Dynamic Modeling and Experimental Testing of a Piano Action Mechanism With a Flexible Hammer Shank

The piano action is the mechanism that transforms the finger force applied to a key into a motion of a hammer that strikes a piano string. This paper presents a state-of-the-art model of a grand piano action, which is based on the five main components of the action mechanism (key, whippen, jack, repetition lever, and hammer). Even though some piano action researchers (e.g., Askenfelt and Jansson) detected some flexibility for the hammer shank in their experiments, all previous piano models have assumed the hammers to be rigid bodies. In this paper, we have accounted for the hammer shank flexibility using a Rayleigh beam model. It turns out that the flexibility of the hammer shank does not significantly affect the rotation of the other parts of the piano mechanism and the impact velocity of the hammer head, compared to the case that the hammer shank has been modeled as a rigid part. However, the flexibility of the hammer shank causes a greater scuffing motion for the hammer head during the contact with the string. To validate the theoretical results, experimental measurements were taken by two strain gauges mounted on the hammer shank, and by optical encoders at three of the joints.