When pushed to the limits of their detection capability, NDE systems do not produce consistent hit/miss
indications. Their capability of detecting small defects is therefore expressed in terms of POD. An adequate
NDE system is required to ensure the structural integrity. In conventional signal response analysis, the POD is
expressed as a function of the defect size, and its adequacy for the inspection task is tested against the maximum
allowable defect size which will not undermine the structural integrity. Analyses of modern structures show that
other parameters, beside the defect size, can both significantly influence the POD and determine the severity of
the defect for the structure. Within the multi-parameter reliability analysis, the POD is expressed as a function of
those influencing parameters. When determining the adequacy of the NDE system, the capability of detecting a
defect has to be expressed and tested against the critical value of exactly that parameter that determines defects
severity for the structure. Failing to do so can lead to a rejection of the healthy, or acceptance of the bad part.
The principle is demonstrated on the example of the Transmit-Receive Longitudinal (TRL) ultrasonic inspection
of the iron cast component for semi-elliptical surface defects.
Classical film radiography is a well-established NDT technique and it is most commonly used for testing weld seams and corroded pipes e.g. in oil and gas industry or in nuclear power plants. In the course of digitization, digital detector arrays (DDA) are finding their way into industrial applications and are replacing film radiography step by step. This study deals with the latest generation of DDAs, the photon counting and energy resolving detectors (PCD), and their characteristics compared to charge integrating detectors (CID). No matter which technology to use, radiography still lacks a general issue: A three-dimensional object is projected onto a two dimensional image. Of course, advanced computed tomography (CT) algorithms exist since many years, but if the object to investigate is too large to fit into the manipulation system or its shape is not appropriate, CT is not feasible or sensible to be applied. To overcome this limitation, numerous laminographic algorithms have been developed in the past. In this study, photon counting detectors are used in combination with co-planar translational laminography to gain reconstructed three-dimensional volumes. Both laminographic testing and PCDs require a serious knowledge of many parameters that can influence the image quality in the resulting datasets. These are e.g. the detector efficiency and calibration procedure, setting of energy thresholds, exposure data, number of projections, beam length correction and spatial resolution. The use of PCDs yields more variables to be considered compared to CIDs. The most important parameters in laminographic testing and in the use of PCDs are described in this study and limits are discussed.
The Probability of Detection (POD) is used to evaluate the detectability of non-destructive testing (NDT) systems. The POD is highly dependent on the amount of available data. The Bayesian approach provides a solution to compute POD-curves in case of a small amount of real defects without losing the necessary information. The result contains the needed information for the computation of POD-curves for real defects with an acceptable amount of information, even for sparse amount of data. In this paper is shown limitations of the Bayesian approach and how it can be applied to NDT. The Bayesian approach is applied in this case to the evaluation of radiographic testing. Bayesian approach is applied to determine POD-curves for the inspection techniques of nuclear fuel disposal canisters. The reason for using Bayesian approach is the high safety demands and also the low amount of real defects due to the high quality of the reliable production techniques.
Ultrasonic phased array NDE has been applied to ensure the integrity of canisters for encapsulation of spent nuclear fuel. The performance of the NDE system is evaluated by the POD analysis. The POD analysis using a common method, â versus a, has been modified for the phased array ultrasonic inspections by two approaches: to take more influencing parameters into a, and to use a more sophisticated quantity as â. The POD with new a allows more detailed interpretation of POD for each parameter, and the new â gives more realistic POD. The methods are discussed and demonstrated with experimental data. In addition, an investigation of human factors is being planned and the plan is discussed.