Received 16 May 1968 6.

Soundinfl Mechanism of the Flute and Orflan Pipe

Jo•ix w. (•OLTMAN*
33/.q SotthdockeRoad,Pillsburgh,Penusylvauia15235

Measurementson an artilicially blown and mechanicallyexcited Ilute head j*dnt provide values of the
complexacousticback pressuregeneratedb_vthe blowingjet. The magnitudeof the acousticback pressure
is calct,lablcfrom the jet momentumand is aplm•ximatelytwicethe static blowingpressuretimesthe ratio
of the lip-aperturearea to the tubecross-secti(marea. The phaseof the inducedbacl.pressurerelativeto the
oscillationvolume velocity is determinedby the lip-to-edgedistanceand the velocity of 13rol)agation of a
wave on the jet. Adjustment of this phaseis demonstratedto be the major meansILv which the flutist
.selects the desiredmodeu[ oscillationof the instrument.The elticiencvof conversionfrom jet power
acousticoscillationpoweris low (.2.4'.;at 440 Hz) and is about equalto the ratio of particle velocitiesin the
air cnlumnand the jet. Xonliucar (turl,ulcntl lossesare measuredand arc substantial.Strol•osCOlfiC views
of the jet motionunderexplicitly'statedo•illation conditim•sshowthe largcamplitudeof the jet wave
its phaserelativeto Ihe stimulatingacousticdislurlntnce.

INTRODUCTION
wedge upon which the jet plays interrttpts the jet
beforethesevorlices are fully dcveloped•and the result
UAI.ITAT1VE
theories
of themeans
bywhichis to provide on each side of the wedgea set of air
aeonsticoscillalionsare maintainedin flutelike
instruments have been availahlc at pulsationsat the f,'eqt•enc.vof the initial disturbance.
least since that
proposed by Sir Johntterschclin 1830.• The intervening 'Fhcsepulsationsc.m maintain acousticoscill,•tionsin
periodhasseenit cc,'tlti,•amountof dissension as to Ihe a resonatorto which thc wedgeis properlyaffixed,and
nature of the nlechanism,accompanied by only a few lheseoscillationsin turn providethe initial disturbance
controlledobserwttions. ('arri•re2 injectedsteaminto for the jet. Subject to certain phaseand loop-gain
conditions,the entire systemwill then maintain itself
the air jet of a very htrgeorgani)ipc and observed
in oscilhttion. In general, there are several modes of
stroboscopically the vorticesformedin this st,-cam.
Browna observedin detail the instabilities of a jet of oscillationthat can take place, both with respectto
air snbjectedto an acousticdisturbance, and Salo• has thc number of acousticwavelengthscontainedin the
recentlytreatedtheoreticallythe mechanics of sncha resonantpipe, a,td the iratuberof undulantwavelengths
11uidstream. ('remer and Isinga treat the self-excited of the jet stream,giving rise to a two-dimensional set
of possiblestea,lv-state conditionsthat has been de-
organpipeilsa resonant systemcoupled by a feedbrick
mechanismto an oscillatingjct. scribed(not entirelycorrectly)by Benadeand French';
and Bouasse. *
The pictritethat is p,'esentedis hriellv this: A thin
The present work inquires qnantilatively into the
Ilar jet of aiq subjectedto all alterrottingdislurbance
processesinvolved in convertingthe direct current of
nearits point of issnante,will developa sinuousitvin
the formof a growingwavewhosepropagation velocity the performer'sbrealh inlo the alternatingoscillations
of the acoustic resnnator, and how the oscillations
isroughlyone-thirdto one-halftheoriginaljet velocity.
The disturbances will eventuallygrow into a seriesof dependon the parametersof the blowing mechanism.
vortices. In the tlute or organ, however, an edge or \Vhile the investigationhits been limited to a single
geometry and a relatively small rauge of frequencies,
* This work was carried out privately. The author is at the it has provided enough information to formulate a
\Vestinghouse Res. Labs.• Pitt•lmrgh, Pa. 15235
• R. S. Rocksfro, Tim Fhtte (Rudall, Carte & ('o.• Ixmdon, simple quantilalivc theory that appears adequate to

•-M. Z. Carri•re, J. Phys.2, 5.t 64 (19253. ' A. H. Benade a,ul J. W. French, J. Acoust. Soc. Amer. 37,
a G. B. Brown,Proc. Phys. Soc. (lxmdon) 47, 703 732 119353. 079 691 {19653.
' H. Sato,J. Fluid Mech. I, 53 80 (1960). = H. Bouasse, l'uyau•: ct Resonatture(l.ibrarie Delagrave,
* L. Cremerand H. Ising, Acustica19, 143 153 (196,•). Paris, 19293.

The Journal of the AcousticalSocietyof America 9g]

 J. COLTMA•

explainman)' aspectsof the behaviorof the flute and completeswitchingactionthusoccursasopposed to the

