EVOLUTION OF QNDE’S CORE INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING BASE

Nondestructive testing (NDT) for flaws in materials and structures has undergone an evolutionary change over the past 50 years. In the U.S. it has moved from a testing strategy (NDT) with a zero defects requirement to a test and evaluate technology (NDE) based upon damage tolerant design considerations. Here it is assumed that the part will always contain defects but those greater than a critical size, specified by fracture mechanics, will be removed by inspection thereby resetting the part’s service clock. In this talk, events will be identified that were critical in promoting this paradigm shift and in moving on to quantitative NDE (QNDE). A number of major research programs were also initiated to upgrade NDT to meet the new requirements; principal attention in this talk will be given to research highlights initiated in the first of these programs, the DARPA/AFML Interdisciplinary Program for Quantitative Flaw Definition that was established 35 years ago. Its purpose was threefold: to develop a new core...