UT in lieu of RT: Guidance and Validation of Through Cap Inspection of Welds with Intact Caps
Status: Proposal
Date Announced: April, 2025
Project reference: PROP312958
Summary
Significant benefits can be gained by switching from Radiographic to Ultrasonic Inspection, including improved workplace health & safety and major cost savings. There is an industry pull for Ultrasonic Inspection in lieu of Radiographic Inspection due to the health and safety implications of working with Ionising Radiation. Furthermore, the need for exclusion zones, which prevent other work from being performed in the vicinity where Radiographic Inspection is being undertaken and the additional staffing necessary to maintain such exclusion zones, significantly increases the cost of Radiographic Inspection. The advancement of Ultrasonic Testing using techniques such as Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing (PAUT) and Full Matrix Capture (FMC)/Adaptive Total Focusing Method (ATFM) has enabled TWI to develop a range of client and component specific inspection techniques that reduce the need for Radiographic Inspection. However, within industry Ultrasonic Inspection has not fully replaced Radiographic Inspection, due to limitations with current inspection techniques on complex joint configurations requiring the removal of weld caps to achieve full coverage of the weld volume. Whereas, Radiographic Inspection can be undertaken with weld caps remaining in place, which avoids additional machining and preparation costs.
This Joint Industry Project (JIP) seeks to develop techniques/procedures for Ultrasonic Inspection using ATFM to facilitate inspection of complex configurations with the weld caps remaining in place. The lessons learned will be used to produce industry guidance for ‘Design for Manufacture and Inspection’, for complex geometries and the entire life cycle components. It will consider factors such as welding process, joint configuration and weld cap profile and how they impact the ability to perform weld scanning with the cap intact.
Objectives
The key objectives of this project are to:
- Evaluate selected probes and equipment for the selected joint configurations.
- Evaluate current ATFM image processing for the selected joint configurations.
- Develop and validate ATFM inspection techniques/procedures for the chosen test pieces.
- Produce a guide to encourage use of the ‘Design for Manufacture and Inspection’ approach for complex geometries.
If you are interested in finding out more, download the PDF Summary Outline using the following link.