Quantitative assessment of experimental repeatability

With ever increasing safety and operating restrictions being imposed on high performance military aircraft, space vehicles, missile technology and satellites, for example, it is of increasing importance to measure and quantify the performance of experimental procedures. All experiments are subject to some inherent inaccuracy or loading and a detailed knowledge of experimental repeatability can assist in determining the levels of acceptable experimental error. Validation of the results of one experimental technique against another using the method detailed, allows the potential benefit of assessing and, more importantly, locating common errors in both methods, thus providing a rigorous framework for confidence building. The validation technique can also be used to identify best practice in a situation where there are ill defined test plans. The authors illustrate how sets of experimental results can be compared and their differences quantified. Furthermore, the interpretation of these results allows rational decisions to be made regarding the quality of measurement techniques or facilities allowing them to be used with a measured level of confidence