Author
C SUI(1), M Y RAFIQ(1), D EASTERBROOK(1), G BUGMANN(1) and G ZHOU(2)
(1) University of Plymouth, UK
(2) Harbin Universityof Technology (HIT), China

Abstract
Naturally there are errors in laboratory experimental data. These errors are more apparent in data obtained from testing of anisotropic composite materials such as masonry. In this paper a methodology for minimising errors in experimental data is proposed and two types of modifications are used (i) 3D-surface fitting of the experimental data to smoothen irregularities in overall deformed shape of the laterally loaded masonry panel; (ii) load deflection curve fitting to further smoothen irregularities in load deflection curves that are not sufficiently modified by the surface fitting process, which is mainly effective near the panel boundaries. The investigation proved that a Timoshenko-like formula is a better fit for the experimental data.

Key words
Masonry, experimental error, modified deflection, surface fitting