Assess the Reliability of Available Non-Destructive Evaluation Methods to Identify Defects that Jeopardize the Behavior of Welded Joints - Establish Model UT Procedures 

Principal Investigator: Glenn Light 
Southwest Research Institute 

    The work will consist of evaluating ultrasonic test methodologies currently used for buildings and in industries other than the building construction industry to assess their applicability to typical building construction weldments. Promising techniques will be demonstrated on mock-up welded joints. Cost-benefit comparisons for the various methods based on achievable accuracy of reflector interpretation (relevant or not), sizing accuracy, inspection costs, and present day availability of equipment and services will be prepared. Most importantly, this work will establish a comprehensive series of model UT procedures - focused on Complete Joint Penetration (CJP) and Partial Joint Penetration (PJP) weld geometries and sizes typically used in building construction - which will serve as baseline documents for the inspection personnel. 

The detailed breakdown of the technical activities in this task are provided in the workstatement available here.