organpipe with reasouableaccuracy. modulationthat would obtain if the lateral jet motion
werecomparableto the jel thickness.
I. NATURE OF THE JET MOTION The experimentsto be describedwere directed at
Carrit:re'spictures'of jet streamswere taken with all measuring the acoustic pressnreengenderedin the
enornrous($0-ft) orgau pipe whoseproportionswere resonator
by sucha switchedjet.
quite differentfroin thoseof the flute. Moreover,he II. APPROACH
reportednomeasurements of thestrengthof oscillation.
It seemed desirable then to obtain some visual informa- Much of the previouswork on organpipeshas been
tion about the jet motion under conditionscharacter- complicatedbv the fact that the oscillatingsystem is
istic of the flute. Accordingly,a flute head joint, pro- only weakly under the control of the experimenter--
vided with acousticaldriving and measuringmech- the feedbackmechanismsat work permit it to take up
anismsto be describedlater, wasblown with an artificial a stateof oscillation
appropriateto theimposedexternal
air supplythroughan orificeclosel_v resembling that of conditions,and as theseare varied, the oscillatoralters
the flute player'slips.A smallstreamof cigarettesmoke its frequencyand amplitudeand may jump hvstereti-
introducedinto the jet, and a phase-locked stroboscope, call}' from one mode to another.In the presentwork,
permittedobservation of the jet form. In Fig. 1 are the feedbackloopwasdisconnected. The ability of the
sketchesof the observedforIll of the jet. Each picture blown embouchure to convert the direct current of the
is for a specificphaserelativeto the acousticcun'ent air streaminto an alternatingacousticpressurewas
(volume vdocity) at the monthhole,as marked. A measured under conditions where the stimulating
caution is raisedabout theseand similarpictures:They acousticvibrations were separatelyproducedat a
are merdy snapshots of the configurationof the smoke known amplitudeby an electricallydriven piston.The
at a given instant. It must not be inferred that the embouchure was treated then as a two-terminal im-
smokeparticlesfollow paths suchas thesein getting to pedanceconnectedin serieswith the equivalenttrans-
that position,nor shouldit be assumedthat air that missionline at the plane of the mouthhole,and whose
does not contain smoke is uot also in motion. value was a function of the blowing conditionsand of
The conditionsfor thesepietro'esare typical of the the acousticcurrentflowingthroughit. This impedance
flute when playing A at 440 Hz moderately hind. Some is complex,and in the regionof interesthasa negative
features of the motion are worthy of connnent.First, realcomponent. Whenthemagnitudeof thiscomponent
it can be seenthat the jet doesnot instantly alter its is largerthau the positiveresistance of the resonator,
form in responseto tideacousticcurrent. At 90ø, tide oscillationcan take place.It will be maintainedat an
acousticcurrent has been moving out of the mouthhole amplitudeand frequencydeterminedby the condition
duringi of a cycle,but the jet is jnst now blowingover that the impedancelookinginto the embouchureis the
the edge rather than into the hole. ,%fond, the jet negativeof the impedancelookinginto the resonator.
reactsstronglyto moderatedisturbances.Its own initial The latter was determinedwith the sameapparatus,
velocity in this case was 1320 era'sec. The acoustic and also turns out to be nonlinear.
particlevelocity (whichactsroughlyat right anglesto The nonlinearnatureof both theseimpedances has
the jet) wasabout300 era/sec.The acousticparticle two implications.First, a certaindegreeof harmonic
amplitudeof motionis about1 mm3 the jet, however, generation is encountered--i.e.,
an impressed
sinusoidal
moveslaterally at least 10 timesthis distance.A quite current gives rise to a nonsinusoidalpressure.
Fortunately, the harmoniccontent in the soundof the
fluteis not large,andsincethe radiatedpowergoesup
as the frequencysquared,we find the harmoniccontent
of the oscillationwithin the tube is quite moderate.
Oscilloscopeobservationof the soundpressureat the
0 45 90 135
stoppedendof the artificiallyblownheadrarelyshowed
harmonic content more than 20% in amplitude. For
the purposes of this experiment,the harmonicgenera-
tion wasignoredand only the fundamentalpressures
measured. This meansthat the theorypresented does
not dealwith an importantaspectof a musicalinstru-
ment, the tonequality.The secondaspectof the non-
180 225 270 315 lineartryis that, sinceimpedances changewith ampli-
tude, each measurementmust be carried out at some
FIG. 1. Sketchesof smoke-ladenjet viewed stroboscopicall.y.
The labels are phase angles of the acoustic current (volume specified oscillation
amplitude.We shallfind, in fact,
velocity) at the hole; 0 ø is zero current, 90ø maximumcurrent that the blown embouchure acts more nearly like a
blowingout. Frequency437 Hz, hlowingpressure0.5 in. oœwater,
acoustic volume velncity 130 cma/sec. constant-pressure
generatorthan like a constantnega-

984 Volume44 Number4 1968

 SOUNIXING MECIIANISM OF TIIE I:I. UTE AND OP, GAX PIPE

tire resistance.
The impedance
concept is, however, cm in aliameierand0.1 cm long,wasused.While the
a convenientmethodof expressing
the restilts.It is lenglh and diameler of each of these tubes were such
employedhere with the caution that the word as Io make ils resistanceoutweigh ils inductanceby a
pedance
isusedmerelyto express theratioof thehmda- large factor al all frequencies of interest,the assent-
mental of the pressuregeneratedto an impressed blagc of lubes laken as a whole had an end correction
sinusoidal
volumevelocilyof a givenvalue. of lhe orderof thealiameierof the entiredisk,sothat an
apprecial}le inductive elYect was measured. The as-
IlL APPARATUS
semblageof tubes could he partially coveredby a
Fi•n'e 2 showsschematicallythe arrangementused robberpad to vary the acousticresistance. This resistor
to measurethe impedances and of wasusedas a test objectfor calibratingthe null circuit.
of the flute sections,
the jet. It consists
of a shortlengthof copperpipeof With a quarter-wavelength of open pipe connected
{ in. i.d., to which sectionslike the cylindricalIlute and the reststhepartly opened, the potentiometer
head (1) couldbe affixed.It is closedat one end by a readingat resonancewitsobtained.The Q of the reso-
piston
(3),whose
mass(18g) islargeascompared
to nator wits then measuredby running a frequency-
that of the air in the tube. This pislon is sealedwith responsecurve. To avoid problemsfrom acousticnon-
a thin rubber diaphragm,and may be driven by the lineartries,the drMng current wits adjusted at e•h
loudspeaker motor (4) to provide a variable drMng frequency to give a constant presstire,rather than
acoustic current. The wdue of this current could be employingthe nstud techniqueof keeping the drive
measured with a picktlpcoil (5), whichmoveswith the constant and measuringthe response.Becauselhe
piston in a separatemagneticyoke. Closdy adjacent loudspeaker motorwasdrMng a masswhoseamplitude
to the closedendis a rigid microphone (6), madeh'om of vibrationwouklf}dloi1wilh frequencyfor a constant
two thin disksof uppositelypolarizedbariumtitanate. d,'Mng force, the electricaloscilhttorwas coupledto
The microphone,which was calibrated in another lhe amplifierwilh a smallcapacitorto give a voltage
laboratory',measuresthe acouslicpresstirecloseIn the risingwith frequencyin compensation.
The elYective resistance R its seen at the closed end of
closedend. The ratio of the microphonesignal lo the
picktip coil signal is proportional to the acousticim- it resnmmtlength of robe is related to the Q of the
pedancelooking tip the pipe. This impedancecouM resonator by
alwaysbe madereal hy tuning the svslemto resonance, R = 4OZo/mr. (1)
and it was thus possibleto provide a mfil balancing
circuitin theformof potentiometer(8), fromwhichthe Here Q is the quality factor, n the numberof quarter-
acoustic resistance at resonance could be read directly. wavelenglhson lhe line, and Z0 the characteristic
The detectortook the form of im oscilloscope whosex impedance of the tube:
axis was driven sinusoidalh' by the audio oscillator Ihat Z0= pc .%', (2)
drove the hindspeaker. The resultantLissajousfigrare
showedthe presence of nonlinearilies, and permitted wherep is the densitxof air, c thevelocityof sound,and
S the cross-seclioual area of the tube.
visualbalancing of the fundamentalto zero,evenwith
harmonicspresent. The potenriometerwasfoundto givereadings directly
In orderto dtunpthe resonator so that it wouldnot proportionalto lhc effecliveresistance, independent of
oscillatennderthe actionof theair jet alone,an acoustic frequency', as it should.Readingswererepeatable,the
resistor(7) witsprovided.In an attemptto makethis resistanceread on successive balancesrarely var3 ing as
resistornoninductive,a bundle (more accurately,a much as 1%.
disk) of severalthousandglasscapillaries,each0.01 The procedure for makinga measurement of the jet
impedancewas its follows.With the acousticresistor
capped(i.e., not in the circuit),the jet blowingtube
! 2
geometryand blowingpresstlrewere adjustedas
desired;for example,to producethe loudestpossible
lonefor somechosenblowingpressure.The microphone
could bc used to measurethe acouslicpressureat the
velocity node.The aomstic current at the mouthhole
is found by dMding the microphonepressureby Zo,
aud nmltiplyingby sin0,where0 '2*ris the distanceto
the mouthholein wavelengths.The acousticresistor
was then introducedand adjusted until oscillation
ceased.With the jet turnedoff, the drMng pistonwas
activated by the electricaloscilhttor,the frequency
Frt;.2. Apparatus formeasuring acoustic impedance: (t) flute tuned to near resonance,and the amplitudeadjusted
headwithmouthhole, (2) tuningslide,(3) piston,(4) Loudspeakertu give somechusenamplitndeof acousticoscillation
motor,(5) velocitypickupcoil, (6) microphone, (7) acoustic
resistor,(8) null potentiometer. asmeasuredby themicrophone. The potentiometerand

