Abstract
In this study, the effects of crack depth and crack location on the in-plane free vibration of cracked frame structures have been investigated numerically by using the Finite Element Method. For the rectangular cross-section beam, a crack element is developed by using the principles of fracture mechanics. The effects of crack depth and location on the natural frequency of multi-bay and multi-store frame structures are presented in 3D graphs. The comparison between the present work and the results obtained from ANSYS shows a very good agreement.