About the project
This project focuses on understanding and modelling the vibroacoustic mechanisms of early British pianos. The goal is to create virtual replicas of these historical instruments, with an emphasis on the design of hammers, strings, and soundboards, to preserve and appreciate their original sounds.
The Dynamics Group at the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR), in collaboration with the Department of Music, offers this unique opportunity to contribute to the development of a real-time sound synthesis model of an early British piano.
You will:
- conduct literature reviews on piano acoustics and history
- perform data collection and vibration tests on early pianos
- develop and validate models for piano components, focusing on hammer-string interaction, string nonlinearities, string-soundboard coupling, and sound radiation
- use the ISVR facilities for characterisation and validation measurements
- publish your research findings and present at conferences
You will develop analytical and numerical models for the interaction between the most important piano components: the hammers, the strings, and the soundboard. These models will be validated through measurements on early pianos from the University’s collection and other sources. You will utilize Finite Element and Boundary Elements software and coding in MATLAB or Python. Additionally, this project includes X-ray Computed Tomography (X-ray CT) scanning of early pianos to gather geometrical information of hidden components.
