A study on the numerical analysis method for cathodic protection of buried steel structures
Nishikawa Akinobu; Nonaka Hidemasa; Amaya Kenji; Aoki Shigeru
Abstract:It was verified by two experiments that the potential in soil satisfied the Laplace equation, which is usually assumed in numerical analysis methods for the cathodic protection of buried steel structures. In the first experiment, where the current distribution was uniform, it was found that the relationship between the potential and the distance was linear. In the second experiment, where the current distribution was complicated, it was found that the experimental results agreed well with the calculated results based on the Laplace equation. The polarization curve for steel in soil was also measured and its characteristics were discussed from the viewpoint of use in the numerical analysis. Key Words:cathodic protection, buried steel structure, polarization curve, computational simulation technique, Laplace equation, boundary condition, boundary element method