Dashpot

The elementary impedance element in mechanics is the dashpot which may be approximated mechanically by a plunger in a cylinder of air or liquid, analogous to a shock absorber for a car. A constant impedance means that the velocity produced is always linearly proportional to the force applied, or , where is the dashpot impedance, is the applied force at time , and is the velocity. A diagram is shown in Fig. 7.1.

Figure 7.1: The ideal dashpot characterized by a constant impedance . For all applied forces , the resulting velocity obeys .

In circuit theory, the element analogous to the dashpot is the resistor , characterized by , where is voltage and is current. In an analog equivalent circuit, a dashpot can be represented using a resistor .

Over a specific velocity range, friction force can also be characterized by the relation . However, friction is very complicated in general [423], and as the velocity goes to zero, the coefficient of friction may become much larger. The simple model often presented is to use a static coefficient of friction when starting at rest ( ) and a dynamic coefficient of friction when in motion ( ). However, these models are too simplified for many practical situations in musical acoustics, e.g., the frictional force between the bow and string of a violin [311,553], or the internal friction losses in a vibrating string [73].