title: Entropy in sound and vibration: towards a new paradigm.
abstract: This paper describes a discussion on the method and the status of a statistical theory of sound and vibration, called statistical energy analysis (SEA). SEA is a simple theory of sound and vibration in elastic structures that applies when the vibrational energy is diffusely distributed. We show that SEA is a thermodynamical theory of sound and vibration, based on a law of exchange of energy analogous to the Clausius principle. We further investigate the notion of entropy in this context and discuss its meaning. We show that entropy is a measure of information lost in the passage from the classical theory of sound and vibration and SEA, its thermodynamical counterpart.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Tribology and System Dynamics CNRS , École centrale de Lyon , Écully, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3834-2685
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Le Bot
keywords: entropy; mechanical oscillators; sound and vibration; statistical energy analysis