This paper was devoted to analyze fracture of shaft failure due to the second higherrncritical speed for AISI 1018 steel shaft. In this particular research, the influence ofrntransverse cracks in a rotating shaft was analyzed by comparing with the un-crackedrnshaft which deflects at the second higher critical speed. The paper addressed the tworndistinct issues of the changes in critical speed and the influence of crack on dynamicrnresponse of shaft during operation. Moreover, the evolution of catastrophic failure ofrna cracked rotor near the second higher resonance frequency was investigated.rnNumerical calculation was made to calculate the critical speed and other dynamicrnfracture parameters. ABAQUS was used to present the simulation result. The researchrnutilized whirling machine for experimental investigation to find out the critical speedrnand the crack developed at the shaft. For homogeneity confirmation SPECTROrnMAXX was employed.rnThe dynamic response obtained from simulation and experimental investigation wasrncompared with those evaluated through numerical integration. It was observed that therncritical speed of the cracked shaft decreases by 8.2% and 6.93%. Combined mode I &rnIII of crack had been seen in the shaft.