Advanced NDE Techniques for Reliable Crack Inspection and Fitness-for-Service Assessments

Reliable and accurate NDE (Non-Destructive Evaluation) techniques are required to conduct FFS (Fitness-For-Service) assessments for crack type flaws in equipment. FFS assessments rely on certain flaw detection and flaw sizing assumptions which can only be provided through NDE. The detection and sizing provided by the NDE work is highly dependent on both inspection methodology (e.g., operator, equipment, and procedure) as well as the specific component and application (e.g., part thickness and geometry, flaw type, damage mechanism, etc.). Therefore, the accurate determination of these detection and sizing assumptions requires thorough consideration, modeling, assessments, and determination by NDE specialists. This paper will describe factors that affect flaw detection and sizing results by NDE, the use of synthetic flaws to assess and improve NDE performance, the verified performance of advanced NDE techniques on natural flaws, and the integration of NDE performance results with FFS assessments.