The violin bridge as filter

The violin bridge filter role was investigated using modal and acoustic measurements on 12 quality-rated violins combined with systematic bridge rocking frequency f(rock) and wing mass decrements deltam on four bridges for two other violins. No isolated bridge resonances were observed; bridge motions were complex (including a "squat" mode near 0.8 kHz) except for low frequency rigid body pivot motions, all more or less resembling rocking motion at higher frequencies. A conspicuous broad peak near 2.3 kHz in bridge driving point mobility (labeled BH) was seen for good and bad violins. Similar structure was seen in averaged bridge, bridge feet, corpus mobilities and averaged radiativity. No correlation between violin quality and BH driving point, averaged corpus mobility magnitude, or radiativity was found. Increasing averaged-over-f(rock) deltam(g) from 0 to 0.12 generally increased radiativity across the spectrum. Decreasing averaged-over-deltam f(rock) from 3.6 to 2.6 kHz produced consistent decreases in radiativity between 3 and 4.2 kHz, but only few-percent decreases in BH frequency. The lowest f(rock) values were accompanied by significantly reduced radiation from the Helmholtz A0 mode near 280 Hz; this, combined with reduced high frequency output, created overall radiativity profiles quite similar to "bad" violins among the quality-rated violins.     

On operating deflection shapes of the violin body including in-plane motions

Earlier investigations have assumed only "out-of-plane" vibrations of the plates of the violin. The violin body can, however, be described as a thin-walled, double-arched shell structure and as such it may very well elongate in one direction as it contracts in another. Therefore, at least two orthogonal vibration components have to be included to describe the vibrations. The operating deflection shapes (ODSs) of a good, professionally made and carefully selected violin were therefore measured in several directions by TV holography to determine both "in-plane" and out-of-plane vibration components of the ODSs. The observations were limited to the frequency range 400-600 Hz, as this interval includes two most-prominent resonance peaks of bridge mobility and sound radiation as well as a third poorly radiating resonance. These three peaks clearly showed orthogonal vibration components in the ODSs. The vibration behavior of the violin body, sectioned in the bridge plane, was interpreted as the vibrations of an "elliptical tube" with nodal diameters. The number of nodal diameters increases from two to three in the selected frequency range. The TV holography measurements were supported by electrodynamical point measurements of bridge mobility, of air volume resonances, and by reciprocity, of radiation properties. Furthermore, a fourth mode, the air mode, A1, is involved indirectly in the sound radiation via influence on the body vibrations.     

Method for measuring violin sound radiation based on bowed glissandi and its application to sound synthesis

This work presents a method for measuring and computing violin-body directional frequency responses, which are used for violin sound synthesis. The approach is based on a frame-weighted deconvolution of excitation and response signals. The excitation, consisting of bowed glissandi, is measured with piezoelectric transducers built into the bridge. Radiation responses are recorded in an anechoic chamber with multiple microphones placed at different angles around the violin. The proposed deconvolution algorithm computes impulse responses that, when convolved with any source signal (captured with the same transducer), produce a highly realistic violin sound very similar to that of a microphone recording. The use of motion sensors allows for tracking violin movements. Combining this information with the directional responses and using a dynamic convolution algorithm, helps to improve the listening experience by incorporating the violinist motion effect in stereo.     

Thin walled Nb tubes for suspending test masses in interferometric gravitational wave detectors

In a previous Letter, we have shown that the use of orthogonal ribbons could provide a better mirror suspension technique in interferometric gravitational wave antennas. One of the key improvements presented by the orthogonal ribbon is the reduction in the number of violin string modes in the direction of the laser. We have considered more elaborate geometries in recent simulations and obtained a suspension that provides further reduction in the number of violin string modes in the direction of the laser, as well as in the direction orthogonal to the laser. This thin walled niobium tube suspension exhibits a reduction in the number of violin modes to 5 in each direction up to a frequency of 5 kHz. Furthermore, the violin mode thermal noise peaks can be reduced in amplitude by 30 dB.     

电子小提琴与常规小提琴的无线载波传输演示

小提琴可分解成拉弦系统和共振箱系统．在拉弦系统中,弦的振动被变为电声信号,以电磁波的形式发射到空中．在共振箱系统中,由调频接收器接收信号,经电声转换后驱动共鸣箱发声．改装后的电子小提琴可用于物理实验演示教学及小提琴弦振动和共鸣箱的频谱分析．     

Mutual inductance bridge for magnetic relaxation measurements at low temperatures

An apparatus using a mutual inductance bridge has been designed to measure real and imaginary parts of the magnetic ac susceptibility simultaneously in the frequency range from 1 Hz to 230 kHz at helium temperatures. From 230 kHz up to 3 MHz the real part can be determined. The susceptibility as a function of temperature or external magnetic field at constant frequency may be measured. In addition, frequency sweeps can be performed with temperature and magnetic field held constant. The experiment is controlled by an on-line computer.     

