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Modelling of the Cathodic Protection System with

Dynamic Non-Linear Polarization Characteristics

Adnan Mujezinović1, Irfan Turković1, Sanja Martinez2, Slobodan Milojković3

1
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
2
Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, University of Zagreb, Croatia
3
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, East Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
adnan.mujezinovic@etf.unsa.ba

Abstract— Cathodic protection (CP) is a technique that is
used for protection of underground and underwater metallic
structures from corrosion. Design of cathodic protection system
requires defining of protection current density and potential.
These parameters must meet given criterions during the
exploitation of cathodic protection system. This paper deals with
problem of modelling of the cathodic protection systems with
dynamic non-linear polarization characteristics. Firstly, paper
describes dynamic non-linear polarization characteristics.
Mathematical model based on combined Boundary Element
Method and Finite Difference Time Domain Method with
assumptions on which is based are explained in the following
part. Finally, application of the presented mathematical model
was done on one geometrically simple example.
Keywords— Boundary Element Method (BEM); Finite
Difference Time Domain Method (FDTDM); Cathodic Protection
System; Dinamic Non-linear Polarization Characteristic.
I. INTRODUCTION
Cathodic protection can be defined as slowing down or
complete prevention of all forms of corrosion of underground
or underwater metal structures [1]. Protection from corrosion is
achieved by a shifting the equilibrium potential value of
protected metal to the more negative value. Design of cathodic
protection system requires defining of protection current
density and potential. These parameters must meet given
criterions during the exploitation of cathodic protection system.
It also needs to provide uniform as possible current density
distribution on protected structure surface [2]. Protective
current density and electric potential distribution of cathodic
protection system can be calculated by solving of Laplace
partial differential equation. For calculation of protective
current density and electric potential distribution numerical
methods are employed.
For modelling of cathodic protection system most authors
use static non-linear or linearized polarization characteristics as
a boundary conditions on electrode surfaces. For this type of
problem authors mostly use the direct boundary element
method combined with the Newton-Raphson technique [3 - 5].
The main advantage of this method in comparison to other
numerical methods like Finite Element Method (FEM) and
Finite Difference Method (FDM) is that it requests
discretization of boundary surfaces and there is no need for
discretization of infinite boundaries. In recent years, combined
Boundary Element Method/Finite Element Method
(BEM/FEM) is applied in this field [2, 6 - 9]. This method is
characterized by robustness, but it is complex for
implementation. Therefore, this method is justified to use for
modelling of cathodic protection systems of long pipelines,
when electric potential attenuation along the pipeline should
not be neglect.
In some situations, such as cathodic protection of bare steel
in sea water, calcareous and magnesium deposition may occur
under certain conditions, thus changing the polarization
characteristics over time. In such situations, dynamic non-
linear polarization characteristics must be taken as boundary
conditions. For the modelling of the cathodic protection system
with dynamic non-linear boundary conditions, two numerical
methods have been proposed so far, fictitious time and fictional
potential method [10 - 11]. The combined Boundary Element
Method (BEM) and Finite Difference Time Domain Method
(FDTDM) for modelling of cathodic protection system with
predefined dynamic non-linear boundary conditions is
proposed in this paper.
II. DYNAMIC NON-LINEAR POLARIZATION CHARACTERISTICS
All the sophisticated numerical methods for the analysis
and calculations in the domain of cathodic protection become
useless if adequate polarization characteristics of the system
are unknown. Polarization can be defined as a shift of electric
potential of the structure to a value that is more negative than
the corrosion potential value. In the mathematical sense,
polarization is a correlation between the current density and
electric potential of the electrode surfaces [12]. In real cathodic
protection systems, polarization characteristics are non-linear,
i.e. non-linear relationship between current density and electric
potential exists on the electrode surfaces.
Establishing polarization characteristics on electrode
surfaces in cathodic protection system is based on the physical
and analytical definition of electrochemical mechanisms of
electrode reactions. Total anodic and cathodic current density is
the result of electrochemical reactions that take place
simultaneously on the surfaces of electrodes. Partial
electrochemical reactions that take place at the same time on
the cathode surface are metal dissolution, oxygen reduction and

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hydrogen evaluation. At the anode surface the dominant
electrochemical reaction is the oxygen reduction. -0.4

When the calcareous and magnesium are present in -0.5

electrolyte, under certain conditions they become deposit on -0.6

the cathode surface [1]. The process of calcareous and
-0.7
magnesium deposition on the cathode surface is much slower

