Acceptance Criteria — Definition & NDT Use
Established limits and requirements that define whether an indication or defect is acceptable for continued service or must be repaired/rejected. Acceptance criteria are specified in standards like ASME Section V, AWS D1.1, API 510/570/653, and ISO standards. Criteria vary based on material, component function, defect type, and safety criticality. Proper application of acceptance criteria ensures consistent decisions and safe operation.
As a written standard, Acceptance Criteria translates physical inspection know-how into auditable rules: who is qualified, what equipment is acceptable, how the procedure must be written, and what counts as a rejectable indication. A standard's strength is that two independent crews can reach the same disposition on the same indication; that consistency is the entire point of the document and why audit findings cite paragraph numbers rather than opinions.
Acceptance Criteria is invoked by a contract, a purchase order, or a regulator; once invoked, it controls procedure, personnel, and acceptance criteria for the entire scope of work.
A common misreading of Acceptance Criteria is to apply the latest edition's acceptance criteria to a part fabricated under a previous edition; contracts usually freeze the edition, and the audit trail must reflect that.
What does "Acceptance Criteria" mean in NDT?
Established limits and requirements that define whether an indication or defect is acceptable for continued service or must be repaired/rejected. Acceptance criteria are specified in standards like ASME Section V, AWS D1.1, API 510/570/653, and ISO standards
Who enforces Acceptance Criteria?
Enforcement comes from the contract (the purchaser cites the standard), the regulator (where the jurisdiction has adopted the standard into law), and the third-party inspection body or owner-user inspection group performing audit oversight.
What other NDT concepts should I read alongside Acceptance Criteria?
The most directly related entries in this glossary are "rejection criteria", "rejectable indication", "inspection standard"; reading those together gives you the surrounding vocabulary used in inspection reports and procedures.