Shail R. Pandya
Dept. of Mech. Eng., Univ. of Houston, 4800 Calhoun Rd., Houston, TX 77204-4792
The response of a three-member plane truss with and without cracks to impact vibration is being experimentally investigated. The impact location is varied and the results are being analyzed. It is expected that the presence of a crack would affect the response pattern. The crack will be introduced in that member which has the maximum probability of being cracked in a truss under externally loaded conditions. The crack will then be modeled and the vibration response predicted using finite element analysis. The results obtained from this analysis will then be compared with the experimental results. The purpose of this work is to understand the response pattern for a triangular truss which could be considered as the building block for more complicated trusses found in bridges and other structures. [Work supported by NSF Grant No. MSS-9024224.]