Yoshikazu Miyata, Toru Wakabayashi, Noriyasu Mochizuki and Hidenori Hamada
Keywords: steel structure, cathodic protection, corrosion, anode consumption
Abstract:
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ISSN 1466-8858 Volume 9 Preprint 13 6 February 2006 Estimation of Consumption of a Sacrificial Anode from Cathode Potential in a Seawater Environment Yoshikazu MIYATA*, Toru WAKABAYASHI**, Noriyasu MOCHIZUKI** and Hidenori HAMADA* * Materials Division, Geotechnical and Structural Department, Independent Administrative Institution, Port and Airport Research Institute, 3-1-1 Nagase, Yokosuka, 239-0826 Japan, miyata-y@pari.go.jp, hamada@pari.go.jp ** Nakabohtec Corrosion Protecting Co., Ltd., 418 Naka-arai, Ageo, 444-444 Japan, t.wakabayashi@nakabohtec.co.jp, n.mochizuki@nakabohtec.co.jp Abstract Sacrificial anodes are widely used for cathodic protection of steel structures in seawater environments. The anode must be replaced before being depleted, and the main objective of this study is to investigate the practical applicability of this method of estimating anode consumption. The field test facility used in the present was a steel pipe pile structure at Yamanouchi Wharf in Yokohama Port, Japan. The consumption of the anode was estimated from the resistivity of seawater and the potential of the steel pipe pile. This estimated anode consumption is the same as that obtained from the protective current generated from the anode, which is given by the voltage drop across the shunt resistance. This result demonstrates that the amount of consumption of the anode can be estimated based upon potential and resistivity survey data. Keywords: steel structure, cathodic protection, corrosion, anode consumption 1 © University of Manchester and the authors 2005. This is a preprint of a paper that has been submitted for publication in the Journal of Corrosion Science and Engineering. It will be reviewed and, subject to the reviewers’ comments, be published online at http://www. corrosion.jcse in due course. Until such time as it has been fully published it should not normally be referenced in published work. ISSN 1466-8858 Volume 9 Preprint 13 6 February 2006 Introduction Steel pipe and sheet piles have been used as structural materials for port and harbor structures since the 1920’s in Japan. Sacrificial anodes are widely used for cathodic protection of steel structures in seawater environments1). Since anodes are consumed over time, they should be replaced before being depleted. Therefore, estimating the consumption of the anode is important. There are two methods by which to estimate the consumption of the anode: a method based on the weight loss of the anode and a method based on the protective current generated by the anode. Both of these methods are costly. A linear relationship between the protective current generated by the anode and the potential of the cathode (steel) has been demonstrated in sacrificial anode cathodic protection systems in neutral seawater environments2). Utilizing this relationship, the consumption of an anode could be estimated based on the potential of steel, which can easily be measured. The present paper discusses the practical applicability of this method of estimating anode consumption. Experimental The field test facility used in the present study is a steel pipe pile structure at Yamanouchi Wharf in Yokohama Port, Japan. A field test was conducted at this research facility for approximately five months, between September 10, 2004 and February 15, 2005. Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the steel pipe pile. The steel pipe pile is constructed of JIS SSK 490 steel and is 900 mm in diameter, 34,500 m long and 14 mm thick. A sacrificial Al-Zn-In anode, shown in Fig. 2, was welded to the steel pipe pile at a depth of -3,400 mm. The connection of the steel pipe pile and the sacrificial anode included a 0.01 Ωshunt resistor, which facilitated the determination of the protective current based on the voltage drop across this resistor. The potential of the steel pipe pile was measured using a silver - silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) seawater electrode, which was installed at depths of -2,400 mm and -4,000 mm. The voltage drop across the shunt resistor and the potential of the steel pipe pile were monitored in 10-minute intervals using a data acquisition system. 2 © University of Manchester and the authors 2005. This is a preprint of a paper that has been submitted for publication in the Journal of Corrosion Science and Engineering. It will be reviewed and, subject to the reviewers’ comments, be published online at http://www. corrosion.jcse in due course. Until such time as it has been fully published it should not normally be referenced in published work. ISSN 1466-8858 Volume 9 Preprint 13 6 February 2006 Results and Discussion Theoretical relationship between protective current and potential of cathode The difference between the potential of the steel pipe pile and the sacrificial anode is given theoretically as follows: E c E a I R (1), where Ec (mV) is the potential of the steel pipe pile (hereinafter referred to as the cathode potential), Ea (mV) is the potential of the sacrificial anode (hereinafter referred to as the anode potential), I (mA) is the protective current generated from the sacrificial anode, and R (Ω) is the total resistance of seawater in the space where the current flows. As shown in Fig. 3, R can be expressed as: R R a Rb Rc (2), where Ra, Rb and R c (Ω) are the resistance of seawater in the space where the current flows in the neighborhood of the anode, the bulk and the steel pipe pile (cathode), respectively. Here, Ra is much higher than Rb and Rc, so that R b and Rc are considered to be negligible. Therefore, the protective current I can be obtained as: E E a I c (3), Ra and R a is experimentally given as: 4L Ra 2.3 log10 1 (4), 2L r where ρ(Ωcm) is the resistivity of seawater, L (cm) is the length of the anode, r (cm) is the radius of the anode r C / 2 , and C (cm) is the circumference of the anode. The length of the anode