British Energy is a listed (FTSE 100) company that produces around one-sixth of UK's electricity. It is the lowest carbon emitter of all UK's energy generators. British Energy has a stated drive to 'achieve world class operation safety and excellence' and they are committed to extend the life of current operational power stations. British Energy actively fosters a culture of social responsibility towards the wider community and is acutely aware of the safety issues concerning their industrial sector. In the UK, the nuclear industry is very highly regulated and British Energy realises that ultimate performance improvements will directly depend on the ability to satisfy the regulatory and legislative requirements imposed.

Role in the project
British Energy is the primary end user. British Energy will contribute to the project by providing the industrial case and will take a project steering role. Together, with the other members of the Project Steering Committee, British Energy will select the weld configuration to develop the technique on and provide technical guidance through decades of accumulated inspections of dissimilar metal joints.

The Nuclear Directorate (ND) of the HSE is responsible for the regulation of the civilian and defence nuclear assets. It is involved in all aspects of nuclear technology to develop safeguards and regulations to ensure that those who operate nuclear facilities do not neglect safety. Recently, as of April 2007, the ND is also responsible for the operational security and safeguards of the civil nuclear assets. The guiding principle of the ND is to “To protect people and society from the hazards of the nuclear industry.”

Role in the project
The HSE is an end user. The HSE will be part of the PSC and will provide technical guidance to the project. In particular, the consortium members will require the HSE to put forward and guide the techniques/technologies towards wider acceptance within the safety conscious nuclear community.

Shell (UK) has more than 8000 employees in the UK. Shell contributes about 25% of the UK’s oil and gas supplies and provides the hydro-carbon resources to sustain the plastics and chemicals industry. Shell is heavily involved in the extraction, refining and distribution of North Sea oil and gas to the UK. In addition, as a global commercial entity, to remain an on-going concern and weather the unpredictable future, Shell requires that its assets (such as oil platforms, upstream/downstream facilities and distribution networks) remain structurally sound. To this end Shell has identified the need to invest in those technologies that will allow it to step beyond the oil/gas sector (such as heavy investments in renewable energy sources) and ensure that it is protected from the loss of assets and environmental/social consequences of component failure.

Role in the project
Shell is an end user. Shell will be part of the PSC and will provide technical guidance to the project. They will outline the goals and methods to achieve them. In particular, Shell has been invited to propose a typical dissimilar pipeline configuration as a test case for the consortium to address.

TWI is one of Europe's largest independent Research and Technology Organisation (RTO) with a good track record in management of DTI/TSB and European collaborative projects. Building up an international reputation of more than 50 years for applying technologies and innovations to achieve best practice, its multidisciplinary teams work closely with companies across many industrial sectors internationally in all aspects of technology life cycle. This includes the structural integrity of welds and other joints, and for this reason it has developed a strong and growing NDT group.

Role in the project
The research work in developing the NDT techniques will be carried out by TWI’s NDT Technology group, which is a world leading centre of excellence. TWI has 60 qualified NDT inspection engineers with academic, research and industrial qualifications. TWI has the following research equipment and facilities making it the ideal research institute to execute this research project: (1) Six laboratories dedicated to NDT research. (2) Latest NDT equipment and systems including phased array systems. The total investment in NDT research equipment and facilities is greater than £30 million.

The metallurgy department of the University of Birmingham is a five star rated department. The department has been training world class scientists and engineers since 1881. The department has gone from strength to strength from its conception and has been leading metallurgical studies in the UK ever since it’s pioneering work in strategic applications during the war years. The department has world class facilities for microstructural analysis and is a valued Technology Centre for several key industries. The department has bestowed both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees to some of the leading minds of the UK’s science and technology base.

Role in the project
The metallurgy department will provide research services to the consortium. The quality of Electron Back Scatter Diffraction (EBSD) equipment is a unique asset of the department and the expertise to utilise the technology for generating the property map of the austenitic weld is a key requirement of the project. The department will be supported by TWI in achieving this goal.

Alba Ultrasound is a world leader in sonar technology for the commercial and defence sectors. They have strong links with commercial entities (such as Thales Underwater Systems) and the academic Centre for Ultrasonic Excellence (CUE) of Strathclyde University. Alba Ultrasound has also invested heavily in the use of modern piezocomposite materials for the manufacture of ultrasonic transducers for NDT applications. Working in close partnerships, Alba Ultrasound has demonstrated its ability to custom design transducers for the most demanding applications. Alba Ultrasound is an example of the technology focussed organisations who seek to develop world leading solutions and place the UK at the forefront of technological achievement.

Role in the project
Alba Ultrasound is an SME. Alba Ultrasound will develop and manufacture the TRL and the segmented annular phased array probes. Alba Ultrasound will work in partnership with TWI to mathematically model and optimise the transducer parameters. Alba Ultrasound will perform the second iteration of the transducer specification and will undertake the manufacture of the transducers using 1-3 piezocomposite technology. The present project will aid towards its current research activities in the 1-3 piezocomposite material for transducer manufacture and allow Alba Ultrasound to demonstrate its capabilities towards a very difficult and well known NDT problem.

Peak NDT is a company that came into existence from MatEval, an ultrasonics company related to Rolls Royce plc. Its primary products are the instrumentation required to drive conventional and phased array probes. Peak NDT specialises in advanced modern electronics required to build fast, independent channel systems that are capable of handling modern 128+ element probes. Peak NDT is currently focussed on UK’s nuclear and aerospace industries. During the course of this project Peak NDT will improve the features and capabilities of the MicroPulse 5PA equipment.

Role in the project
Peak NDT is an SME. Peak NDT will develop the algorithms required to programme the digital instruments to drive the TRL and segmented annular phased array probes. In addition, the present project falls in line with their on-going developments towards ensuring that the MicroPulse 5PA is electronically capable of driving the current and future generations of phased array probes.

Applied Inspection has established itself as the leading NDT service provider in the UK since its inception in 1984. Applied Inspection provides services to a wide variety of industrial sectors which include aerospace, nuclear, mining, offshore, transport and foundries. This accumulated wealth of knowledge and experience allows Applied Inspection to provide an informed and reliable service to the leading organisations around the world. In order to maintain their position Applied Inspection understands the need to keep abreast of new avenues of thought and advancements in the technological arena.

Role in the project
Applied Inspection is an SME. Together with Spree Engineering, Applied Inspection will perform critical trials of the techniques developed in the project. The best practice procedures and equipment will be used to establish the base-line performance against which the model and phased array based approach will be judged and sentenced.