Rotating composite beam with a breathing crack

A rotating cantilevered beam with a breathing crack was investigated with the material assumed as unidirectional reinforced polyimide. For the numerical analysis, the local flexibility matrix was determined from a fracture mechanics approach by using a crack element model based on the Castiligano theorem. The Newmark time integration method and fast Fourier transform method of analysis were adopted in this study. The effects of various parameters such as crack depths, crack positions, fiber angles, volume fractions, and rotating speeds of the beam were studied in detail.