Sound production by organ flue pipes

Abstract

A nearly exact, nonparametric treatment is devised to allow calculation of the transient and steady‐state acoustic spectra of a flue organ pipe, given the geometry of its construction and the pressure variation in its foot. Explicit formulation is given for the fundamental and the first and second upper partials. A scaling law is set out, relating the behavior of pipes of different fundamental frequencies, and several illustrative calculations are performed. Comparison between theory and experiment for a limited number of cases shows satisfactory agreement in semiquantitative terms but indicates that a more careful treatment of air jet behavior is required at low jet velocities.