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Projects: Projects for Investigator
Reference Number EP/E035922/1
Title Quantifying and Improving the Reliability of NDE
Status Completed
Energy Categories Renewable Energy Sources(Wind Energy) 10%;
Not Energy Related 20%;
Other Power and Storage Technologies(Electric power conversion) 10%;
Fossil Fuels: Oil Gas and Coal(Oil and Gas, Enhanced oil and gas production) 30%;
Nuclear Fission and Fusion(Nuclear Fission, Light-water reactors (LWRs)) 30%;
Research Types Basic and strategic applied research 80%;
Applied Research and Development 20%;
Science and Technology Fields ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering) 100%
UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation Not Cross-cutting 100%
Principal Investigator Dr P Leevers
No email address given
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Imperial College London
Award Type Standard
Funding Source EPSRC
Start Date 06 August 2007
End Date 05 February 2011
Duration 42 months
Total Grant Value £256,070
Industrial Sectors Aerospace; Defence and Marine; Manufacturing
Region London
Programme Materials, Mechanical and Medical Eng, Process Environment and Sustainability
 
Investigators Principal Investigator Dr P Leevers , Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London (100.000%)
  Industrial Collaborator Project Contact , Nexia Solutions (0.000%)
Project Contact , Serco Group plc (0.000%)
Project Contact , Shell International Ltd (0.000%)
Project Contact , Alstom Group (International), France (0.000%)
Project Contact , Rolls-Royce PLC (0.000%)
Web Site
Objectives
Abstract Two basic approaches have been adopted by industry to establish a reliable Non Destructive Evaluation (NDE) procedure that is fit for purpose.1. In aerospace and offshore, where many similar defects are found repeatedly through many inspections, the Probability of Detection approach can be used. This approach is based on well-founded receiver operating characteristics theory.2. Where only a few defects are expected and each may be unique, as in the nuclear industry, then Technical Justificationis used. This is a judicious mixture of trials, modelling and physically-based reasoning.The technical justification neither quantifies the likelihood of errors nor gives any guidance on the effectiveness of the inspection should any of these errors occurs.Our proposal will provide a methodology for identifying errors and for quantifying their effect on inspection reliability. A combination of Fault and Event Trees will be used to identify and quantify errors in the entire process. This willenable studies of how best to improve the reliability of any NDT technique within any NDE approach and therefore complements both the Probability of Detection and Technical Justification approaches.The novel aspects of this proposal are:1. The cause-consequence approach carried through an entire NDT/NDE situation;2. Making the maximum use of available data, in part through the use of Bayesian networks to establish the causal correctness of the Fault and Event trees without needing to acquirenewdata through either experiment or modelling;3. Ensuring that the results are not biased by unwarranted tails in probability distributions of influencing factors; and4. Development of a framework for any inspection task which is generic but can readily be customised for each specific application.Data libraries will form an important part of the output. A key measure of success will be the degree to which industry can use the tool created to identify cost-effective ways of improving the reliabilityof their NDT/NDE
Publications (none)
Final Report (none)
Added to Database 22/02/07