Equal Arc Segment Method for Averaging Data Plots Exemplified for Averaging Stress versus Strain Curves of Pervious Concrete

Abstract

In common engineering practice, data plots, such as the stress versus strain relationship of materials, are averaged among a series of samples using the mean ordinate (MO) method. This method is reliable as long as the sample performance does not vary significantly. If the stress versus strain curve of individual samples differs significantly in terms of shape, peak stress, and corresponding strain, the MO method may result in misleading average curves that do not adequately represent the material behavior. In this paper, an equal arc segment (EAS) method for averaging data plots is presented. Based on experimentally obtained compressive stress versus strain curves for pervious concrete, a comparison has been conducted between the proposed EAS method and the MO method. The results show that the EAS method outperforms the MO method, especially where there are high variations in the data pool. The EAS method is not limited to pervious concrete as showcased here, but can be applied to other data plots as well.