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Pipeline Scanning | Ultrasonic
Weld Testing | TOFD | Engineering
Critical Assessment | AUT
Weld Equipment
Engineering Critical Assessment
UT Scan's Automated Ultrasonic Testing technology is effortlessly partnered with an Engineering Critical Assessment (ECA) approach.
ECA is also commonly referred to as "Fracture Mechanics," "Fitness-For-Service" or "Structural Integrity." The chief ambition of Engineering Critical Assessment is to determine if a piece of equipment or structure is sound enough to meet the service requirements for which it was intended. For example, in the AUT pipeline inspection industry it is crucial that welds are analyzed to determine if there are any defects which can shorten a pipeline's service life.
ECA is an "Engineering Critical Assessment" criteria whereby the defects are accepted or rejected based on their location within the weld (through thickness), vertical height of the defects, and the interaction of defects with other defects or surface interaction. All these factors are calculated/tested and derived from non-destructive tests of the actual material to be welded. Defect interaction rules can be applied to buried defects as well as to defects that may interact with the surface (ID & OD).
ECA is often used to evaluate defects as it is less conservative than traditional criteria and can reduce the reject rate of welds considerably. ECA offers constructive guidance for AUT qualifications such as flaw type, equipment type, flaw detection uncertainties and flaw sizing.
ECA acceptance criteria
With UT Scan, ECA acceptance criteria are often used for defect height sizing and depth measurements. UT Scan's combination of Automated Ultrasonics and ECA enables you to apply extended criteria lengths (defect length) by knowing the actual vertical height of defects and the location (depth) in the weld. In turn, having more knowledge about the actual defect allows you to apply more lenient criteria, yet still within the known material property limits (Failure Analysis, Fracture Mechanics).
Advantages of partnering Engineering Critical Assessment
and AUT include: