Flute-like instrument
To clarify the mechanism whereby the sound changes with the playing method and instrument design, this study investigates the flow and sound of the flute-like instruments.
Flute-like instruments include the flute and the recorder. Players blow an air jet toward the edge to make a sound.
The following video shows the jet and pressure fluctuations around a recorder reproduced by numerical simulations1.
The air jet travels toward the edge while fluctuating up and down affected by the air fluctuation in the pipe. This effect is called the acoustic feedback effect.
The sound is maintained or intensified by the periodic inflow of the jet into the pipe2.
In flute-like instruments, the sound is generated by the mutual interaction between the flow and the acoustic field (compression and expansion of air in the pipe). Thus, the aeroacoustic simulations, which are based on the compressible Navier–Stokes equations, are used.
We also investigate the flow and the sound around the flute.
In the studies on the flute, the air jet brewed out by a flute player was visualized to measure blowing conditions.
Experiments have been performed with an artificial blowing machine by setting the blowing conditions based on the measured values 3.
To investigate the changes in the flow field when the blowing condition is changed, analysis is proceeded using the aeroacoustic simulations.
Reference
- K. Onogi, H. Yokoyama, and A. Iida. Analysis of jet oscillations with acoustic radiation in the recorder by direct aeroacoustic simulations. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 146, 1427−1437, 2019. AIP
- N. H. Fletcher and T. D. Rossing. The physics of musical instruments. 2nd edition, Springer verlag, New York, 1998.
- K. Onogi, H. Yokoyama, and A. Iida. Effects of jet angle on harmonic structure of sound radiating from the flute. Acta Acust. 5(11), 2021.AIP