The Challenge - Traditional methods of structural life analysis, such as crack nucleation or crack growth, do not have the capability to include or quantify the impact of time-based structural degradations such as corrosion, buildup of sustained stresses, and other shifts in the basic forces that drive structural degradation.

Engineered Solution -

AP/ES has been instrumental in developing techniques and tools that allow us to incorporate time-based degradation into structural life assessments. These techniques allow AP/ES to quantify structural life holistically, in other words, accounting for numerous degratory effects, and determining useful structural life from cradle-to-grave. The robustness of a holistic assessment allows reliable quantifications of any subset of the analysis, such that life predictions can fulfill any specific design philosophy, maintenance requirement, or operator preference. Additionally, the discontinuity sizes in a holistic assessment have a direct correlation with physical features, providing a direct link to Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI) techniques. Holistic assessment methods have been scrutinized and proven by multiple blind test trials, and provide design and maintenance solutions that supplement and enhance the existing industry solutions of durability and damage tolerance.