Simulating the transition between two media in the Shive wave machine

Simulating the transition between two media in the Shive wave machine

Aulbers, Rik (TU Delft Applied Sciences)

Verweij, M.D. (mentor)
Sabbadini, S. (mentor)
de Jong, N. (graduation committee)

Delft University of Technology

2019-03-18

In this research, a Shive wave machine is used to study (a) the velocity of waves
throughout different media and (b) the transition of waves between two different
media. The Shive wave machine used in this research consists of 32 parallel
aluminum bars attached perpendicularly to three parallel central wires. When
a perturbation is applied to one of the bars, a torsional wave is initiated in the
Shive wave machine, which is mapped to a transverse wave at the extremities
of the bars. The velocity of a wave in the Shive wave machine is theoretically
determined by four variables: (i) The distance between the two outside wires
and the central wire; (ii) the tension in the two outside wires; (iii) the distance
between the bars; (iv) the moment of inertia of the bars. The transition of waves
between two different media is theoretically determined by the wave velocities
in the two media. The theory states that a part of the wave is reflected and
a part is transmitted at the intersection between the two media. The results
for (a) show that the measured velocity is higher than theoretically expected,
which may be caused by an incorrect measurement of (ii). The results for (b)
show that a change in (i) throughout the system does not comply with the
theoretically expected ratios for reflection and transmission, whereas a change
in (iv) does comply with the theoretically expected ratios.

Wave transmission
Wave velocity
Shive wave machine

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:f083a817-b1bc-461b-ad40-2b49bb717b36

Student theses

bachelor thesis

© 2019 Rik Aulbers