The time-frequency characteristics of violin vibrato: modal distribution analysis and synthesis

A high-resolution time-frequency distribution, the modal distribution, is applied to the study of violin vibrato. The analysis indicates that the frequency modulation induced by the motion of the stopped finger on the string is accompanied by a significant amplitude variation in each partial of that note. Amplitude and frequency estimates for each partial are extracted from the modal distribution of ten pitches that span the range of the violin instrument. The frequency modulation is well-represented by a single sinusoid with a mean rate of 5.9 Hz and a mean excursion of +/- 15.2 cents. A spectral decomposition of the amplitude envelopes of the partials shows that the peaks lie primarily at integer multiples of the vibrato rate. These amplitude and frequency estimates are used in an additive synthesis model to generate synthetic replicates of violin vibrato. Simple approximations to these estimates are created, and synthesized sounds using these are evaluated perceptually by seven subjects using discrimination, nonmetric multidimensional scaling (MDS), and sound quality scoring tasks. It is found that the absence of frequency modulation has little effect on the perceptual response to violin vibrato, while the absence of amplitude modulation causes marked changes in both sound quality and MDS results. Low-order spectral decompositions of the amplitude and frequency estimates also occupy the same perceptual space as the original recording for a subset of the pitches studied.     

Nodal line optimization and its application to violin top plate design

In the literature, most problems of structural vibration have been formulated to adjust a specific natural frequency: for example, to maximize the first natural frequency. In musical instruments like a violin; however, mode shapes are equally important because they are related to sound quality in the way that natural frequencies are related to the octave. The shapes of nodal lines, which represent the natural mode shapes, are generally known to have a unique feature for good violins. Among the few studies on mode shape optimization, one typical study addresses the optimization of nodal point location for reducing vibration in a one-dimensional beam structure. However, nodal line optimization, which is required in violin plate design, has not yet been considered. In this paper, the central idea of controlling the shape of the nodal lines is proposed and then applied to violin top plate design. Finite element model for a violin top plate was constructed using shell elements. Then, optimization was performed to minimize the square sum of the displacement of selected nodes located along the target nodal lines by varying the thicknesses of the top plate. We conducted nodal line optimization for the second and the fifth modes together at the same time, and the results showed that the nodal lines obtained match well with the target nodal lines. The information on plate thickness distribution from nodal line optimization would be valuable for tailored trimming of a violin top plate for the given performances.     

Parametric plate-bridge dynamic filter model of violin radiativity

A hybrid, deterministic-statistical, parametric "dynamic filter" model of the violin's radiativity profile [characterized by an averaged-over-sphere, mean-square radiativity (R(ω)(2))] is developed based on the premise that acoustic radiation depends on (1) how strongly it vibrates [characterized by the averaged-over-corpus, mean-square mobility (Y(ω)(2))] and (2) how effectively these vibrations are turned into sound, characterized by the radiation efficiency, which is proportional to (R(ω)(2))/(Y(ω)(2)). Two plate mode frequencies were used to compute 1st corpus bending mode frequencies using empirical trend lines; these corpus bending modes in turn drive cavity volume flows to excite the two lowest cavity modes A0 and A1. All widely-separated, strongly-radiating corpus and cavity modes in the low frequency deterministic region are then parameterized in a dual-Helmholtz resonator model. Mid-high frequency statistical regions are parameterized with the aid of a distributed-excitation statistical mobility function (no bridge) to help extract bridge filter effects associated with (a) bridge rocking mode frequency changes and (b) bridge-corpus interactions from 14-violin-average, excited-via-bridge (Y(ω)(2)) and (R(ω)(2)). Deterministic-statistical regions are rejoined at ~630 Hz in a mobility-radiativity "trough" where all violin quality classes had a common radiativity. Simulations indicate that typical plate tuning has a significantly weaker effect on radiativity profile trends than bridge tuning.     

