The Reliability of Non-destructive Inspection, Assessing the Assessment of Structures under Stress

The inspection of inspection: Introduction. Historical attitudes to non-destructive testing. Recent trends in non-destructive testing. Inspection and those who do it. General plan of the book. Systems reliability: Introduction. Fitness for purpose. Analysis of system failure. Risk analysis and human factors. Legal and economic aspects. Defects and failure: Fracture mechanics - mechanisms of failure. Defects in starting materials - cast metals. Manufactured defects - welding defects. Defects which grow in operation. Defects in non-engineering systems. Methods of non-destructive testing: Introduction. Visual inspection. Ultrasonics. Impact testing. Acoustic emission. Thermal resistivity. Eddy current techniques. Magnetic flux techniques. Electrical resistivity. Penetrating radiations. Proof testing. Summary. Failure of inspection: Reasons for failure of NDT techniques. Is the technique appropriate for the defects sought? Inspection procedures. Automated versus manual scanning. Human error. Magnitude of errors in manual inspection. Equipment malfunction. Estimates of serious human error. Human factors and how to control them. Properties affecting the performance of the technique. A mathematical description of unreliability. Repeating inspections. Summary. Idealised inspection studies: Tests of inherent capability. Idealised inspection studies - test-block trials. An example of the cost of fabrication and sectioning of test-block trials. Manufacture of test blocks. Destructive examination. Realism of test blocks. Results of test-block exercises. Interpolation of results. Probabilistic fracture mechanics. Role of test-block exercises in estimating inspection reliability. Alternatives to test-block exercises. Ultrasonic inspection of thick section steel components - criticism of PISC I. The Defect Detection Trials organised by the UKAEA. Further analysis of the results of the Defect Detection Trials. PVRC-PISC I and other ultrasonic trials in thick section steel. The future of round-robin tests. Inspection of other systems. Summary. Appendix. References. Index.