Utility guide to advanced ultrasonic systems for preservice and in-service inspections, revision 1: Topical report, March 1988

This report is the second compilation of information on advanced ultrasonic (UT) inspection systems and contains evaluation guidelines, relative inspection costs and systems availability data effective through calendar year 1987. It is intended to answer the need of utility NDE managers for guidelines to evaluate the merits of using advanced (UT) inspection systems. A large number of advanced UT systems are now commercially available and boast a variety of capabilities. These systems are called /open quotes/advanced/close quotes/ because they employ state-of-the-art electronics, computers, and signal processing and imaging software. This guide recognizes that it is not expected of the NDE manager to be intimately familiar with all the components comprising a particular system, but rather that he be aware of the beneficial applications of such a system and its limitation. The guide includes systems that have applications to the inspection of boiling water reactor (BWR) piping. Information is presented in tabular form to facilitate simple comparisons between systems and to simplify access to system hardware and software requirements. A tutorial section discusses general ultrasonic inspection theory and gives a perspective from which a manager can view advanced systems. The dollars and cents of using an advanced UT system versus the standard manual mode inspection is also discussed. The results of a survey of utilities, service and vendor organizations are presented, cast in a benefit-to-cost framework. An example of specifications that a system should meet is also given and is modeled along the lines of a purchase order specification