The Journalof the AcousticalSocietyof America 985

 J. COLTMAN

freqnencywere then adjustedto give a null output at

the detectorand the potentiometerreadingwas taken
as a measureof the resistanceseenat the plane of the
piston. FiG. 4. Acoustic losses for
This resistance refteels all of lhe acoustic losses in • lhe flute soundingG (392
JHz). The lossesare ex-
the systemat the particular amplitude of oscillation J pressed
as the conductance
chosen;the acousticpowerlossis given by the square as seen at the velocity
node, as a function of
of the microphonepressuredivided by this measured • 3• .... A ~ acoustic pressure at this
resistance.The blowing jet was then turned on at a point. Curve A, head joint
givenblowingpressure, and the measurementrepeated. - alone; Curve B, body alone;
Curve C, sum; Curve D,
The effectof the jet is to inducean additionalacoustic • calculated radiation loss.
pressure of someunknownphaseandamplitude.A null
is obtainedagainby changingthe lengthof the tube at
0 1000 2000 30•)0
the tuningslideto take careof the reactivecomponent,
and balancingagain the potentiometersetting. The
pistondrivemustbe changed alsoto returnthesystem Calculations of effectiveimpedancearebasedon the
to the original amplitude,sincesomeparametersare equationfor a losslesstransmission
line:
nonlinear.The changein lengthof the tuning slide,and
the changein potentiometerreadingssufficeto calculate Z.,= (Z•.-{-j tanO)./(l+Xt. tan0). (3)
the effectiveimpedanceof the jet. In order to simplify Here, and in the followingdiscussions, all impedances
the procedm'e, a cylindricalrather lhan a taperedhead are relative to the characteristicimpedanceof the line
joint wasnsed. as given by Eq. 2 and are dimensionless. Z•, is the
IV. CALCULATION OF THE JET IMPEDANCE
impedanceas measuredlookinginto a line of length1
terminatedbv a load impedanceZe, and O=2•rl,/,x,,
The electricalcircuit analogousto the acousticsystem whereX is the wavelengthon the line. For the measure-
of Fig. 2 is shownin Fig. 3. The flute head tube is ment describedabove,the systemis tuned so that Z•
represented by a lengthl of transmission
line,terminated is real, i.e., Z,,=R•,. Inverting Eq. 3 and using the
at the left by the parallelcombinationof the mouthhole conditionthat Zi• = Ri,, we find:
inductance L•, and the small capacitance œ'• of the
cavity betweenthe mouthholeand stopper.The effect ( l q-tan-O)q-j(R,. -ø- l) tan0
(4)
of the blowing jet is representedby an unknown im- 1+ Ri,," t an-ø0
pedanceZs, arbitrarilyplacedin series,aith the trans-
ntissionline at the plane of the mouthhole.We do not In our case,R•,,2 tan"O>>
1, i.e., the Q of the systemwith-
reallyknow the detailsof the interactionof the jet with out the acousticresistor is quite high. Making this
the flow at this point--all that this placing of Zs approximationand takingZ• as the changein Z• when
signifies is that to get the effective acoustic back the jet is introduced,we find the jet impedanceto be
pressuresustainingthe fundamentalof the oscillation
we multiply Zi by the calculatedline current at this Zi •'"(G•-- Go)(cot0o+1) + j (1- G1•) (cotO,- cot00). (.5)
point. G1 and Go are the conductances(1/Ri,) measured
At the right end, the circuit is driven by a constant
by the potentiometerwith and without the jet blowing.
current i through the essentially infinite inductance The angles0• and 00 correspondto the lengthsof the
La representingthe massof the driving pistion. turned line with and without the jet blowing.Because
The voltmeter V representsthe microphone,while the the acoustic resistor introduced some inductance, a
resistor R• represents the artificial acoustic resistor. separatemeasurementwas made of the changein line
The other acousticlossesin the systemare not specif- lengthnecessitated by its introduction,and thiscorrec-
ically shown in the diagram,but their effectis felt as tion wasappliedbeforecalculating00and0•. Sinceonly
a real componentR,• of the impedanceZ•,, lookingup small changesin I are prodneedby the jet, differentiM
the line at the planeof the piston. methodswerensedto evaluateEq. $.
The potentiometer,which measuresVii when Z,,
is real, reads the value of R•,, shuntedby R• if the V. ACOUSTIC LOSSES
artificial resistoris being used.
Beforedescribingthe jet effects,we report measure-
ments made of losses in flute tubes with the above-
describedapparatus.These are directly proportional

