A general description of soundboard function, long.

gordon stelter lclgcnp@yahoo.com
Tue, 25 Jan 2005 19:18:09 -0800 (PST)


Truly sorry for picking on you Richard, but that
should be "wont". ( English major. Sorry! Sorry! )
     Thump


--- Richard Brekne <Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no>
wrote:

> Robin
> 
> Wonderful posting !  Dispassionate with regards to
> personal preferences 
> as is your want, and strictly informative.  I
> particularilly enjoyed 
> your comments on the nature of structure born sound,
> your comments on 
> the impedance perspective (which provide new thought
> for my evening 
> ponderings) and read with fascination where your
> comments and quotes 
> relative to Seeley seemed to be going.
> 
> These kinds of posts usually take me a few three
> four readings to digest 
> adequately.  I would recommend anyone who is
> interested in the many 
> opinions offered about the nature of soundboard
> functioning to do the same.
> 
> Thanks muchly
> 
> Cheers
> RicB
> 
> >
> >> Dale
> >>      There is just such a relationship and it is
> no a mystery, 
> >> although, as far as I can tell it is neither
> comprehended nor taken 
> >> into account in the flexural view of soundboard
> function.   This 
> >> factor is precisely what I suggested be taken
> into account in a post 
> >> put up three years ago during the debate on the
> behavior of 
> >> soundboards, entitled Rocking Bridges, Dec 30,
> 2001,  in commentary 
> >> on the Modulus of Resilience, which was ignored,
> or misunderstood as 
> >> an impedance matter which is not the case.   In
> my opinion, one 
> >> should view the soundboard, as I have repeatedly
> urged, not through 
> >> the prism of deflection mechanics or cyclic
> static pressures but, 
> >> rather, as an energy absorbtive, concentrating
> and transmitting  
> >> medium, the energy  absorbed being the output of
> the string, which is 
> >> a pressure excitation at the terminations.  
> >>      In my opinion, (and, I am going to drop this
> phrase through the 
> >> remainer of this post although it all should be
> taken with this 
> >> qualification) the soundboard should be seen as a
> device which has 
> >> several functions.  These functions themselves
> are not necessarily 
> >> complementary and, in fact, are perhaps somewhat
> contradictary.  How 
> >> they are adjusted, vis a vis, one another is the
> particular solution 
> >> found by any given design approach.   At one and
> the same time, the 
> >> board, bridge and ribs together,  must be stiff
> enough to ensure  
> >> loop stability on the strings which motion of the
> terminations past 
> >> certain limits would preclude; at the same time,
> it must absorb this 
> >> energy, which is just sound, another problem in
> and of itself;, it 
> >> must then concentrate the sound in ways that
> build up the amplitude 
> >> and, finally, transfer momentum out of the system
> as acoustic 
> >> radiation. 
> >>      I will not repeat here the many arguments I
> have made for the 
> >> nature of motion at the bridge and the energy
> loading that occurs 
> >> there, they are, likely, well known.
> >>      What follows will be a synoptic treatment of
> this entire 
> >> question which will be published in substantially
> greater detail 
> >> later this year, elsewhere. 
> >>      There are critical distinctions that arise,
> as I said in the 
> >> post referred to above, from the nature of
> loading.  These were 
> >> dismissed as mere impedance issues.  Not so. 
> >>      The absorption by the soundboard of this
> energy is a function of 
> >> its energy resistance.  Quoting from the post
> referred to above, 
> >> which I will then elaborate upon:
> >>       "The approach taken by your school of
> thought is generally, as 
> >> far as I can tell, expressed in terms of mass and
> stiffness, flexion, 
> >> and the ratio of stress to strain, that is the
> modulus of 
> >> elasticity.(here I can't render appropriate
> notation due to the 
> >> limitations of the keyboard I am using);   These 
> are the terms of 
> >> deflection mechanics, among others.  When applied
> to the transfer 
> >> relations between string and bridge they are
> inadequate.  A better 
> >> measure of the relations is the one used in
> energy loading and that 
> >> is the modulus of resilience which is half the
> quotient of the square 
> >> of the stress to the modulus of elasticity. 
> Although the modulus of 
> >> resilience is in fact a measure of how much
> energy is absorbed per 
> >> unit volume of the material when the material is
> stressed to the 
> >> proportional limit, its implications for the
> design and manufacture 
> >> or remanufacture of soundboards are profound as
> it can be used as a 
> >> predictor for the absorbion of energy or energy
> resistance of a 
> >> member and therefore models the transfer
> relations between string and 
> >> bridge, among others.
> >>      Critical implications of the modulus of
> resilience and energy 
> >> loading arise in comparison to those of static
> loading.  Static 
> >> loading, whether flexion or axial depends upon
> the maximum stress 
> >> developed, energy loading is substantially
> different, (quoting from 
> >> Seely)  " the resistance... of the bar((bridge,
> rh) to an energy 
> >> load......depends not only the maximum
> unit-stress, s, but also, (1) 
> >> on the distribution of  stress through the body,
> since the energy 
> >> absorbed by a given unit volume is  ((the modulus
> of resilience is 
> >> quoted, rh)), and hence depends upon the degree
> to which that VOLUME 
> >> (caps mine, rh) is stressed, and (2),
> >> and on the number of units of volume of material
> in the bar ((bridge, 
> >> rh)).  What this means to those that have not
> grasped it is that the 
> >> transfer relations between string and
> bridge/soundboard are a 
> >> function of the VOLUME and the DISTRIBUTION of
> stress in the bridge 
> >> itself, and not simply the stiffness and mass. 
> The undercutting of 
> >> the bridge, thinning of soundboards, tapering of
> ribs,  inner rib 
> >> angles, etc. are in fact methods of volume and
> stress control the 
> >> purpose of which is to equalize the stress
> distribution in the 
> >> material and thereby optimize its energy
> absorptive capacity or 
> >> control its energy resistance.  As far as I can
> see, this should be a 
> >> matter dear to the heart of anyone attempting to
> design, 
> >> remanufacture,  or otherwise modify a piano
> soundboard.
> >>      To further quote from Seely, "...show that
> the material in a 
> >> beam having a constant cross-section is
> inefficient in absorbing 
> >> energy.   For example,........a rectangular beam,
> when loaded at 
> >> mid-span with a concentrated load,  can absorb
> only one-ninth as much 
> >> energy as the same beam could absorb  if all the
> material in the beam 
> >> were stressed to the same degree."  The
> requirement for 
> >> stress-equalization, hence control of energy
> resistance, can be 
> >> expressed as taper of ribbing, undercutting of
> bridges, notching of 
> >> struts, etc.
> >>      It is absolutely critical to understand that
> energy absorption 
> >> under dynamic loading, as indicated above, is
> functionally different 
> >> from that of static loading, one being dependant
> upon the maximum 
> >> stress developed, the other the nature of the
> stress distribution, a 
> 
=== message truncated ===



		
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