Advances and challenges in structural integrity

This paper provides an overview of four key challenges for structural integrity assessment methods: surface technology and incubation / initiation of defects, microstructural effects on weld performance, realistic loading and defect morphologies and thermal / irradiation effects on materials and structures. These challenges will be met by the application of emerging experimental and numerical methods which will facilitate the development of a mechanistic understanding of these four challenges alongside mechanistically-based models to enable the reliable prediction of component performance outside the available database of materials behaviour.