Banjenjunga

This is the part of Banjenjunga devoted to the acoustics of the banjo. I have written a finite element model of the banjo head to simulate the vibrations of the banjo head. The QuickTime movies below show animations of the model runs. The longer files correspond to 5 seconds of simulated time, whereas the shorter movies are one half of a second simulations. What you are seeing is what my model thinks the head displacements due to string vibration look like for some idealized cases. You will need QuickTime to be able to view these movies. You can get QuickTime for free at the Apple web site. Technical description of the model and results are presented in the pdf files at the bottom of the page. You are welcome to reference these results, but beware that they have not yet been published in any journals subject to the peer review process.

Banjo Simulation

16.5 MB

1. This simulation shows response to a forcing function at the bridge which resembles the spectral response of a string vibration with fundamental at 440 Hz.

Banjo Simulation

21.4 MB

2. Higher tension than the above run.

Banjo Simulation

16.2 MB

3. Lower damping than the above two runs

Banjo Simulation

16.5 MB

4. Same as case 3 but with greater forcing amplitude.

Banjo Simulation

18.2 MB

Same as case 3 but with reduced mass matrix weight under bridge.