NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF PIANO STRINGS .2. COMPARISONS WITH MEASUREMENTS AND SYSTEMATIC EXPLORATION OF SOME HAMMER-STRING PARAMETERS

A physical model of the piano string, using finite difference methods, has recently been developed. [Chaigne and Askenfelt, J. Acoust. Sec. Am. 95, 1112-1118 (1994)]. The model is based on the fundamental equations of a damped, stiff string interacting with a nonlinear hammer, from which a numerical finite difference scheme is derived. In the present study, the performance of the model is evaluated by systematic comparisons between measured and simulated piano tones. After a verification of the accuracy pf the method, the model is used as a tool for systematically exploring the influence of string stiffness, relative striking position, and hammer-string mass ratio on string waveforms and spectra.