National foreword

This British Standard is the UK implementation of EN ISO 16811:2025. It is identical to ISO 16811:2025. It supersedes BS EN ISO 16811:2014, which is withdrawn.

The UK participation in its preparation was entrusted to Technical Committee WEE/46/3, Ultrasonic Testing.

A list of organizations represented on this committee can be obtained on request to its committee manager.

Contractual and legal considerations

This publication has been prepared in good faith, however no representation, warranty, assurance or undertaking (express or implied) is or will be made, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by BSI in relation to the adequacy, accuracy, completeness or reasonableness of this publication. All and any such responsibility and liability is expressly disclaimed to the full extent permitted by the law.

This publication is provided as is, and is to be used at the recipient’s own risk.

The recipient is advised to consider seeking professional guidance with respect to its use of this publication.

This publication is not intended to constitute a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

Compliance with a British Standard cannot confer immunity from legal obligations.

This British Standard was published under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee on 31 March 2025.

Foreword

ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.

The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the different types of ISO document should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).

ISO draws attention to the possibility that the implementation of this document may involve the use of (a) patent(s). ISO takes no position concerning the evidence, validity or applicability of any claimed patent rights in respect thereof. As of the date of publication of this document, ISO had not received notice of (a) patent(s) which may be required to implement this document. However, implementers are cautioned that this may not represent the latest information, which may be obtained from the patent database available at www.iso.org/patents. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not constitute an endorsement.

For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), see www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.

This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 135, Non-destructive testing, Subcommittee SC 3, Ultrasonic testing, in collaboration with the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) Technical Committee CEN/TC 138 Non-destructive testing, in accordance with the Agreement on technical cooperation between ISO and CEN (Vienna Agreement).

This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition (ISO 16811:2012), which has been technically revised.

The main changes are as follows:

normative references have been updated;
Annex A and Annex B from the prior edition have been moved to the main text;
document has been editorially revised.

Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.

Introduction

The following standards on ultrasonic testing are linked:

ISO 16810, Non-destructive testing — Ultrasonic testing — General principles;
ISO 16811, Non-destructive testing — Ultrasonic testing — Sensitivity and range setting;
ISO 16823, Non-destructive testing — Ultrasonic testing — Through transmission technique;
ISO 16826, Non-destructive testing — Ultrasonic testing — Testing for discontinuities perpendicular to the surface;
ISO 16827, Non-destructive testing — Ultrasonic testing — Characterization and sizing of discontinuities;
ISO 16828, Non-destructive testing — Ultrasonic testing — Time-of-flight diffraction technique as a method for detection and sizing of discontinuities.

This European Standard was approved by CEN on 23 February 2025.

CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration. Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre or to any CEN member.

This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre has the same status as the official versions.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and United Kingdom.

European foreword

This document (EN ISO 16811:2025) has been prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 135 "Non-destructive testing" in collaboration with Technical Committee CEN/TC 138 “Non-destructive testing” the secretariat of which is held by AFNOR.

This European Standard shall be given the status of a national standard, either by publication of an identical text or by endorsement, at the latest by September 2025, and conflicting national standards shall be withdrawn at the latest by September 2025.

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent rights. CEN shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

This document supersedes EN ISO 16811:2014.

Any feedback and questions on this document should be directed to the users’ national standards body/national committee. A complete listing of these bodies can be found on the CEN website.

According to the CEN-CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organizations of the following countries are bound to implement this European Standard: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and the United Kingdom.

Endorsement notice

The text of ISO 16811:2025 has been approved by CEN as EN ISO 16811:2025 without any modification.

1 Scope

This document specifies the general rules for setting the time-base range and sensitivity (i.e. gain adjustment) of a manually operated ultrasonic instrument with A-scan display in order that reproducible determinations can be made of the location and echo height of a reflector.

This document is applicable to contact techniques employing a single probe with either a single transducer or dual transducers. This document does not apply to the immersion technique and techniques employing more than one probe.

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

4 Quantities and symbols

5 Qualification of personnel

6 Test equipment

6.1 Instrument

6.2 Probes

6.3 Coupling media

6.4 Standard blocks

6.5 Reference blocks

6.6 Specific test blocks

7 Categories of test objects

8 Test objects, reference blocks and reference reflectors

9 Probes

9.1 General

9.2 Longitudinally curved probes

9.3 Transversely curved probes

10 Determination of probe index point and beam angle

10.1 General

10.2 Flat angle-beam probes

10.3 Angle-beam probes curved longitudinally

10.4 Angle-beam probes curved transversely

10.5 Probes curved in two directions

10.6 Probes for use on materials other than non-alloy steel

11 Time base setting

11.1 General

11.2 Reference blocks and reference reflectors

11.3 Straight-beam probes

11.4 Angle-beam probes

11.5 Alternative range settings for angle-beam probes

12 Sensitivity setting and echo height evaluation

12.1 General

12.2 Angle of incidence

12.3 Distance-amplitude curve (DAC) technique

12.4 Distance-gain-size (DGS) technique

12.5 Transfer correction

Bibliography

BS EN ISO 16811:2025

Non-destructive testing. Ultrasonic testing. Sensitivity and range setting

Current

Published:

31 Mar 2025