You may have heard this two words of it before, especially if you have already been confronted with some engineering project or some synthesizer.
But what is it about?
In summary, physical modeling is a way to model and simulate systems made up of real physical components. It is a simplified material representation, usually on a small scale, of an object or phenomenon, for analyzing it.
But why? This model can be used to simulate the physical conditions involved (temperature, speed, etc.) and to predict the particular constraints of the situation. These constraints can be considered and tested and solutions implemented before the final stages of a project.
It is used in various fields, for example in aeronautics, urban planning, construction but also for sound synthesis.
In the field of design, its main goal is to test aspects of a product against user requirements. Physical modeling not only allows designers to explore and test their ideas, but also to present them to others.
In the sound field, physical modeling seeks to recreate a musical instrument using a model and the laws of physics and to simulate its behavior. The algorithms are then simulated on a computer and the data stored or played as sound in real time.
We will go deeper into the theme of sound in the next part.
Resources
Futura-Science – Physical model
MathWorks – Physical Modeling
DesTechWiki – Modelling