• 5,•5.•
, •v'
.
i %'
- Iqg.
3.Transmis-
sion-line anal- to the conductance (1/R•,,) measured with the
circuit
ogous to the acous- potentiometer.
ticsy'stemof Fig.2. In Fig. 4 are givenmeasurements of the conductance,
as seen at the velocity node, of a Haynes flute head

986 Volume44 Number4 1968

 SOUNDING MECHANISM OF THE I:I.I''FE AN1) ORGAN PIPE

(A) andbodylB). Thenonlinear

effects
areaptlatent
in the functionaldependence of the conductanceon
the oscillationamplitude.The flute head showsthe
most pronmmcednonlinearire.The loss coefficientat
a typical pl%'ingamplitude(2100 dyn/cm'-'al the
velocitynode)isabout50% largerthanthesmall-stared
value, and risesvery rapidly beyondthis poinl. The
effectsariseahnostentirelyat the mouthhole,which
waspartiallycoveredwith a modeling-chty "lip" itsin
normalplaying.A cylindricalopen-endpipe of the
samediameterand resonance freqnencyshowsprac-
lieallynoincreasein condeclance with amplitude.
Acousticnonlineartries
in s,mtllapertureshavebeen
treated by lngard and lsing) They show that the FiG. 5. Coml}le• ;tcousticimpedanceof Ihe jet as seenfrom
nonlinear effects resull from acceleralion nf masses of
insidethe tube at the mouthhole.Impedancesare relative to
the characteristic
impedanceof the tube, 15.3g cm-L sec-LLabels
air that do not enlirch-return throughthe hnleon lhe
on the pointsare blowingpressurein inchesof water. Acoustic
reversecycle.The rcsuhsin Curve,k agreewith their currentat the mouthholeconstantat 28 cmasec-• rms. Frequency:
measurements within 10%, whenthe moulh hole area 440 Hz. Jet orifice area: 0.072 cmø-.
(0.63 cm-')is used to calculalcthe acousticparticle
exhibils all of the essential features of the cases ex-
velocityand specificresistance
at lhis point. The flute
bodys]qows
alsosome
nonlinearire
(Curve
B, I:ig.4), amined. Each point on the curve correspondsto a
thoughit is not aspronouncedasfor Ihe head.The tone particuktr jet blowing pressure,measuredand labeled
holesare doubllessresponsiblefor this. It is evident in inchesof water. The geomclryof the blowingtube
that in any quantitative treatment of the flute as an was held fixed throughout this set of measurements.
osdllating s.vslem,Ihese nonlinear lossesmust be h can be seenthat the impedanceascribableto the
taken into account.Calculationsbasedon small-stared jet is a smoolh,well-behavedfunctionof blowingpres-
Q valueswouldnot be represenlativeof what goeson sure over lhe entire range, the magnitudedecreasing
at normalplayingamplitude. monotonicalh' its the pressureis reduced,and the phase
rotatingclockwiseover morethan two completecycles.
VI. IMPEDANCE OF THE JET The impedancevaluescan lie in any quadrantof the
complexplane. Starting al the outer edge where the
Fix'useo[ the techniquedescribedabove,a numberof blowingpressureis about{I.56in. of water, we seethat
measurements weremadeof the effectivejcl impedance the impedanceis real and negative;such a condition
asa functionnf blowingpressure, distancefrom the end would nvercome the losses in the tube were the artificial
of lhe blowingtube to the edgeof lhc cml)ouchurchole, resistancererunveal,and would result in oscillation at
and frequencyand amplitudeof the c•eiting acoustic htrgeamplitudeal the natural resonance frequencyof
oscillation.An effectiveway of describingthe rcsuhsis lhc tube. At a higherblowingpressure,the impedance
to plot, in the complexphmc,the impcdam'cof Ibe jet has a capacitivecomponentthat will make lhe fre-
as a functionof blowingpressure, all the olher param- quencysharp: al lower pressure,0.3 in., the inductive
etersbeingheld constant..qelsof theseplots are then effect makesil go fiat, and the real componentis less
madeœorother valuesof the fixedparameters. neg,ttive-i.e., it could nol generate so nnlch power.
A typical plot of this kind is shownin Fig. 5. hn- At about 0.25 in., the phasecrossesinto the positive
podancovalues are rdalivc to lhe characteristicim- real domain--the jet nnw representsa lossmechanism
pedanceof the lube, 15.3 g cm-'4.scc•. The sign con- and couldnot possiblysoundthe flute. At about0.11 in.,
vention is that appropriate to the impedanceas seen however,we are backinto the negativeresistanceregion,
frnminsidethe mbc,i.e., a positiverealvaluerepresents which persistsdown to about 0.06 in., where the curve
a resistiveloss,a negativereal value, an energygener- crossesover againinto the positivedomain.
ator, it positiveimaginary value, an inductive (mass)
It is evident that while the jet impedancevaries
loading,and a negativeinntgi,utryvalue,a capacitance
smoolhlvwith blowingpressure,in principlespiraling
or compliance. In the particularmeasurement reported
indefiniteIx'
aroundtheoriginas the pressureis reduced,
in Fig. 5, the acousticpressurep,,, at the microphone
wits held constant at an rms value of 450 den cm-•.
it representsa possiblesound-generating mechanism
only when it lies in the negativehalf-plane,which it
The calcuhttedacousticvolumevelocityat the phmeof
periodicallyoccupiesas the blowingpressureis reduced.
the mouthhole,a distancel=50/2= away, is given by In traversing the negative resistance region, the im-
(p,,,./Zo)sin0.For Fig. 5, its value was28 cmasec-• rms.
pedancecrosses the real axis,goingfrom capacitiveto
Thesevalues,about{ thosefor loudplaying,werechosen inductive teachence.[n the Ilute under test, oscillation
for presentationhere beeminelhe reselling diagram
at 440 Hz was ohlainal)lc for only two such pressure
* U. Ingard and H. Ising, J. Acoust.Soc.Amcr. 12, 6 17 • 196•). r6gimcs, separated as expected by a zone of silence,

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 987

 j. COLTMAN

T^ULE I. Propagation velocity of a disturbanceof the jet.

