Elephant bells are ceremonial bells from India. We have been investigating the physics of these interesting bells for the past few years in collaboration with Robert Perrin and Gerry Swallowe of the University of Loughborough in the United Kingdom.
Perrin and Swallowe are analyzing the modal structure of a set of elephant bells using group theory, while our group is analyzing the bells experimentally. We have used time-averaged electronic speckle pattern interferometry to catalogue the modal patterns, and recorded the power spectra of the bells to determine the important modes. The interferograms below show the normal modes of an elephant bell as viewed from the top and side. For a complete review of our work see
R. Perrin, B. Deutsch, A. Robinson, R. Flece, T.R.
Moore and G.M. Swallowe, "Normal modes of the elephant bell," Proceedings
of the
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