Strain distribution on vibrating synthetic and natural saxophone reeds measured with digital image correlation.

The mechanical behavior of the reed is an essential part of the sound production in single reed instruments such as the saxophone and the clarinet. To investigate effect of mouthpiece design, reed materials and reed shapes, it is important to understand reed dynamics. In this paper, stroboscopic digital image correlation (DIC) is used to measure displacement and strain distribution of the reed surface as function of time while the reed is vibrating. Measurements are performed on synthetic and natural cane reeds in dry and wet condition. Data are recorded on 30 phase steps within the vibration period. Results show that DIC allows to obtain reliable quantitative results of strain values in both the direction along the reed fiber length as well as perpendicular to the fibers. On the synthetic and the dry cane reed maximal x-strain values, averaged over the visible part of the reed tip, are respectively 0.06% and 0.08%. Maximal y-strain values are respectively 0.07% and 0.09%. On the wet cane reed, x-strain amplitude is smaller (0.06%), but during the measurement time both x-strain and y-strain change strongly because of dehydration artifacts. Over a period of a few minutes, displacements and strains of the wet reed change strongly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]