Frequency, 440 Hz. Transverne sound fiekl partlde velocity:
28 cm/secrms; peak to peak displacement
amplitude:0.028cm.
Fla. 7. Acoustic
impedanceof the jet
Blowing Initial jet Phasevelocity for two lip-to-edge
pressure velocity u of disturbance Velocity distmmes: Curve .\
(in. water) (cm/sec) (cm/sec) ratio : for 7 mm and Curve
B for 5 mm. Labels
1.0 1920 670 0.35
0.6 1460 600 0.41
as in Fig. 5. Acous-
tic curzent at the
0.3 1000 390 0.39 mouthhole 74 cm a
0.15 770 370 0.49
sec • rms. Frequency
440 IIz. Jet orifice
area 0.072 cm •.

with lhe generatedfrequencygoingfrom sharpto fiat

with loweringpressurewith eachrdgime.!n re'ganpipes,
oscillationat the same freqnencyfor severaldistinct
pressures may be observed. •.? While in principlethere twoopposed quarter-wave resonantpipesdrivenby the
are an indefinite number of turns as the presstireis oscillating piston. Movies of the stroboscopically
lowered,there is a last turn for high pressures. This is illuminated, smoke-ladenjet were examinedframe-
becausethe phase nf the impedancedependson the b) frame to measurethe propagationvelocityof the
traxteltime of a wave of the jet acrossthe mouthhole. disturbances on the jet. Typical framesare shownin
As the velocity decreases,the travel time can become Fig. 6. The measured velocitieswereremarkablycon-
indefinitelylong, encompassing an arbitrary numberof stant along the path; there was no evidenceof any
cyclesbeforereachingthe splitting edge.With increas- slowingdownon the propagatiou velocityright up to
ing velocity, ihe travel time cau only approachzero. the point where the smokeIrace broke up. Table [
This last turn is the large one to the left. I t terminates lists the values found.
at high blowingpresstires(in Fig. 5 at 0.7 in. of water) The wdues fonnd check wcll lhosc inferred from the
with the onsetof a noisy turbulence.Only this major rolationof the impedance vector.Experiments measur-
turn of the curve is nsedin lnusic,and we devote most ing rotationof the impcdancc vectoras the lip-to-edge
of our attention to an examinationof its properties. distanceis changedgive closelyconcordantvalues.
Satoa and Brown• discussthe theoreticaland expert~
VII. PHASE OF THE JET IMPEDANCE mcntal aspectsof this wave propagation.Crcmcrand
The rotationof the impedancevectorwith pressureis lsing'• derivean equationfor the expected jet motion
associatedwith the travel time of a jet disturbance and compare it with obscrvatinns ou an organ pipe
acrossthe mnuthholc.If wc plot the phaseof the points jet. It suiticesto say here that even for the relatively
in Fig. 5 against the inverseof the initial airstream strongdisturbancesacting iu the caseof the flute and
velocityu, an essentiallyslraight line results.The slope organpipe, the wave-propagation velocitystaysvery
closeto 0.3 u to 0.4 u, as theseauthorsfind.
of thisline, togetherwith the knowndistanceacrossthe
hole,givesa phasevelocity--i.e., the velocity of a dis- The phase of the impedancevector, which is so
turbanceon the jet, about0.4 the initial jet velocityu. important in determiningthe strengthand fi'equency
To checkthis inference,an eqmrhnentwitsconducted deviationof the resultantoscillation,is thusdetermined
with a jet slrean,from tim sameblowingtube injected by the initial jet velocity--i.e., the blowingpressure,
into the slrong transversesoundtield existingbetween andthelip to edgedistance. I;igure7 showstwospirals
like that of Fig. 5. Curve A was obtained with a 7-ram
lip to-edgedistance,Curve B with 5 min. The effect
of changingthe distanceis to rotatetheentirediagram,
whichgivesrise to a pronouncedchangein the oscilla-
tion condition. With a 5-ram distance and 0.6-in. blow-
ing pressure,the jet wave gets there too soon; its
capacitivercactancewouldmake the flute sonndhalf a
semitonesharp.Reducingthe pressureto 0.3 in. to
avoidthiswouldgivea weakoscillation. By pullingthe
T
lip back to 7 ram, however(CurveA), the arrival time
is ddaycd, and a strong in-tune oscillationcouk[ be
produced at 0.6-in.blowingpressure.
Thereis no pres-
mtre on Curve B that con]d match this oscillation
strength.
The necessityfor adjustingthe lip Io-cdgcdistance
I'm. 6. Snapshotsof jet in soundlield. J-'ourframes I cycle
apart in time. Blowingpressure1.0 in., initial jet velocity 1920 is furtherbroughtont hy examiningthe effectof fre-
cm seca.Acousticpeakparticlevelocity38 ClU/sec. quencychange.Figure8 showstwo impedance plots
988 Volume44 Number4 1968
 S()UNI)ING MECHANISM Of: '1'[11.: I,'I.I;TE :\Nit ()I-•G:\N PIPE

