Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematical-methods-ii-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2017-resit/11/c/solution

At common tension, the lighter segment has three times the wave speed, so its wavenumber at the same frequency is . The fixed left end and free right end select
Let . Since , continuity of displacement and of transverse force at the junction gives
Equal tension makes the second condition continuity of slope. A nontrivial pair of amplitudes requires the coefficient determinant to vanish:
For positive frequency, , so
Neither nor gives a nonzero mode, as direct substitution into the two matching equations confirms. The positive roots are or for . The first modes in the figure show the changing wavelength across the junction while retaining continuous displacement and slope. The zero-frequency limit must be solved separately; the fixed and free boundary conditions allow only the trivial static solution.
Figure 1.
The first three modes of a fixed-free string with a density junction
. Original eigenfunctions for the two segment densities. Displacement and slope are continuous at x equal to L; the lighter segment has three times the local wavelength. Details.

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