Vibrations of a piano soundboard: Modal analysis and finite element analysis
Joseph M. Kindel, I-Chih Wang · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1987
Modal analysis measurements have been made on two concert grand piano soundboards and a finite element model to describe the vibrational characteristics of these soundboards has been developed in order to explore the possibility of using both of these techniques in the designing of new soundboards. To provide an experimental basis for the model, modal analysis measurements were made on two piano soundboards, each mounted in a rim. Then a finite element model of the soundboard was constructed. The resonant frequencies and mode shapes of the first few modes of the finite element model match very well with those found experimentally using modal analysis. The correspondence between the modal analysis and finite element analysis results is very good and these techniques will be of value in designing new piano soundboards. [Work supported in part by Baldwin Piano and Organ Co., Cincinnati, Ohio.]