Cathodic protection potential measurements

The IR drop is caused by current flow through the soil, pipe coating, and metallic path [5]. AH cathodic protection potential measurements contain an IR drop component when CP current or interference current is present. The measured potential ( J is the sum of polarized potential ( p) measured near the cathode electrolyte interface and IR drop along the... 

Structure-to-electrolyte potential measurements are analyzed to determine whether a structure is cathodically protected these measurements are made by the use of cathodic protection criteria. Unfortunately, no one simple criterion has been accepted by all cathodic protection engineers that can be practicably measured in the field under all circumstances. Guidelines for selecting the proper criterion under various circumstances will be provided below. Guidance concerning the criteria of cathodic protection for external corrosion control on underground structures is found in two recommended practices (RPs) published by the National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE). These are RP-01-69 and RP-02-85. A summary of the criteria for steel and cast iron structures follows [8]. 

The basic standard for cathodic protection was laid down for the first time in DIN 30676 to which all the application areas of the different branches of protection can be referred. In this the most important point is the technique for accurately measuring the object/soil potential [58]. The usual off-potential measurement method for underground installations has been slowly implemented and enforced in Europe since the 1960s [59]. 

Practical measurements providing data on corrosion risk or cathodic protection are predominantly electrical in nature. In principle they concern the determination of the three principal parameters of electrical technology voltage, current, and resistance. Also the measurement of the potential of metals in soil or in electrolytes is a high-resistance measurement of the voltage between the object and reference electrode and thus does not draw any current (see Table 3-1). 

In the cathodic protection of storage tanks, potentials should be measured in at least three places, i.e., at each end and at the top of the cover [16]. Widely different polarized areas arise due to the small distance which is normally the case between the impressed current anodes and the tank. Since such tanks are often buried under asphalt, it is recommended that permanent reference electrodes or fixed measuring points (plastic tubes under valve boxes) be installed. These should be located in areas not easily accessible to the cathodic protection current, for example between two tanks or between the tank wall and foundations. Since storage tanks usually have several anodes located near the tank, equalizing currents can flow between the differently loaded anodes on switching off the protection system and thus falsify the potential measurement. In such cases the anodes should be separated. 

The variation in the on and off potentials or the potential difference along the pipeline will usually indicate faults that prevent the attainment of complete cathodic protection. The protection current requirement of the pipeline may be estimated from experience if the age and type of pipeline is known (see Fig. 5-3). Figure 3-20 shows the variation in the on and off potentials of a 9-km pipeline section DN 800 with 10-mm wall thickness. At the end of the pipeline, at 31.84 km, an insulating unit is built in. The cathodic protection station is situated at 22.99 km. Between this and the end of the pipeline there are four pipe current measuring points. The applied protection current densities and coating resistances of individual pipeline sections are calculated from Eqs. (3-40) and (3-41). In the upper diagram the values of... 

Contacts with other pipelines or grounds can be localized to within a few hundred meters by pipe current measurements. Contacts with foreign pipelines or cables can also be found by measuring potential at the fittings of the other line while the protection current of the cathodically protected pipeline is switched on and off. While the potential of unconnected pipelines will assume more positive values when the protection current is switched on, the cathodic current may also enter any line in contact with the cathodically protected pipeline and thus shift its potential to more negative values. Should the contacting line not be located by this method, fault location can be attempted with direct or alternating current. 

Even with the superposition of the ac with a cathodic protection current, a large part of the anodic half wave persists for anodic corrosion. This process cannot be detected by the normal method (Section 3.3.2.1) of measuring the pipe/soil potential. The IR-free measurable voltage between an external probe and the reference electrode can be used as evidence of more positive potentials than the protection potential during the anodic phase. Investigations have shown, however, that the corrosion danger is considerably reduced, since only about 0.1 to 0.2% contributes to corrosion. 

Cathodic protection with magnesium anodes can be just as economical as impressed current anode assemblies for pipelines only a few kilometers in length and with protection current densities below 10 xA m" e.g., in isolated stretches of new pipeline in old networks and steel distribution or service pipes. In this case, several anodes would be connected to the pipeline in a group at test points. The distance from the pipeline is about 1 to 3 m. The measurement of the off potential... 

