In-Process Weld Inspection during Submarine Build

Project summary

Right-first-time, every time.

Traditionally, welding and inspection of high-integrity joints are separate, sequential, often manual processes in manufacturing and repair. These limitations reduce productivity, throughput and schedule certainty, and increase rework when defects are only detected at weld completion. The additional energy required for repeated re-heating and cooling cycles to excavate and repair these defects significantly increases the commercial and environmental costs of errors in manufacturing.

A shrinking and ageing skilled workforce, alongside a drive to reduce hazardous working, makes process automation a priority.

Automated in-process ultrasonic inspection aims to deliver high-integrity welds right, first time, every time. Drawing on current industrial operational data, in-process ultrasonic inspection offers significant reductions:

• More than 55% in weld process time
• More than 50% in overall weld cost
• More than 75% in person hours

This proposal seeks to accelerate and propel innovative developments in in-process ultrasonic inspection to BAE Systems submarine geometries and materials.

Aims and objectives

The project will accelerate developments in in-process ultrasonic inspection for BAE Systems submarine geometries and materials. Its objectives are:

• Verify the performance and limitations of in-process phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) on BAE Systems submarine Double-V Submerged Arc Welds (SAW) and Double-V Flux Cored Arc Welds (FCAW).
• Undertake simulations to verify that in-process PAUT can be applied to these specific weld types.
• Develop new imaging approaches for in-process inspection of those welds.
• Optimise and quantify the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) performance of in-process phased array inspections.

Alignment to STAND-UP impact targets