Modeling of Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) Processes for Reliability Assessment

The time and cost to perform a comprehensive probability of detection (POD) study are significant and burdensome to the process of deploying new inspection methods and techniques. The complexity and cost of this effort require the development of model-assisted methods to determine the POD of new inspection methods and techniques as they are introduced and maintained as part of a cost-effective maintenance process. TRI/Austin has teamed with other key organizations to demonstrate and validate model-assisted POD (MAPOD) as a technology to speed the development and reduce the costs of POD studies. With participation from Iowa State Universityâs Center for NDE, Computational Tools Inc., and NDE Technologies Inc.; the TRI Team will design and execute an experimental program to validate models of ultrasonic inspection (UT) of titanium components, and to then validate the MAPOD approach to POD estimation via comparison to a traditional MIL-HDBK-1823 study. The TRI Team will commercialize the validated UT software as part of the existing UTSIM commercial product. In addition, the MAPOD process will be documented and supporting software developed and commercialized to facilitate the use of POD methods from traditional MIL-HDBK-1823 analyses to MAPOD methods. BENEFITS: TRI/Austin has teamed with other key organizations to demonstrate and validate model-assisted probability of detection (MAPOD) as a technology to speed the development and reduce the costs of POD studies. With participation from Iowa State Universityâs Center for NDE, Computational Tools Inc., and NDE Technologies Inc.; the TRI Team will design and execute an experimental program to validate models of ultrasonic inspection (UT) of titanium components, and to then validate the MAPOD approach to POD estimation via comparison to a traditional MIL-HDBK-1823 study.  Using MAPOD approaches can significantly reduce cost and time associated with tradition methods of estimating POD. This allows faster implementation of new NDI in response to new requirements, providing cost and availability improvements for the Air Force while maintaining the desired level of operational risk. The commercial potential is very broad, as other users of POD can also implement the technology developed by the TRI Team, including civil aviation, nuclear power generation, civil infrastructure, and more.