Let's first consider how the mass looks from the viewpoint of string
1, assuming string 2 is at rest. In this situation (no incoming wave
from string 2), string 2 will appear to string 1 as a simple resistor
(or dashpot) of
Ohms in series with the mass impedance
.
(This observation will be used as the basis of a rapid solution method
in §9.3.1 below.)
When a wave from string 1 hits the mass, it will cause the mass to move. This motion carries both string endpoints along with it. Therefore, both the reflected and transmitted waves include this mass motion. We can say that we see a ``dispersive transmitted wave'' on string 2, and a dispersive reflection back onto string 1. Our object in this section is to calculate the transmission and reflection filters corresponding to these transmitted and reflected waves.
By physical symmetry the velocity reflection and transmission
will be the same from string 1 as it is from string 2. We can say the
same about force waves, but we will be more careful because the sign
of the transverse force flips when the direction of travel is
reversed.10.12Thus, we expect a scattering junction of the form shown in
Fig.9.17 (recall the discussion of physically
interacting waveguide inputs in §2.4.3). This much invokes
the superposition principle (for simultaneous reflection and transmission),
and imposes the expected symmetry: equal reflection filters
and
equal transmission filters
(for either force or velocity waves).
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Let's begin with Eq.(9.12) above, restated as follows:
Let's define the mass position
to be zero, so that Eq.(9.14)
with the substitutions Eq.(9.15) becomes
Let's now omit the common ``(t)'' arguments and write more simply
Let
In the Laplace domain, dropping the common ``(s)'' arguments,
To compute the reflection coefficient of the mass seen on string 1, we
may set
, which means
, so that we have
Also, since
The transmitted velocity is of course
By physical symmetry, we also have
It is always good to check that our answers make physical sense in
limiting cases. For this problem, easy cases to check are
and
. When the mass is
, the reflectance goes to zero (no
reflected wave at all). When the mass goes to infinity, the
reflectance approaches
, corresponding to a rigid
termination, which also makes sense.
The results of this section can be more quickly obtained as a special
case of the main result of §C.12, by choosing
waveguides meeting at a load
impedance
. The next section gives another
fast-calculation method based on a standard formula.