Perceptual thresholds for detecting modifications applied to the acoustical properties of a violin

This study is the first step in the psychoacoustic exploration of perceptual differences between the sounds of different violins. A method was used which enabled the same performance to be replayed on different "virtual violins," so that the relationships between acoustical characteristics of violins and perceived qualities could be explored. Recordings of real performances were made using a bridge-mounted force transducer, giving an accurate representation of the signal from the violin string. These were then played through filters corresponding to the admittance curves of different violins. Initially, limits of listener performance in detecting changes in acoustical characteristics were characterized. These consisted of shifts in frequency or increases in amplitude of single modes or frequency bands that have been proposed previously to be significant in the perception of violin sound quality. Thresholds were significantly lower for musically trained than for nontrained subjects but were not significantly affected by the violin used as a baseline. Thresholds for the musicians typically ranged from 3 to 6 dB for amplitude changes and 1.5%-20% for frequency changes. Interpretation of the results using excitation patterns showed that thresholds for the best subjects were quite well predicted by a multichannel model based on optimal processing.     

Concrete bridge-borne low-frequency noise simulation based on train–track–bridge dynamic interaction

Both the vibration of a railway bridge under a moving train and the associated bridge-borne noise are time-varying in nature. The former is commonly predicted in the time domain to take its time-varying and nonlinear properties into account, whereas acoustic computation is generally conducted in the frequency domain to obtain steady responses. This paper presents a general procedure for obtaining various characteristics of concrete bridge-borne low-frequency noise by bridging the gap between time-domain bridge vibration computation and frequency-domain bridge-borne noise simulation. The finite element method (FEM) is first used to solve the transient train–track–bridge dynamic interaction problem, with an emphasis on the local vibration of the bridge. The boundary element method (BEM) is then applied to find the frequency-dependent modal acoustic transfer vectors (MATVs). The time-domain sound pressure is finally obtained with the help of time–frequency transforms. The proposed procedure is applied to a real urban rail transit U-shaped concrete bridge to compute the bridge acceleration and bridge-borne noise, and these results are compared with the field measurement results. Both sets of results show the proposed procedure to be feasible and accurate and the dominant frequencies of concrete bridge-borne noise to range from 32 Hz to 100 Hz.     

Microstrip superheterodyne coherent microwave bridge

Reasons for unsatisfactory operation of the superheterodyne spectrometers at increased microwave power are considered. Recommendations for designing the superheterodyne microwave bridge of the EPR spectrometer working at the microwave power of about hundreds of milliwatt are given. These recommendations allow one to develop the spectrometer comparable to those with modulation of resonant conditions concerning reliability, stability and simplicity of operation. The experimental prototype of the coherent microwave bridge of the X-band superheterodyne EPR spectrometer with the intermediate frequency of 100 MHz is described. The microwave circuit of the bridge is assembled using microstrip hybrid integrated circuits and requires no adjustment in operation. The microwave Gunn-diode generators with the electronic tuning stabilized by dielectric resonators are used. The dynamic range of 54 dB at the maximum power of 40 mW is reached. As the microwave power increases up to the maximum value, no tendency to the degration of sensitivity equal to 5·10^?11 W at the 40 MHz band is noticed.     

Optimization method based on Generalized Pattern Search Algorithm to identify bridge parameters indirectly by a passing vehicle

Generalized Pattern Search Algorithm (GPSA) has rarely been investigated for structural health monitoring, but may have potential application in civil engineering, because it does not require any gradient information of the objective function. Meanwhile, indirect identification is an attractive concept that recognizes the bridge parameters by the vehicle responses. This paper proposes a theoretical indirect identification method based on optimization method, and the implementation is performed by the GPSA. Firstly, the GPSA theory is investigated, and a simple example is employed to describe the process of the algorithm. Secondly, a theoretical indirect identification method is proposed, based on the optimization method rather than the conventional transforms from time domain to frequency domain. The proposed method can identify the parameters of the vehicle–bridge system, including the bridge stiffness and the 1st frequency. Based on the optimization method, the feasibility and accuracy of GPSA are demonstrated with 0.06% of errors. The GPSA shows good robustness in the identifications with various noise levels, and the maximum error is about 3.30% and can be accepted for the engineering application even with a SNR 5 noise level. The computation time relies only on the function evaluation times, and is not positively related to the noise level. Thirdly, the performance of GPSA is compared with that of Genetic Algorithm (GA). The accuracy of GPSA and GA are approximately equivalent with various noise levels. Compared with GA, GPSA needs fewer iterations and much fewer evaluations, therefore is more efficient in the identification with an almost consistent accuracy with various noise levels.     

