Non Destructive Testing (NDT) and Condition Monitoring play an important role in ensuring that fabrications meet required standards and that they continue to operate in a reliable and safe manner throughout their service life. NDT may also play a role during decommissioning. The ability to examine materials, components or systems without causing damage enables manufacturing imperfections or in-service degradation to be detected and their effects on the item’s fitness-for-service to be determined.

However, selection of the most appropriate interrogation method and of the most efficient combination of techniques and procedures are vital. These ensure that inspection programmes are cost-effective while providing a high probability of detecting discontinuities that are likely to be of concern. Equally, the training and performance of inspectors is an important element in order to meet the detection capability required. These considerations are challenging for those primarily engaged in manufacturing, or operation of components and plant where integrity is of importance.

The NDT and Condition Monitoring Technical Group aims to provide information for Welding Institute Members on both current and challenging topics related to inspection and evaluation for various industry sectors and applications. The group aims to meet at least once every year and covers topics such as structural assessments, development of tailored inspection techniques, validation of inspection processes and training.