Potential (V(vs. SCE))

than the process of establishing a current flow in the system, -0.8

but faster than the process of achieving complete polarization -0.9

of protected structure. Therefore, these depositions do not -1

allow for polarization of cathode surface to be presented as -1.1 t = 0 day
correlation between current density and electric potential, but it t = 0.5 day
t = 1 day
can be considered as the correlation between time, current -1.2
t = 5 day
density and electric potential. Calcareous and magnesium -1.3 t = 10 day

deposits have two positive impacts on the cathodic protection -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1

system. The first one is reduced time needed to achieve the 10 10 10
Current density (mA/cm 2)
10 10 10

required level of protection, and the other is reduction of the

necessary protection current density [1, 13]. When calcareous
and magnesium deposits are forming, polarization
characteristics of the cathodic surface can be mathematically
represented by following relation:
Fig. 1. Synthesized dynamic non-linear polarization curve for bare steel in
soil rich with Ca2+ and Mg2+
The simplest way to analyze time changes of polarizing
characteristic is by analyzing the relationship between time-
§  M M H* 2  · dependent factors and time. Using the relation (2) and the data
¨ ¸ given in [14] one can construct diagram shown in Fig. 2, which
E H2
jC tot *
jO f
2 O2
 j H 2 ¨10 fH2 ¸
gives the relationship between the time factor for the partial
¨ ¸
¨ ¸ electrochemical reaction and time.
© ¹
(1)
§ §¨ M M Fe
* ·
¸
·
¨ ¨ ¸
¸ 1

E
 j Fe ¨10 © Fe ¹ f Fe ¸ 0.9

¨ ¸ 0.8
¨ ¸
© ¹ 0.7
Time - depending factor

*
where j O2 is threshold current density of oxygen reduction, jH2 0.6 fO
2

is current density of the hydrogen separation, jFe is current 0.5

fH
2

density of the metal dissolution, φ*H2 and φ*Fe are effective 0.4
fFe

equilibrium potentials for corresponding reactions, βH2 and βFe 0.3

are Tafel’s coefficients, φ is potential difference of interface
metal/electrolyte and fO2, fH2 and fFe are time-dependent factors 0.2

that define reduction of partial current densities caused growth 0.1

of calcareous deposits. Generally, time-dependent factors for 0

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
all three reactions can be calculated from flowing relation: Time t (days)


t § 
t · Fig. 2. The correlation between the time – dependent factor and time
WR ¨ WR ¸
fR e  f f, R ¨1  e ¸ (2) From diagrams given on Fig. 2, two important conclusions
¨ ¸ can be drawn. The first relates to the intensity of the impact of
© ¹
the growth of calcareous deposits on individual partial current
where index R represents corresponding partial electrochemical densities, while the second refers to the total time required for
reaction which occurs at the electrode surface, f∞,R is the final the partial current densities to reach their final value [14]. It can
value of the time-dependent factor and τR is the time constant. be noted that metal dissolution current density, oxygen
On Fig. 1 synthesized dynamic non-linear polarization reduction current density and hydrogen evaluation current
characteristics of bare steel in soil rich with Ca2+ and Mg2+ are density falls over the time to a final value for 12 %, 30 % and
graphically presented. These characteristics are constructed on 93 %, respectively. Also, time needed for partial current
the basis of equations (1) and the data given in [14]. densities to get to final value is greatest for the reaction of
hydrogen evaluation, and it is two days, while time needed for
other partial reaction current densities to reach final value is
lower than 1:30 h.
From a mathematical point of view, diagrams given on
Fig. 1 represents the boundary conditions on cathodic surface,
while from Fig. 2 it can be observed that the maximum
duration of time changes of boundary conditions is two days, In previous equation vectors {φ} and {j} are vectors of
after which the process comes to a steady state. Therefore, the unknown electric potentials and current densities and matrix
maximum time simulation of interest is two days. [G] and [H] are square matrix, and their elements are given by
following relations [17, 18]:
III. MATHEMATICAL MODEL
1 2 §¨ ·
c
1 ¸ d*
The purpose of the modelling of the cathodic protection Gi, j U ³ ln (7)
¨
2S c © rP, Q ¸
system is to determine the distribution of protection current 1 ¹
density and electric potential on the surface of the protected
1 2 w §¨ ·
structure. The coupled BEM/FTDTM numerical method for c
1 ¸ d*
calculation of current density and electric potential distribution H i, j ³ ln
2S c wn ¨© rP, Q ¸
(8)
over the time is presented in following. For boundary condition 1 ¹
on cathode surface, synthetized dynamic non-linear
polarization characteristic are given. On the anode surface a Preceded integrals given in equations (7) and (8) are solved
linearized time independent polarization characteristic is given. numerically using the Collocation at the point method [19, 20].
This assumption is permissible because such approximation After the formation of the matrix [H] and [G], matrix equation
gives a negligible error [15]. (6) can be written in the following form:

