UT Thickness Survey Report Template

A thickness-gauging report for piping, vessels and tanks with a reading grid by measurement location and direction, laid out so the minimum reading at every location can be found in seconds.

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What a compliant thickness survey report must contain

ASME Section V adopts ASTM E797 as SE-797 in Article 23, the standard practice for measuring thickness by the manual pulse-echo contact method. Its report section asks for the examination procedure information recorded at the time of measurement: the type of instrument, the standardization (calibration) blocks and their specifications, the size, frequency and type of search unit, and the scanning method. The report must then give the maximum and minimum thickness measured, the location of each measurement, and personnel data including certification level.

ISO 16809 covers the same ground for metallic and non-metallic materials by direct contact, based on time-of-flight measurement only. It is the reference most European clients name, and its structure is close enough to E797 that one template can satisfy both if you record the measurement mode (pulse-echo, echo-echo through coatings, or multiple-echo) and how the instrument was calibrated.

A thickness survey is usually a data feed for someone else's integrity assessment. The owner-user or their inspector will use your readings with previous surveys to work out corrosion rates and remaining life under the inspection code that applies to the asset. Your report therefore has to make every reading re-locatable and comparable: the same location IDs, the same orientation convention and the same reading positions as the last survey.

• Location scheme: CML/TML identifiers that match the client's isometric or vessel drawing, not numbers you invented on the day.
• Orientation: for piping, readings by direction (for example 0°, 90°, 180°, 270° looking with flow) or by grid position on larger components.
• Calibration: the step block or known-thickness samples used, the material velocity, and how coatings were handled.
• Anomalies: laminations, pitting and locations that could not be read, stated as such rather than left blank.

Example UT thickness survey report layout

The layout below is the template filled with illustrative example values so each field's purpose is clear. The print view gives you the same layout blank, ready to fill in on site.

Download, print or get the editable version

• Open the printable UTT template: a clean blank form. Use your browser's Print and choose "Save as PDF" to keep a PDF copy.
• Download the CSV with every field and the example rows, to build your own spreadsheet.
• Want the editable Word or Excel version with your logo? Use the request form on this page or ask for it here.

Getting a survey the integrity engineer can actually use

The integrity engineer reading your survey will put it next to the last three. Anything that stops them lining up the readings sends the report back or, worse, produces a false corrosion rate. The common failures are a changed orientation convention, a different reading position on an elbow, readings through paint taken in pulse-echo mode (which adds the coating thickness to the steel), and blank cells that could mean "not read" or "not required".

1. Import the location list from the previous survey or the client drawing before you go to site, and keep its IDs.
2. Write the orientation convention in the header and stick to it.
3. Record the measurement mode for every reading taken through a coating.
4. Scan around a low reading and record the minimum found, with a remark if you suspect pitting or a lamination rather than general wall loss; a single spot reading can miss localised corrosion.
5. Use "n/a" with a reason for anything not read, so a blank never has to be interpreted.

Thickness surveys are the one NDT report where more data is not always better: a grid of hundreds of readings with no minimum column is harder to review than a well-chosen set of locations with the minimum called out. The template puts the minimum next to the readings for that reason.

Planning the next survey from this one

Add a short remarks line for every location that was hard to reach, needed scaffolding, or had to be read through coating, and keep it with the location list. The next crew then knows what access to arrange before they arrive. Record the instrument settings that affect comparability, such as measurement mode and velocity, so the next survey can match them.

The header fields every NDT report shares

Whatever the method, a report is only useful if it can be tied to the job, the drawing and the people. Every template in this library starts with the same header block: report number and revision, date, client, job and work-order references, site, component, drawing and revision, procedure and revision, acceptance standard and extent. ASME Section V Article 1 sets general record requirements that each method article then builds on, and client specifications almost always add their own. Keeping the header identical across methods means a reviewer, or the software that reads your reports later, always finds the same facts in the same place.

Generate these reports automatically in Atlantis NDT Reporting

A template solves the layout. It does not stop the same job, drawing, procedure, instrument and technician details being typed again on every report, or a report going out before anyone checked the technician's certificate was in date. In Atlantis ERP, the NDT Reports app holds UTT as its own report type with its own numbering sequence, captured in an offline field app with photos and on-screen signatures, then moved through draft, review, approval and sending with inspector, reviewer and approver signatures.

The NDT Reports app has a UT thickness (UTT) report type with readings by direction, so the reading grid above is data, not a table typed into a document. The job carries the drawing and location references, and the report numbering runs in its own UTT sequence. Atlantis records and issues the readings; the corrosion-rate and remaining-life assessment stays with the owner-user's inspector under their code.

Your company format is kept: templates can be versioned in Excel, Word, PDF or HTML with your logo, header and footer, and Excel templates are filled automatically by mapping fields to cells. When the report is approved, Digital Twin Reporting can place its results on a 3D model of the asset, so clients find reports by location rather than by file name.

See UTT reports generated in Atlantis, or keep using the template: both are fine starting points.

Frequently asked questions

What does ASTM E797 require in a thickness report?

The procedure information recorded at the time of measurement (instrument type, calibration blocks, search unit size, frequency and type, scanning method), the maximum and minimum thickness measurements, their locations, and personnel data including certification level. ASME Section V adopts it as SE-797 in Article 23.

Can I take readings through paint?

Yes, if the gauge and procedure support a through-coating mode such as echo-echo, and the report says which mode was used. A pulse-echo reading through paint includes the coating and will read thicker than the steel.

Should a thickness survey include corrosion rates?

Only if your scope includes that assessment. Most NDT contractors report readings and minimums; the owner-user's inspector calculates corrosion rates and remaining life under the applicable inspection code.

How many readings per location?

As many as the client's specification or your procedure requires. For piping, four readings by direction per location is common, with a scan around the lowest reading.

Is ISO 16809 the same as ASTM E797?

They cover the same technique and overlap heavily. ISO 16809 is written for metallic and non-metallic materials by direct contact using time of flight; use the one your client names and record the details both ask for.

Other NDT report templates

• All NDT report templates
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• Liquid Penetrant Testing (PT) Report template
• Magnetic Particle Testing (MT) Report template
• Radiographic Testing (RT) Report template
• Visual Testing (VT) Weld Inspection Report template
• Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing (PAUT) Report template
• Time-of-Flight Diffraction (TOFD) Report template

Standards referenced

• ASME Section V Article 23 / SE-797 thickness measurement (ndt.net forum)
• ASTM E797/E797M-21
• ISO 16809:2017

ASME Section V paragraph numbers change between editions. Always check the edition your contract or the referencing construction code names; the template fields are the same.