Chladni Plate in Anechoic Chamber: Symmetry in Vibrational and Acoustic Response

A square metal plate (Chladni plate) is excited harmonically by a vibration shaker, while the whole system is set in an anechoic chamber to stop reflections, isolate the system from sound entering from the surroundings, and deal with direct sounds only. As far as the authors are aware, such an arrangement has not been achieved so far. Vibration modes are visualized by using poppy grains scattered over the upper surface of the plate and are also recorded by a camera located above it, inserted among the acoustic wedges on the roof of the chamber, which made it possible to record the patterns and avoid unpleasant sounds associated with some of them. Four distinctive vibration modes of the plate are then originally identified using vibrational and acoustic mode identification. These responses from the plate are measured both by an accelerometer attached to the central point of the plate and by a microphone set on the same vertical line as the accelerometer but above it, measuring the direct sound. The signals from the accelerometer and the microphone are then compared in two experimental arrangements, and their forms and the frequency contents are found to be equivalent. It is shown that the existing symmetry, i.e., the exact correspondence between vibrational and acoustic responses, can be used as the identifier of the patterns formed on the plate and the associated modal frequency.

Automated summary

This study utilizes a harmonic excitation on a metal plate to visualize vibration modes using scattered grains and a camera, and measures the responses using an accelerometer and a microphone. The symmetry between vibration and acoustic responses is shown to be an identifier for pattern recognition.