A. Boundary Element Method (BEM) >A@˜ ^M` ^j` (9)

Boundary element method is used for calculation of the
protection current density and electric potential on interface
electrode/electrolyte at t = 0. According to the direct boundary
element method, protection current density and electric
potential can be calculated at any point of domain by using
following integral equation:
Because of the non-linearity of boundary conditions on the
cathode surface, the problem needs to be solved by using
iterative techniques [21]. In this paper Newton - Raphson
technique was used. In order to start an iterative cycle, it is
necessary to guess value of the electric potential on cathode
surface. After application of Newton - Raphson technique, the
electric potential on all electrode surfaces can be written in
following form:
C [ M [   ³ M x  H ( x, [ ) d* ³ qx G( x, [ ) d* (3)
* * ^M K ` >A@  >J K 1 @1 ˜ ^j K 1` >J K 1 @˜^M K 1` (10)
where x is the field source point and ξ is observation point.
C(ξ) is the constant whose value is: where index K is the number of iteration and [J] is Jacobian
matrix whose elements can be calculated from following
­1 inside domain equation:
° T T wj M , t 0
°
C [  ®1 
2 1 on boundary of domain (4) J (11)
° 2S wM
°0
¯ outside of domain
The iterative process is stopped when the error between the
Functions G(x,ξ) and H(x,ξ) are Green’s function and two adjacent iterations is sufficiently small.
derivative of the Green’s function in direction of outward
normal vector, φ(ξ) represent a function of electric potential at B. Finite Difference Time Domain Method (FDTDM)
observation point, φ(x) represent a function of electric potential Matrix equation (9) is time-dependent due to dynamic non-
of source point and q(x) is normal electric field component on linear polarization characteristics on cathode surface. For
boundary surface: calculation of the electric potential and current density change
over the time, FDTDM was applied. Since the FTDTM is used
only for calculating the change of electric potential over the
wM
q  U j M , t  (5) time, the function of the electric potential in all points of
wn electrode surfaces must be expand into a Taylor series in time,
which can be written in the following form:
where ρ represent electrolyte resistivity.
wM t 0 
In the case of infinite or semi-infinite space, additional
boundary condition must be added in order to maintain the law
of current conservation. More detailed information about ways
to prevent this problem can be found in [16].
After discretization of boundaries, equation (3) can be
written in matrix form as follow:
>H @˜ ^M` >G@˜ ^j`
M t0  't  M t 0   ˜ 't  O't  (12)
wt
where φ(t0) is value of electric potential at the initial time point,
Δt is the time step, φ(t0 + Δt) the final value of electric potential
of time step Δt, ∂φ(t0)/∂t the first derivative of the electric
potential function in the time and O(Δt) is truncation errors
[22].
By replacing the partial derivatives in relation (12) with
finite differences and at the same time neglecting the truncation
(6) errors, the final value of electric potential at all points of the
cathode of time step Δt can be calculated with following
relation:
^M ` ^M ` ^' M `
N N 1
t
N
(13)
where vector {φN} is the vector of final electric potential values
of the time step Δt, {φN-1} is vector of initial electric potential
values of time step Δt and {ΔtφN-1} is the a change of the
electric potential over the time step Δt.
To solve this problem initial value must be known. In the
first step, the initial value in the equation (13) takes the value
of the electric potential obtained by BEM method for t = 0. In
other time steps the initial value takes final value of electric
potential obtained in the previous time step.
IV. APPLICATION OF THE MODEL
The application of the above described mathematical model
was demonstrated on geometrically simple example of
protection of the inner wall of the tank, which is shown in
Fig. 3. The inner radius of the tank is rc = 5 m, while the radius
of the cylindrical anode is ra = 1 m and is located in the center
of the tank. Polarization curves shown on Fig. 1 were taken as
boundary conditions on the cathode surface (inner walls of the
tank), while the constant potential φa = - 1.5 V (vs. SCE) was
assumed on anode.
Anode
ra
rc
Electrolyte
Cathode
Fig. 3. Geometry of the analyzed system
Calculation results of electric potential change over time
are shown on Fig. 4. Since the distribution of electric potential
in the system is entirely homogeneous, it is sufficient for
change of electric potential over the time to be observed at one
point on the cathode surface only.
-0.88
-0.9
-0.92
Potential (V(vs. SCE))
-0.94
-0.96
-0.98
-1
-1.02
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
Time t (days)
Fig. 4. Electric potential change over the time on cathode surface
From Fig. 4 it can be noted that the electric potential value
at the initial moment was approximately - 0.9 V (vs. SCE).
After complete formation of calcareous and magnesium deposit
on the cathode surface, i.e. after two days, it can be noted that
the electric potential of the cathode surface has reached the
final value of about – 1.02 V (vs. SCE).
V. CONCLUSION
For modeling of cathodic protection system, due to the non-
linear boundary conditions on the electrode surface, it is
necessary to apply very accurate and precise numerical
methods. The problem is further complicated when the
boundary conditions on the electrode surfaces are time-varying.
In this paper, the numerical method based on combination of
boundary element method and finite difference time domain
method is developed for calculation of protection current
density and electric potential distribution of cathodic protection
system with dynamic non-linear polarization characteristics.
By applying presented model, this very complex calculation
can be solved relatively easy, without numerical difficulties.
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