MODAL ANALYSIS OF CANTILEVER BEAM TO DETECT FAILURE ZONE

Modal analysis is performed to determine the vibration characteristics i.e. natural frequencies and mode shapes of structures. The natural frequencies and mode shapes are important parameters in the design for dynamic loading conditions. The knowledge of modal parameters is necessary to understand structural dynamics of structures. Modal parameters are global properties of a structure and any changes in these parameters can be used to detect and locate structural faults. The structural fault affects mass, damping and stiffness properties of structures. Modal parameters of structures could be obtained either by experimental modal analysis or from finite element analysis. In this research work, modal analysis of a mild steel cantilever beam has been carried out using finite element based software ANSYS® and the results of computational analysis are validated analytical. The calculated percentage difference of natural frequencies between computational analysis results and analytical results lies within the range of 1.5%. The stress concentration regions found on cantilever beam corroborated well with the failed zone