1
7, and 8 dependmarkedlyon the wdue chosenfor the
magniludcof oscillation.If the jt•t impedance is multi
plied t)x' Ihe ('re'rent at the plane of the mouthhole,
one gels the c(nnplexaeonsticbackpressure generated
FIG. 8. Acoustic im-
Iw the jet, whichmax be plottedin a similardiagram.
pedance of the jet for
two modes of the reso- Snch cnrvcsare much lessdependenton the wdue of
nant pipe. Curve A: first I
the cnrrent chosen,and we concludefrom this that the
mode, 300 Hz, acoustic jet actioncan lm bestdescribed in termsof the nmgni-
current 135 cm :• sec L
Curve B: secondmode, 2
tudeandphaseof theaeonstic pressure that it generates.
900 Hz, acousticcurrent The way in which the phasevaries has already been
82 cm a sec-L
discussed;we give attention now to the mechanisms
that determinelhe acousticdriving force that the jet
A
8\ can provide.
•' • 05 In the following discussion,we neglect certain
refinementsin quautitativdy dealing with flow
namely,we presumethat viscousand friction effectsat
taken for identical blowing geometriesand pressures; the wallsare absent.This is a reasonableapproximation
('rowe A for the 300-Hz first mode of a stoppedpipe,
for the precisionsoughthere.
and Curve B for its secondmode, at 900 Hz. [t can be
A jet of air issuingfi-om•n orificeof areas• underthe
seenthat the phasesare markedlydifferent.At a blow- in•nenceof a blowin• pressritep• will have an initial
ingpressure of 0.6 in. of water,thejet impedance
vectors velocity u given by Bcmoulli'slaw:
for the twomodesareabout180øapart. At thispressnre,
the jet impedance for the secondmode(900 Hz) lies o,
p = pu-/2. (6)
in the real half-plane it couldnot produceoscilh•tion
It will carry a volumeof air us• per second.Consider
at this frequency.As the pressureis increased,the
impedancevectorrotatescounterclockwise (note that
such a jet•)lowing axially intotheopen endofa
its rotation rate is three times faster for 9(10 Hz than tube of larger cross-scelion area s.2 whose far end is
closed.The jel streamwill minglewith the still air,
for 300 Hz, as expected)so that at a blowingprcssnre
slowingdown not only to zero, but in fact reversing
of 1.0 in., it lies well in the generating(lnadrant,and
direelion and re emergingfrom the open end with a
Ihe nppermodewouldbe sounded.Transitionto the vdocitv --us x2. The mass flow is push the velocilv
rippermodecouldbegreatlyfavoredby movingthe lip
changeis u+us• s2,and the total forceexertedon the
closerto the edge; this would romic bolla diagrams
largetube is thuspu2sz(l+s•su).Dividingby the area
counterclockwise so as to put the upper-modevector
of the largetube,and nmk]nguseof Eq. 6, we find the
in the generatingregionover most of the curve,and
[)ressurein the large tul)c is
displacethe lower-frequency mode toward the lossy
region.Conversely, retractionof the lip wonklplacethe p.,= 2p(si,'s•)( 1+ si/ s:). (7)
low-freqnency mode in a favoredposition,and dis-
advantagethe other. Curvesrun for the conditionsof Expertrecurs of this sort,carriedout with jets similar
to thoseused to I)1owthe flute, bear out Eq. 7 for a
Fig. 8, but with a lip-to edgedistanceof 9 mm instead
of 7 ram, show that exacth' this happens,CroweB varietyof pressures and lubeareas.The pressure built
beingrotatedcompletelyinto the nongenerating half- up in thelargetnbcis independent of smallchanges in
plane,whileCnrveA rotatesone-thirdasmuchtoward the direction and position of the jet, whether or not it
the generatingaxis. is playing against the wall of the tube, thusjustifying
This adjustmentof the lip-toedgedistanceby the theneglect of wallfriction.Betarise theacoustic particle
velocityin the flute is small as comparedto the jet
ilute pk[ycr,andits effecton intonationandtonepro-
ductionhavebeendiscussed by Coltman.• [t is apparcnt vdocity,andbecause the jet streamslowsdownin a
from the above that the flute player adjnstsboth the distance short as compared to the wavelength,the
situation in the flhtc during each half-cycleis quite
blowingpressure and lip-toedgedistancein sncha
manneras to controlthe arriwtJphaseof the jel, and compa•ral)lc to lhe static incompressible
described above.
situation
that this phaseis a moreimportantvariablein deter-
miningwhichmodewill be sounded than is the magni- While the force available from the jet is thus known
tude of the blowing pressure. from the rate of nx)mcntumtransfer,the pressurewhich
thisforcewill developdependson the cross-sectionarea
VIII. ACOUSTIC PRESSURE GENERATED of the regionin whichthe jet slowsdown. In the flute,
BY THE JET
this regionis ill defined; the jet acts partly in the
It is importantto pointout that the magnitndcs of mouthhole,whoseuncoveredarea may be 0.5 cm•,
the measured jet impedances suchasshownin Figs.,5, and partly in the tube,whoseareais about2.5 cmL
oJ. W. Coltman,J. Acoust.Soc.Amer.40, 99 107 (1966). To examinesituationsof this sort experimentally,the

The Journalof the Acoustical

Societyof America 089
 .[. COLTMAN
arrangementsketchedin Fig. 9 wasmade.A longtube of
1.9 cm i.d. was providedwith necksof varying length
having a diameterof about 0.8 cnl. The shortest"neck"
wassimply a hole in a thin racial end plate. The pres-
suresbuilt up in the large tube I)v a jet of 0.315-cm
diameter, carrying 338 dvn of thrust, are plotted in
Fig. 9 as functionsof the length of neck. The three
curvesare for variousspacingsof the nozzle,iucluding
a case where the nozzle extends 4 mm inside the tube.
Broken Line A is calculatedbv Eq. 7 for a long tube of
the small dimneter. It is seen that when the neck is 3
cm or longer, all the important action seems to be
taking place in the small tube. For shorter necks, the
pressuresdrop drastically,but do not reach, even for
"zero" length, the low pressure(Line B) calculated
for the large-diameter tube with a back-flow velocity
dictated by the small-areaaperture.It thus appears
that an aperturein a thin plate still has an effective
length.Or put anotherway, thereis a transitionregion
in the neighborhoodof the hole in which velocitiesof
motion are changingfrom that characteristicof the
large diameter to that of the small diameter, and
momentumtransferredhere can result in larger pres-
sures that are transnfitted uniformly throughout the
volume. In the flute then, we can expect an acoustic
pressureto be developedthat lies somewherebetween
that calculatedusing the area of the tube, and that
usingthe area of the mouthhole.
The smokelracesshowthat the transversejet lnotion
is large,and it seemsreasonablelo considerthe jet to
be blowing into the tube for a complete half-cycle,
transferring its momentum all during this lime. It
interacts with a sinusoidal acoustic current of some
unknownphase4• with respectto the squarewave of
800•
- !i d=-4 tam
} 200•
0 - - - f , llq -•
Neck Length X, em
Fro. 9. Pressureproducedby a jet blowinginto the cylindrical
can as a function of neck length. Jet pressure 1.0 cm water, neighborhood
average initial velocity 1944 cm seeq, flow 145 cma sec L Curve
A, pressurecalculatedfor infinite neck length. Curve B, pressure
calculatedfor zero necklength.•et spacings
d as marked.
990 Volume44 Number4 1968
I.'lu. 10. Acoustic
oscillationpressures
as a function of blmv-
ing pressure for a
variety of blmving
conditions aml fre-
quencies. Curve A:
pressure calculated
from mouthhole area.
Curve B: pressure
calculated from flute-
,o
l tube area.
0.1 0.2 . '
Blowing Prea•ore, in.
pressure,and the effectiverms value of sucha square
waveof pressure, with regardto powerdeliveredto the
fundamental,will be W/a- timesthe maximumpressure
pa. UsingEq. 7, we can write the magnitudeof the rms
acousticpressuregeneratedby the jet
2,'(s,)(
1
Here p is the blowingpressure,s• the area of the lip
aperture, and s2 an effectivearea that lies •mewhere
between that of the fin/e-tube cross section and that of
the embouchure hole.
Equation 8 is plotted as the two straight lines in
Fig. 10, with s• the blowing-tubearea. The upper line
representsa choicefor s• of 0.5 cma (the embouchure-
hole area) and the lower line an area of 2.81 cn9, the
flute-tube area. The points between are the actual
observedvalues of nns acousticpressuregenerated.
Theseareobtainedfrom the jet-imp•tanccexperiments
describedearlierand representvaluesobtainedusing
widewtriety of lip spacings, oscillationpressures,
and
operatingfrequencies. All thesefall betweenthe lower
and upperboundsgivenby Eq. 8; a meanline through
the set lies about a factor of 2 abovethe lower bound,
a valueconsistentwith the findingsdisplayedin Fig. 9
for a short neck. Measurementof the static pressure
built up in a flute headby the blowingjet directedjust
below the embouchureedge, gave a value about 1.5
times lhat calculatedfront Eq. 7 when the flute-tube
diameter was used for 52• again showing the influence
of the restrictedmouthholein raisingthe pressure.No
measurablesuctionis developedwhen the jet is directed
acrossthe holeand abovethe embouchureedge.
While exact values undoubtedlydependsomewhat
on the particular geometry of the mouthholeand the
blowing conditions, it seems safe to state that the
acousticpressuregeneratedby the jet will lie in the
of twice the blowingpressure,times the
ratio of the area of the lip aperture to the area of the
flute-tube cross section.
 •O•'NI)I*'G MI.:CEI:\X[•,M ()F TIII.: 1:[.["1'1• .\XI) OI•G:\N I'[I'•