Excitation of the isomeric 229mTh nuclear state via an electronic bridge process in 229Th+

We consider the excitation of the nuclear transition 229gTh-229mTh near 7.6 eV in singly ionized thorium via an electronic bridge process. The process relies on the excitation of the electron shell by two laser photons whose sum frequency is equal to the nuclear transition frequency. This scheme allows us to determine the nuclear transition frequency with high accuracy. Based on calculations of the electronic level structure of Th+ which combine the configuration-interaction method and many-body perturbation theory, we estimate that a nuclear excitation rate in the range of 10 s?1 can be obtained using conventional laser sources.     

基于周期性扩频的单相H桥逆变器非线性现象的研究

将周期性扩频技术用于变换器中来抑制其电磁干扰和噪声已经得到了论证并被广泛的应用, 但却忽略了其中的非线性现象. 在分析了周期性扩频技术和单相SPWM-H桥正弦逆变器的精确频闪映射模型的基础上, 研究了采用周期性扩频技术的单相H桥正弦逆变器的分岔和混沌现象, 建立了H桥正弦逆变器扩频后的离散模型, 通过时域图、折叠图、分岔图及李雅亚普诺夫指数谱对其非线性现象进行了分析. 研究表明, 扩频后的H桥正弦逆变器在进入非线性区域后更容易进入混沌区, 并且周期扩频的频率会对系统产生初始分岔点的位置产生影响. 关键词： H桥逆变器 周期性扩频 分岔 混沌     

电桥实验的改革尝试

随着数字仪表的飞速发展和大量普及，以及非平衡电桥在传感技术中的广泛应用，有必要对电桥实验内容进行改革，我们把传统的平衡电桥实验改为非平衡电桥实验，从理论和实验上研究了非平衡电桥的工作特性和应用．     

The violin: Chladni patterns,plates, shells and sounds

In this article we consider the vibrations and radiated sound of the bowed violin. The vibrations are discussed in terms of the normal modes of the instrument involving the coupled vibrations of the bowed string, the supporting bridge, the hollow shell comprising the body of the instrument and, ultimately, the acoustic modes of the performance space in which the instrument is played. We show that damping plays an important role in characterizing the normal modes in what can be distinguished as weak and strong coupling limits. The historic and modern application of Chladni pattern measurements to enhance our understanding of the acoustics and as an aid to the making of violins is highlighted, alongside the modern equivalents of experimental modal and computational finite-element analysis. The symmetry-breaking properties of the internal soundpost is shown to have a profound affect on the intensity and quality of sound radiated by the bowed instrument.     

Identification of damping in a bridge using a moving instrumented vehicle

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of bridges which are being instrumented and monitored on an ongoing basis. This is in part due to the introduction of bridge management systems designed to provide a high level of protection to the public and early warning if the bridge becomes unsafe. This paper investigates a novel alternative; a low-cost method consisting of the use of a vehicle fitted with accelerometers on its axles to monitor the dynamic behaviour of bridges. A simplified half-car vehicle-bridge interaction model is used in theoretical simulations to test the effectiveness of the approach in identifying the damping ratio of the bridge. The method is tested for a range of bridge spans and vehicle velocities using theoretical simulations and the influences of road roughness, initial vibratory condition of the vehicle, signal noise, modelling errors and frequency matching on the accuracy of the results are investigated.     

光纤光栅多参数桥梁结构监测系统的研究

从土木工程应用的实际情况出发,利用光纤光栅传感器具有波长绝对编码和易于复用的特点,提出工程化同时测量温度、应变和压力的全光栅型低成本分布式传感方案。设计了基于连续波调频技术的光纤光栅多参量桥梁结构监测系统,将光频域反射复用与波分复用技术相结合,实现分布式光栅传感网络的寻址,提高了系统复用容量。实验表明：所设计的传感系统能够准确监测结构重要部位的内部应变及车流量等参数,为桥梁结构的静、动载测试提供了准确的数据,同时也为桥梁的工作状态评估和健康诊断提供了依据。     

Phonon scattering and thermal conductance properties in two coupled graphene nanoribbons modulated with bridge atoms

The phonon scattering and thermal conductance properties have been studied in two coupled graphene nanoribbons connected by different bridge atoms by using density functional theory in combination with non-equilibrium Green's function approach. The results show that a wide range of thermal conductance tuning can be realized by changing the chemical bond strength and atom mass of the bridge atoms. It is found that the chemical bond strength (bridge atom mass) plays the main role in phonon scattering at low (high) temperature. A simple equation is presented to describe the relationship among the thermal conductance, bridge atom, and temperature.