According to Ref. 32, the functioning of impressed current cathodic protection stations should be monitored every 2 months, and the stray current protection station every 1 month. If protection installations are provided with measuring instruments for current and potential, this supervision can be carried out by operating staff, so that the readings are recorded and sent to the technical department for... 

A check on the cathodic protection of the pipeline should be carried out annually according to Section 10.4, where, of course, only the on potential should be measured. This value should also be compared with the values of the measurements in Section 10.4. If there are no changes in the on potentials and the protection current densities for the individual sections of the pipeline, it can be concluded that the off potential has not changed. The values can easily be compared using computers and represented in plots. If the protection current and potential distribution have changed, or in any case every 3 years, the off potentials as well as the on potentials should be measured. 

The cathodic protection of pipelines is best monitored by an intensive measurement technique according to Section 3.7, by an off potential survey eveiy 3 years and by remote monitoring of pipe/soil potentials. After installation of parallel pipelines, it can be ascertained by intensive measurements whether new damage of the pipe coating has occurred. These measurements provide evidence of possible external actions that can cause mechanical damage. 

At the relatively low protection current density of 200 llA m and with the anode positioned on one side, it is to be expected that with this storage tank sufficient reduction in potential would be achieved on the other side of the tank from the anode. The off potential was measured using a measurement point at a depth of about 2 m as f/cu-cuso4 = -0.88 V at the tank. At the other side of the tank as well as above it, off potentials of-0.90 to -0.94 V were found. These potentials were measured with a protection current of 10 mA (anode 1 6 mA, anode 2 4 mA) with an additional resistance of 8 Q in the protection current circuit (see Fig. 11-2). With a direct connection between the tank and the group of magnesium anodes, the initial current was about 16 mA, which after 1 h of polarization decreased to about 14 mA. The reserve current, based on a long-term current of 10 mA, amounted to ca. 40% in the operation of the cathodic protection installation. 

As an example, a tank farm that is to be cathodically protected by this method is shown schematically in Fig. 11-4. As can be seen in the figure, injection of the protection current occurs with two current circuits of a total of about 9 A, via 16 vertically installed high-silicon iron anodes embedded in coke. These are distributed over several locations in the tank farm to achieve an approximately uniform potential drop. The details of the transformer-rectifier as well as the individual anode currents are included in Fig. 11-4. Anodes 4, 5 and 6 have been placed at areas where corrosion damage previously occurred. Since off potentials for 7/ -free potential measurements cannot be used, external measuring probes should be installed for accurate assessment (see Section 3.3.3.2 and Chapter 12). 

Cathodic protection installations must be tested when commissioned and at least annually. The potentials should be measured at several points on the bottom of the tank with special probes under the oil, and the height of the electrolyte solution should be checked. The off potential and the protection potential as in Section 2.4 are the means for checking the protection criterion according to Eq. (2-39). 

For commissioning and monitoring of cathodic protection stations, the advice in Refs. 1 and 2 is relevant. For potential measurement, the explanations in Section 3.3 are valid. 

With local cathodic protection, the off potential measurement cannot be used directly to check the protective action because, due to the mixed type of installation of the protected object and foreign cathodic structures in the soil, there is a considerable flow of cell currents and equalizing currents. The notes to Eq. (3-28) in Section 3.3 are relevant here, where the // -free potentials must be substantially more negative than the off potential of the protected object. If t/ ff is found to be more positive than U, this does not confirm or conclusively indicate insufficient... 

Determination of tank/soil potentials is only possible at the outer edge of the tank. For monitoring the local cathodic protection, the distance between test points should not exceed 2 m [3]. The measurement of the tank/soil potential by the current... 

The switching-off method for 7/ -free potential measurement is, according to the data in Fig. 3-5, subject to error with lead-sheathed cables. For a rough survey, measurements of potential can be used to set up and control the cathodic protection. This means that no information can be gathered on the complete corrosion protection, but only on the protection current entry and the elimination of cell activity from contacts with foreign cathodic structures. The reverse switching method in Section 3.3.1 can be used to obtain an accurate potential measurement. Rest and protection potentials for buried cables are listed in Table 13-1 as an appendix to Section 2.4. The protection potential region lies within U[[Pg.326]

Off potentials cannot be used to control cathodic protection. Such a measurement is only correct if the dc decoupling devices are isolated from the grounding... 

---