Nondestructive Evaluation – A Critical Part of Structural Integrity

The structural integrity of modern structures and systems depend on the use and capabilities of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) for quality assurance in production; condition monitoring and repair assessments in service; risk analysis; and service/lifetime retirement. NDE is an ancient technology that has been applied, in many forms, since the beginning of time. The development and application of fracture mechanics was a revolution in design and structures management; imposed new and demanding requirements for NDE applications; and incorporated NDE as a critical part of design, production and management of critical structures and systems.New NDE requirements included quantification of capabilities and supporting considerations and technologies for development, validation, application and assessment of NDE capabilities and practices. NDE methods provide indirect measures / assessments of a desired property or condition and involve complex integration of parameters to produce the desired end result. Assessments of the capability and reliability of NDE procedures is continually evolving as an NDE engineering technology that is generally described in terms of a “probability of detection” (POD) metric. This paper summarizes the origin of the POD metric; various approaches to addressing POD requirements; considerations in NDE engineering; and suggested paths forward.