On the integration of validation, quality assurance and non-destructive evaluation

Experimental strain analysis, structural health monitoring and non-destructive testing and evaluation are regarded as separate disciplines that, in general, are deployed independently at different phases in the life cycle of an engineering component, i.e. in the design process, in service and after an event or service period, respectively. It is proposed that the integrated use of these three disciplines is advantageous and beneficial in terms of reduced capital and operational costs for critical and safety-relevant components, as well as, in validating simulations, in both quantifying and reducing risk of unexpected failure, and in estimating remanent life. We propose the foundation of this integration to be data-rich strain fields measured and compared quantitatively, with each other and with data from simulations, at temporal intervals during the life of a component.