IX. SOUND-POWER PRODUCTION Bouhuvs.t" The efficiency will rise with frequenCY
I)ccause (•f the im'rc'itsed r:tdiation resistance.
'I'hc oscillationpressut'e
in the soundingtime will
reachan e(luilil)riumwhenthejet impedance,
as X. FREQUENCY PULLING

into the l]ute a• the planeof the mouthhole.A.t the \\'hen the jet velot'itv•tnd lip to-edgedistanceare
naturalpassive resonance fre(tucnc7 of thesystem,lhis notsuchitsto makethejel impedance real,thesteady-
impedance willbereal.tf [hephrase of lhcjcL state conditionwilt be one in which the frequencyis
is suchthat it in turn is real and negative (which re shiftedto introdttcea reactivecomponentequal •md
quiresa specificcombination of jet vdocity and lip opposite to that of thejet. Inspection of thespiralsof
distance),the oscillationwill take placeat the resonance I:igs.5, 7, and 8 iqqakcsit apparentthat reactivecom-
frequency of the systemand will btfiklup in amplitude ponentsits large as the real components•i.e.,jet
until the magnitudesof the impcd•mces m•tch. Since phases45ø away from the negativereal axis•mav
the jet provides a nearly c()nsl•ml-prcssurc readily occur'an(] still leave enough real component to
its apparentimpcd•tnce fallsinverselyas the acoustic sustain the losses.Since the real (loss) part of the
current rises.AC the same time, the nonlineareffects resonatorimpedancemust equal the negativet'eal
describedin Fig. 4 canscthe resonatorrcsislanceto component of thejet impedance, thefrequency shiftin
rise so the two cometo a definiteequilibriumpoint. this citse will be such as to introduce a reactive com-
If the atcousticoscillatingcttrrentat this point is p:mcntC(lUal t()theresistive component of theresonator
the acousticpowergeneratedis P?'0.The power impedance, or it shift•f=./' 2 0. We may thusexpect
pended in blowing is pusvThe generating clli(:iencvis frequent5-shiftsof at leastthismuchasblowingcon-
the ralio of thesetw% andusingp;= 2pstfs2,we find: ditionsare varied.FromFig. 4 and [:ormula1, we find
the0 •tt 440 Hz to be about30, and thuswe expectto
OI,:NERATIN(;
I,:FFICIENC5•2•'o/s•l•. findfrc(tuency shiftsof about•30 cents.Thisis quite
Now 2v0fs2is just the soundparticlevelocityin the consistent with those measured on an artificially
regionwherethe jet is interacting.The generating excited flute? We inav aLlsoinfer from Ref. 9 that the
e•ciencyisthusequalto theratioof lhesound-particleIlutist ordimtrilvoperatesso as to maintainthe ph•me
velocityto the jet velocity.It is dear that the energy of the jet impedance at 180ø.
losstakesplacebecause in slowingdownthe rapidly While the impedancespirals,and the measurements
movingjet, momentum is conserved, bul energyis of frequency shiftshowclearlythat a specitic arrival
necessarilylost. The actual wfiuc lhat v0 attains is set phaseof the impulse is requiredfor zerofrequency
by the lossesin the 11utclube. (7alculations frolq1the shift,theydo not lel[ us whatthe required phaseis.
aeonstic prcssm'e mcasul'ed by the microphone al/d the This is I)ecause the actual momen•tm• transfer takes
measured jcl impedance showthegenerating cliMenov placeover•tdistributed regionof thetube,andselection
is low about 2.4 • at .•.-•4{). Even if the of a particulararrival time is arbitrary.Sinceit is
werecompletely lossless, however,v• couldnot risc known,however, thal a soun(l1icldproduces its major
muchbeyondthe point wherethe acousticparticle influence on the jet immediately after the jet leaves the
velocityin themouthholeequaledthejet velocils,for aperture,
xvcmightaskwhattraveltimes,fromthejet
at thispointtherewouldnolonger
beanything topush to theedge,
arerequiredtoproduce
anacousticpressure
against.Weestimatethee•cicncvat thispointa[ abnut in ph•tsc
with the ingoing
(negative)
current.
4•, sothemechanism
of soundgenerati(m
in thelittle An cxamimttiotx
of the data frnm many experiments
is inherently a very inefficient one. showsthat the 180ø phasecondition is obt•inedwhen
Of theacoustic powergenerated, onlya smallfraction the irafreitimeof a jet particleacrossthe gapis about
is radiated. The radiation resistanceof a small isolated 0.2 of a period.Remembering that thejet wavetravels
at about0.4 the initial streamvelocity,thiscorresponds
sourceis =pc',k•. The ilute, under mosLcircnmstanccs, tOa travel time of • a periodfor a jet disturbance.
The
hastwoSotliTes, oneat e;tchend.The oneat themouth- oval mouthholegeometrydid not lend itself to a more
holehasslightlylesscurrent,owingto the taperall([ precise
(lctermimttim•
of thisnumber.
theendcorrection,
but ispattiall5 ballledby flueplayer's
hcitd. Over the lirst two oct;ryes,it is nearly as str,mg XI. DISCUSSION