L is 85 cm and the equivalent radius of the anode r is 7 cm. The anode potential is -1,111 mV, which is obtained by the method of sacrificial anode testing regulated by JSCE 3). The sacrificial anode is not polarized, so that the anode potential can be assumed to be constant. Therefore, the protective current I can be obtained as: 3 © University of Manchester and the authors 2005. This is a preprint of a paper that has been submitted for publication in the Journal of Corrosion Science and Engineering. It will be reviewed and, subject to the reviewers’ comments, be published online at http://www. corrosion.jcse in due course. Until such time as it has been fully published it should not normally be referenced in published work. ISSN 1466-8858 E 1111 I c 0.0054 Volume 9 Preprint 13 6 February 2006 (5). Estimation of the consumption of the anode The cathode potentials at the depths of -2,400 m and -4,000 m are shown in Fig. 4. Both of these potentials become increasingly negative with time and are in agreement, indicating that the cathode potential does not depend on the measurement point. The resistivities of sea water, shown in Table 1, change seasonally by approximately ±10%. The average of resistivity is 26.7 Ω cm. The protective current can be estimated from the cathode potential and the resistivity using Equation (5). The estimated protective currents and those obtained from the voltage drop across the shunt resistance (hereinafter referred to as the directly measured protective current) are shown in Fig. (5). The estimated values and the directly measured values are in good agreement. The protective current of the existing structure can be obtained based on potential and resistivity survey data. The anode consumption can be given by dividing the integrated electricity quantities by the anode capacity, as shown below: Q I t W i qac (6), where W (kg) is the anode consumption, Qi (c) is the integrated quantities of electricity, and qac (c kg－ 1) is the anode capacity. The anode consumption calculated from the estimated protective current (We) and that calculated from the directly measured protective current (Wd) are shown in Table 2. We is approximately 94％ of Wd. The anode consumption can be estimated from the cathode potential and the resistivity of seawater. Conclusion In the present study, the practical applicability of the estimation method of the anode consumption has been investigated. The anode consumption can be estimated based on the potential of steel (cathode potential) and the resistivity of seawater. However, the test duration of the present study was very short. The long-term anode consumption should be estimated after consideration of 4 © University of Manchester and the authors 2005. This is a preprint of a paper that has been submitted for publication in the Journal of Corrosion Science and Engineering. It will be reviewed and, subject to the reviewers’ comments, be published online at http://www. corrosion.jcse in due course. Until such time as it has been fully published it should not normally be referenced in published work. ISSN 1466-8858 Volume 9 Preprint 13 6 February 2006 decreases in the length L of the anode and the radius r of the anode in Equation (4). References 1) The Overseas Coastal Area Development Institute of Japan, “Corrosion Protection and Repair Manual for Port and Harbor Steel Structures”, p.42, OCDI (1998). 2) W.Wang and W.H.Hartt, A Novel Approach to Polarization Data Analysis and Its Implications Regarding Cathodic Protection System Design and Performance， Corrosion/94，NACE，paper No.496 (1994). 3) Japan Society of Corrosion Engineering, “Methods of sacrificial anode testing” (JSCE S-9301), JSCE (1997). 5 © University of Manchester and the authors 2005. This is a preprint of a paper that has been submitted for publication in the Journal of Corrosion Science and Engineering. It will be reviewed and, subject to the reviewers’ comments, be published online at http://www. corrosion.jcse in due course. Until such time as it has been fully published it should not normally be referenced in published work. ISSN 1466-8858 Volume 9 Preprint 13 6 February 2006 Table1 Resistivity of seawater Date Resistivity 10, Sep. 4, Oct. 4,Nov. 10,Dec. 11,Jan. 15,Feb. 24.3 26.0 26.4 27.2 27.2 29.0 of seawater (Ωcm) Table2 Anode consumption (We ) estimated from the protective current and anode consumption (Wd) calculated from the directly measured protective current We Wd 3.36 kg 3.58 kg Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of the steel pipe pile. 6 © University of Manchester and the authors 2005. This is a preprint of a paper that has been submitted for publication in the Journal of Corrosion Science and Engineering. It will be reviewed and, subject to the reviewers’ comments, be published online at http://www. corrosion.jcse in due course. Until such time as it has been fully published it should not normally be referenced in published work. ISSN 1466-8858 Volume 9 Preprint 13 Fig. 2 Fig. 3 6 February 2006 Schematic diagram of the anode. Schematic diagram of the distribution of the seawater resistance. 7 © University of Manchester and the authors 2005. This is a preprint of a paper that has been submitted for publication in the Journal of Corrosion Science and Engineering. It will be reviewed and, subject to the reviewers’ comments, be published online at http://www. corrosion.jcse in due course. Until such time as it has been fully published it should not normally be referenced in published work. ISSN 1466-8858 Volume 9 Preprint 13 6 February 2006 Fig. 4 Variation of cathode potentials (Potential of the steel pipe pile) with time. Fig. 5 Variation of protective currents with time. 8 © University of Manchester and the authors 2005. This is a preprint of a paper that has been submitted for publication in the Journal of Corrosion Science and Engineering. It will be reviewed and, subject to the reviewers’ comments, be published online at http://www. corrosion.jcse in due course. Until such time as it has been fully published it should not normally be referenced in published work.