Geometrical nonlinearity analysis of a piano hammer using a finite element method

A study was conducted to demonstrate a geometrical nonlinearity analysis of a piano hammer using a finite element method. The finite element method software program used for the study was BOPACE. Only one quarter of the hammer felt was modeled to conduct the investigations. The number of elements was small, as the maximum number of elements was limited to 500 in the existing program. Portions of the felt that were expected to undergo larger deformation when compressed were divided into smaller elements to increase the accuracy of analysis with the limited number of elements. The elements were categorized into five regions and an identical Young's modulus was assigned to elements of each region.