String With Arbitrary Initial Conditions

August 20, 2012

Harmonic Response
Consider an elastic string stretched between two xed points a distance L apart. The harmonic response is a standing wave with speed c = E/

y(x, t) =
i=1

sin sin
i=1

ix L ix L

Ai sin ic L

ict L

+ Bi cos ict L

ict L ict L

(1) (2)

y(x, t) =

Ai cos

Bi sin

with unknown coecients Ai and Bi depending on the initial conditions. This is a result of the equation of motion
2 y(x, t) 2 y(x, t) =0 2 x t2 where T is the elastic tension in N and the mass density in T

(3)
kg/m3

Initial Conditions
Now consider at t = 0 the shape and speed of the string to be
y(x, 0) = U (x) y(x, o) = V (x)

(4) (5)

For example for a plucked string at xp = 0 . . . L the shape is triangular described by the piecewise function below
y(x, 0) = U0 y(x, o) = 0
x xp xxp Lxp

0 x xp xp > x L

(6) (7)

where U0 is the amplitude and the initial speed is zero.

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John Alexiou - john.alexiou@jtekt.com

Fourier Analysis
To nd the coecients Ai and Bi from the initial conditions we multiply the general solution at t = 0 with sin jx and integrate over the domain, such as L
L sin
0

jx L

y(x, t) dx = B 1 L B 0 ict + B cos ict sin Ai sin i L L i=1 0

jx L sin ix L dx (8)

L sin
0

jx L

Bi

L sin
0

U (x) dx =
i=1

jx L

sin

ix L

dx

(9)

L sin
0

jx L

y(x, t) dx = jx L sin ix L sin

0

B 1 B 0 L ict ict ic B sin sin Ai cos i L L L i=1 0 L sin

0

dx (10)

jx L

Ai ic V (x) dx = L i=1

jx L

sin

ix L

dx

(11)

Because of orthogonality the above integral simplies to

L sin
0

jx L

sin

ix L

dx =

L ij 2

(12)

where ij is the Kronecker delta with ij = 1 when i = j and zero otherwise.

L sin
0

jx L jx L

U (x) dx =

L 2 L 2

[Bi ij ] =
i=1

L Bj 2

(13) (14)

L sin
0

V (x) dx =

i=1

ic ic Ai ij = Aj L 2

The solution for the coecients A and B (changing the index from j to i) is
2 Ai = ic L sin
0

ix L

V (x) dx

(15)

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L sin
0

John Alexiou - john.alexiou@jtekt.com

2 Bi = L

ix L

U (x) dx

(16)

The example above of the plucked string yields the following coecients
Ai = 0 x p 2 Bi = U0 sin L
0

(17)
ix L x xp L dx +
xp

sin ix L 1 x xp L xp dx

(18)

ix L3 sin L p 2 = U0 2 2 L i xp (L xp ) 2L2 sin Bi = U0

ixp L

(19) (20)

2 i2 xp (L xp )

Final Solution
The coecients can now be used directly in the general solution

y(x, t) =
i=1

sin sin
i=1

ix L ix L

Ai sin ic L

ict L

+ Bi cos ict L

ict L ict L
L 2

(21) (22)

y(x, t) =

Ai cos

Bi sin

For example with a plucked string the position of the mid-point x =

L y( , t) = 2

is (23)

2L2 sin U0 2 i2 x
p

ixp L

i=1

(L xp )
c L

sin

i 2

cos

ict L

changing from an time variable t to a angle =

2L2 U0 L y( , t) = 2 2 xp (L xp )

t yields the solution

i=1

1 xp i sin i cos (i) sin 2 i 2 L 3xp L + 1 cos 5 sin 25 5xp L + ...

2L2 U0 xp 1 = 2 cos sin cos 3 sin xp (L xp ) L 9

(24)

Damping
When damping is included the solution contains both the damped and undamped frequencies

y(x, t) =
i=1

sin

ix L

en n t (Ai sin (d t) + Bi cos (d t))

(25)

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2 with d = n 1 n and n = of the dierential equation ic L

John Alexiou - john.alexiou@jtekt.com , n =

L 2 i c

with the density and. This is the result (26)

y(x, t) 2 y(x, t) 2 y(x, t) =0 2 x t t2

where is the damping coecient in Ns2/m. The coecients Ai and Bi are derived from the following Fourier analysis
Ai = 4 2 c2 i (i ) 1 L sin
0

ix L

c 1 U (x) + V (x) dx L

(27)

2 Bi = L

L sin
0

ix L

U (x) dx

(28)

with 1 =

L 2 c