Corrosion rate in pipelines due to varying currents and its dependency on the electrical resistivity of the soil

OSELLA, A.,; LÓPEZ, ERNESTO; MARTINO, LUIS

Río de Janeiro

Congreso; 8th International Congress of the Brazilian Geophysical Society; 2003

Laboratory tests were carried out to study corrosion rates in pipes embedded in environments with lateral electrical discontinuities, due to the effect of induction currents. Scale models were designed to simulate pipes buried in soils with 2D electrical discontinuities, and corrosion process conditions due to different external sources were compared. The buried pipes were electrically isolated using a polyurethane cover and sacrificial anodes were connected to the pipe; then, corrosion rates were estimated by measuring the mass loss in each anode. The results indicated an increase in the corrosion rate when the pipe was under the effect of induction currents, being also noticeable the dependence on the electrical contrast of the soil.