Computational Study of Cymatics with Experimental Analysis

Cymatics is a visual representation of sound and vibrations, on surfaces of plates, diaphragms, and membranes in the forms of auditory-images. The surfaces that are exposed to these vibrations are sprinkled with fine particles that accumulate at nodes, to create visualizations of specific geometry unique to the particular frequency. This paper discusses the designing of an experimental platform, dedicated towards observing the behavior of cymatics, through analysis of such visualizations(Chladni patterns). This is further investigated by performing a numerical modelling using finite element simulation. Two millimeter thickness Aluminum(Al)plates of three shapes consisting of surfaces with equal areas were used for both experimental and finite element analysis(FEA). FEA was performed using ANSYS simulation software and patterns were derived for different vibrational frequencies. The results demonstrated that the 60% of the experimental imagery conforms with the visualization generated by ANSYS software. Additionally, the lowest average frequency differences with respect to the simulation results an average deviation for similar images was found to be 9.2% and 2.8 mm for the triangular shape plate, validating that the shape of the plate plays a paramount role in cymatics analysis.An image processing technique was used to determine the deviation between the images created by experimental platform and FEA for all the three shapes. The results demonstrate that Chladni patterns are best represented by a triangular shaped plate.