PROCESS DATA
REPRESENTATION AND
ANALYSIS
LOGARITHMIC COORDINATES
Log-log and semi-log plots useful for
when experimental data span many orders of
magnitude
determining functional relationships of data
determining constants for fitting experimental
data to
o exponential function y=a e bx
o power law function y=a x b
Large Range of Experimental Data
Experimentally determined relationship between
friction factor and Reynolds number for sphere
moving through a fluid given below. Analyse the
data by plotting
Reynolds Number 0.9 0.33 0.12 0.074 0.023 0.0091 0.0065 0.0027 0.0011
Friction Factor 2 7 7 3 200 3 2 4 3 0 0 2 635 3 700 8 888 21 900
Plot on normal graph paper not very useful
Data crowded near origin and lie very near to the
axes.
Graph not very useful for interpolating and checking
suspicious data.
Plot the logarithm of the data
Plot shows a linear correlation and reveals that point
measured at Re=0.023 is suspect
Relationship can be expressed as f =a ℜ (a power law).
b
Constants a and b can be determined from graph
Instead of computing the base-10 logs plot the data
on a log-log graph paper
1
9
8
1
9
8
1
9
8
1
9
8
1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1
Gradations of both abscissa and ordinates increase
logarithmically.
Gridlines not evenly spaced - distance bet 0.1 and
0.2 greater than bet 0.9 and 1.0
1 000 is halfway bet 100 and 10 000 bec. log103 is
halfway bet log102 and log104
Determining Functional Relationship
Consider the three functions
y = 5x y = x3 and y = ex
plot of these functions on normal graph paper
5x is linear, difficult to distinguish x3 from ex
plot on log-log paper
both 5x and x3 are linear
any power law function plotted on log-log paper is
linear
plot on semi-log paper
ex is linear
any exponential function plotted on semi-log paper
is linear
Determining the Constants in the Equations
Consider the Reynolds number vs friction factor plot
- ignoring erroneous data point
Friction factor
10000
1000
100
Reynolds number
0.01 0.1 1
straight line on log-log plot means the functional
relationship is a power law
f =a ℜ or log f =b log ℜ+log a
b
10 10 10
rise log10 10000−log 10 100
b=slope= = =−1.009
run log 10 0.0024−log 10 0.23
to find a use any set of given data
f 3700
a= −1.009
= =22.98
ℜ 0.0065−1.009
final relationship f =22.98 ℜ −1.009
The absorption of radiation by material can be
modeled by
R ( x )=Ro e βx
R(x) is the count rate (Geiger counter clicks in one
minute)
Ro is count rate with no shielding
x is thickness of shielding material
β is a constant
The table shows measurements of the rate at which
radiation particles emitted by 55Fe are detected when
a Geiger counter is shielded by aluminium sheets of
various thicknesses.
Al Thickness
(cm)
0.00162 0.00324 0.00486 0.00648 0.00810 0.00972
Count rate
(counts/min)
1 850 1 250 800 450 310 165
Determine the constants Ro and β for this case.