You can select and import the test data for your material calibration using the following
process:
- Preprocess the raw data.
The app has an extensive and specialized set of test data preprocessing tools that
you can use to clean up your test data after import (About Test Data Processing). However, you can preprocess
your test data using your own tools before you perform the import. A test data
set that is suitable for calibration has the smallest number of data points
necessary to capture the material response accurately, and it has as little
experimental noise as possible.
- Import the test data files.
You can import one or more files of experimental test data
into the app. The app supports import from Excel spreadsheets (.xls*), text
files (.txt), or comma-separated value files
(.csv). Test data must be stored in column format with
each row of data corresponding to the same measurement point. For example, a
typical test data set from a uniaxial tension experimental test would include
the following columns: time, displacement, force.
- Select subsets of test data.
You can select the rows and columns of test data that you
want to import. If you highlight columns that have textual header data, the app automatically disregards the headers and starts reading from the first
numerical values it finds.
- Characterize the imported data.
Part of the import process is describing what the test
data represents. You can describe the imported test data sets as follows:
- Quantities: Describes the X- and Y-quantities and units for each column
of test data.
- Metadata: Describes any other pertinent information about the test data,
such as the lab that performed the testing, the machines that performed
the tests, and the test data. If your data does not include time
information, you can specify a total time or a time interval for the
data manually. Metadata are optional.
- Review plots of the imported data.
After the import is complete, the app immediately plots your test data in a dedicated panel.