Substantial budget expenditures and schedule delays are often required to develop and demonstrate effective NDE techniques for critical components not designed for inspection. As NASA moves forward in the Journey to Mars Program and Space Launch System to develop the Orion crew module and launch vehicles, it is essential to provide design tools that will enable rapid assessment of the feasibility of NDE methods as part of the design process for critical system components (thermal protection systems, pressure systems, composite structures, etc.) and computational NDE data analysis capabilities to help predict the response from a variety of NDE methods (ultrasonic, radiographic, thermographic, electromagnetic, optical, etc.) in complex aerospace structures.
NDE and structural health monitoring is also important for many military and commercial systems such as aircraft, automobiles, nuclear reactors, bridge and pipelines etc. A computational NDE tool will help the maintenance staff and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) for better design of the structures and inspection practices to ensure the structure integrity. The success of such software toolbox will greatly benefit the NDE community for enhancing the structural safety while reducing the maintenance costs.
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