Project monitoring and accountability are the main objectives of progress reports. The typical progress report gives some summary of the project goal, states the progress made toward that goal during the reporting period, discusses significant costs and scheduling issues, and lists future objectives to be carried out. Generally, progress reports are prepared at intervals, most frequently at quarterly intervals of the fiscal year. The intervals are often specified in the initial project proposal.
Consultants use progress reports to maintain contact with sponsors. Research organizations use progress reports to inform funding organizations, government or commercial, of their work progress. Internal research workers use progress reports to report on their work to managers and others within their own organizations. Progress reports are useful tools for management in keeping track of work progress in their groups, and they also furnish researchers a structure for monitoring their own commitments and levels of support.
The general format of progress reports varies widely from an informal business letter giving an update on work accomplished to the highly detailed formal structure required by funding agencies at specified intervals. The sequence of information is often as follows:
Following are excerpts from a progress report.
One additional pipe-to-pipe impact test was run during the last
quarter. Additional testing was temporarily suspended to decide
two new questions. Should possible flaws in the specimen be
characterized? If so, which nondestructive examination techniques
should be used? The consequences of rupturing specimens under
pressurized water reactor (PWR) conditions were given additional
attention because of their potential safety hazards.
The object of the Pipe-to-Pipe Impact Program is to provide the
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) with experimental data and
analytical models for making licensing decisions regarding
pipe-to-pipe impact following any break in high-energy fluid system
piping. Current licensing criteria, as contained in Standard
Review Plan 3.6.2 in Dynamic Effects of Piping Rupture, are being
evaluated. Data is being obtained from a series of tests in which
selected pipe specimens with appropriate energies are being
impacted against stationary specimens to achieve required damage
levels.
This program involves two main areas: obtaining experimental data
and developing predictive models. Preliminary analyses . . .
The first supported test from the matrix was completed using
underpressurized specimens at room temperature. Compressive
strains of over 55% and tensile strains of over 25% were detected
on the impacted pipe. Significantly more deformation and higher
local strains than expected were observed for the target pipe . . .
After tests were conducted, the target pipe revealed several cracks
on the outside surface in areas of relatively high tensile strain.
Microphotographs of the wall cross section showed that the crack
penetrated at a very shallow angle with the surface. The distance
along the crack was ~0.040 in., but the maximum depth was . . .
A concern has been raised that the specimens should be
nondestructively examined before additional testing, in order to
characterize any flaws that could possibly cause a rupture of the
specimen. If the size . . .
Reductions in funding have limited the FY 19-- task to
demonstrating the capabilities of the testing facility with two
unirradiated cladding samples. The samples have been rescheduled
to be tested . . .
The following activities are planned for the next quarter:
Summary
Introduction
Technical Progress
Delays in Subtask D-2 Loop Experiments
Future Work
