Electronic data calculation involves a variety of automated test devices and software programs. Sharing electronic information between laboratories and organizations can be difficult without harmonious formats. To ease the exchange of mechanical test data for soil and rock, geotechnical and software engineers, lab technicians, and other specialists in ASTM Committee D18 on Soil and Rock developed Standard D 6453, Guide for Format of Computerized Exchange of Soil and Rock Test Data.

W. Allen Marr, Ph.D., a geotechnical engineer and CEO of GEOCOMP Corporation, Boxborough, Mass., led the development. “D 6453 presents a standard yet versatile format that can be used to exchange data across systems,” he said. “A computer program written to follow this standard can successfully read the entire data file, including one that contains data elements not identified in this standard and one that contains errors in the data or data format.

“This guide defines the principal data elements that are considered important and worth recording and storing permanently in a computerized data storage system from which larger databases may be prepared,” Marr explained. “These data elements are not intended to be requirements of any specific or single database. The format permits only those elements that a specific user may require. Additional data elements may be added using the general outline of this standard.

Standard D 6453 “will lead to more efficient and effective use of test results and promote the development of databases containing useful information that typically resides only on paper and becomes lost to future users,” he concluded.

To describe your electronic test procedures or comment, contact W. Allen Marr, Ph.D., GEOCOMP Corporation, Boxborough, Mass. (phone: 978/635-0012). Committee D18 meets June 23-28 in Salt Lake City. For meeting or membership details, contact Robert J. Morgan, ASTM Technical Committee manager (phone: 610-832-9732). //

Copyright 2002, ASTM