Structural and component integrity

Abstract

A structure or a component is expected to perform specific functions for a minimum specified period of time. If it ceases to do so, it is said to have failed. The consequence of service failure can be tragic and expensive. There are innumerable cases of engineering disasters resulting in loss of life and property. Therefore, utmost care and attention are required to be given to critical structures / components to ensure that such incidents do not take place. Integrity evaluation performed at regular intervals is a means to ensure absence of such tragic service failure. It also gives us an estimate of its remaining life which is essential to plan future course of action so that it could be used till the very end of its real life. Recent development of powerful non-destructive techniques and availability of modern computational facility at affordable cost has made this a routine exercise for many critical applications. This paper describes the basic principles behind structural and component integrity evaluation and also presents some of our recent experiences.