a sourceas the openend. The two interfereto some Cromerand lsingah:tveapproached thedescriptionof
extent;but the effectsare not large,amountingto al1 theorganpipein •tmanner similarto thatof thispatper.
increase Using In their model,they considerthe resonatorand jet as
of 20• or soin the radiationresistirate.
thesecalculatedvalues,alqdthe total lossesn•casurc([ coupledsystemswhosetransferftmctionsmust com-
asin Fig.4, we findthat at 440Hz only3.3% of the })incto unity.The jet is assumed to injectits pulsating
current into the resonant system in such a way as to
;tcousticpowergenerated is radiated;rssound.'['hc
createa (lrivingpressure againstthe impedance of the
over-all e•ciency at this frequencythen comesto
8Xl0 •4, a valuelying;vithinthe rangereportedby •0:•. B(>uhuys,
J. Acoust.Soc.Amer.37, 453 456 (1965).

The Journalof the Acoustical5ocielyo[ America 991

 J. COLTX[AN

mouthhole.Such a model leads to a driving pressure conditions

at the nmuthof a diapasonorganpipe,and
directIx'proportionalto the jet volume velocity. To point out the importanceof the complexwaveformin
accrarotfor their experimentalresult lhat Ihc driving inlluencingthe jet. The interactionof complexsinuous
pressurewasdirecllv proporlionalto the squareof the waves on the jet (which showsomevariationof phase
initialjetvelocity(•'ig.10ofRef.5),theyh.vpothesized velocity with frequency:')with the waveformfrom a
that entraimnenlof air by the jet increasedthe injected resonator whose modes are not exact harmonics, is
currentover that of the jet alone,and that lhis enlrain- a subjectwhosescopeis attestedto by the variety of
ment varied with jet velocity in just sucha way as to tone colorsachievedin the pipe organ. Benade and
give it square-htwresull. The momentum concept Gansr' haveinvestigated for reedand brassinstruments
presented herein Sec.VIII, however,givesdireell3 the the effectof inharmonici%-of the modesof the resonator
square-lawdependence, whetheror not entrainment on the regeneration,and find that it is greatly facili-
takes place. In a current-driveconcept,there is an lated in a horn whoseresonance frequencies
are close
uncertainty• to the proper place to insert the jet to a harluonicseries. Detailedtreatmentof regeneration
currentin an equivalenteleclricalcircuit. In the real in the case of nonsinusoidal oscillations has yet to be
case,it is distributedover the regionconventionally allerupted.
represented by the lumpedreactanteof the mouthhole
XII. CONCLUSIOl•
mass,and alternately,flowsin either directionthrough
a portionof thisregion.Cremer'sassumption that it is The acoustic driving force represented by the
injectedbetweenthe main resonantcoluntoand the momentum of the blowing jet is converted into an
mouthholeimpedanceis hard to justify. The quantita- alternating acoustic pressure on the oscillating air
tive results to date indicate that the main features of
coluntoin the immediate neighborhoodof the mouth-
the drive mechanismcan be accountedfor by the jet hole.The phaseof this alternatingpressurewith respect
momentran,and the volume of gas inserteddoesnot to the alternating acousticcurrent dependson the
play a major role. lip-to-edgedistaliceand the propagationvelocityof a
Ingard and Ising*showthat nonlinearacousticlosses wave on the jet, which is approximately0.4 the initial
in an orifice are affected bv a superimposedsteady jet velocity. The magnitudeof the drMng pressureis
flow. This raisesthe questionof whether part of the directly proportional to the blowing pressureand the
measuredeffect of the jet representsa modificationof areaof the lip aperture.In order to maintain the driving
the turbulent losses,which are certainlypresentat the forcein properphaserelationwith the acousticcurrent,
mouthhole. There is also it questionof lhc extenl to lhe flutist increasesthe blowingpressureand decreases
which the puffsof air from the jet passingoutsidethe the lip-to-edgedistancewilh ascendingfrequency.He
wedgecontributedirectly to the radiatedstored.The can independentlycontrolthe amplitudeof oscillation
volrunevelocitiesof the jet current and the oscillating b\- varying the area oœthe lip aperture. The octave
sound current are quite comparablein Illall\' c,tsch.
jr,top can readily be controlledby choosingpressures
Neither
ofthese
questions
hasbeen
investigate•l.
and lip4o-edgedistancessuchthat the phasecondition
As pointedout in Sec. Ill, the presentwork was
restrictedas much as possibleto the caseof sinusoidal for oscilhttionin lhe desiredmodeis satisfied,while that
oscillations.While this is helpful in simplifying the for lhe other mode is not. The momentran transfer
physicalpictureof what is goingon, aml is not too bad concept,and recognitionof the phase condition for
a model for the flute, the organ pipe is ordinarily con- jet arrival, providesa theoreticalbasisfor the descrip-
strutted to be rich in harmonicsand to operatewith a tion of the sound generating mechanismof acoustic
jet configurationgiving short impulses. Elder and oscillators of the flute fiunilv.
Fasnacht n have investigatedthe velociU- and pressure •-'A. H. Benade and D. J. Gnus, "Sound Production in Wind
n S. A. Elder and W. E. Fasnacht,J. Acoust. Soc. Amer. i2, Instruments," Proc. Conf. Sound Production in Man, New York
1217(A) (1967). Acad. Sci. (Nov. 1966).

992 Volume 44 Number 4 1968