Purpose <p>Natural frequency is a global dynamic parameter that normally contains limited spatial information on a crack in a structure. However, recently a theoretical concept that a roving mass with rotary inertia causes sudden frequency shifts when located near the crack location has been proposed as a method of locating cracks, although experimental verification is still lacking. This study fills this gap in knowledge, by investigating the measurability of the frequency shift as a roving body passes a crack.</p> Methods <p>Natural frequencies were measured through impact hammer tests and compared with frequencies calculated using the dynamic stiffness method and finite element method.</p> Results <p>The results show that the natural frequency shift could be clearly measured for a beam featuring a medium sized crack. For smaller cracks, while numerical results show that the current method would still enable the identification of their locations as frequency shifts are in the measurable range, the number of locations at which the measurement needs to be taken can be very large.</p> Conclusions <p>This study provides insights into the practical feasibility of the roving mass technique for crack detection.</p>