1978 VDZ-Berichte 320, 37-43.
Auswirkung von Querissen auf das Schwingungsverhalten von Rotoren.
8. A. D. DIMAROGONAS and S. A. PAIPETIS 1983 Analytical Methods in Rotor Dynamics.
London: Applied Science Publishers.
9. H. TADA, P. C. PARIS and G. R. IRWIN 1973 The Stress Analysis of Cracks Handbook.
Hellertown, Pennsylvania: Del Research Corporation.
10. A. TONDL 1965 Some Problems in Rotor Dynamics. London: Chapman and Hall.