Part-II: Optimum designing of cathodic protection
systems of marine platforms
Dr. Kazim Altaf 1
Centres of Excellence in Science and Applied Technologies (CESAT), Islamabad, Pakistan
1
kazimaltaf@yahoo.com
Abstract- Marine platforms require appropriate protections
against corrosion attack for defining their useful life. In part I of
this study, rule based analyses were carried out for designing
cathodic protection system of a ship. Two reputable rules DNV-
RP-B401 and Defstan (NES 704) standards were used for the
purpose. Study revealed that rule based analyses do not properly
guide on the distribution of anodes over the surface to be
protected. Additionally, effects of factors such as quality of
harbour water, appropriate application of surface preparation &
paint scheme and effectiveness of cathodic protection system are
not taken into account. In recent years, numerous software are
developed and used for studying corrosion effect and designing
cathodic protection for marine going vessels. In this paper (Part
II), computational simulation techniques based on boundary
element method (BEM) are applied in the studies to evaluate the
effect of poor harbour water and material composition changes
on the vessel for which; rule based cathodic protection design
was performed in part I of the studies. Design optimisation was
performed in the commercially available software; BEASY
Corrosion and CP. It is concluded that simulation tools that can
include factors such as type of material used, quality of harbour
water and sacrificial anodes composition in studies can facilitate
proficiently in designing optimised cathodic protection system for
the design life of any marine vessel vis-à-vis area of operation. In
the future work, calculation of number of anodes and their
distribution for a ship hull would be calculated by BEM
method and design optimization under different
environments would be simulated.
Keywords— Corrosion; Cathodic Protection; Sacrificial
Anodes; Boundary Element Method; BEASY Corrosion & CP
I. INTRODUCTION
Marine structures need appropriate designing for safety
against corrosion attacks. Designing for corrosion protection
can lead to improved operational life of platforms and save
significant maintenance amount. Factors that affect include
presence of moisture, salts and oxygen, causing corrosion to
develop both due to atmosphere and seawater. Besides, high
temperature and electrochemical potential also worsen rate of
corrosion. Rule based design and computer based modeling
and analyses techniques are used widely in this regard. Part I of
this study deals with the rule based designing approach using
two reputable standards and limitations of technique were
evaluated [1, 2].
Second technique of using computer based modeling is
now commonly used to evaluate effectiveness and
978-1-5386-7729-2/19/$31.00©2019 IEEE
Proceedings of 2019 16th International Bhurban Conference on Applied Sciences & Technology (IBCAST)
Islamabad, Pakistan, 8th – 12th January, 2019
subsequently design cathodic protection (CP) systems for
marine offshore structures and vessels. Computer modeling
has developed significantly and is now widely used to validate
the performance of CP system in the maritime environment for
both off and on-shore structures [3-6]. This has resulted due to
advancement in computer hardware and software resources. As
discussed in Part I, CP systems based on either sacrificial
anodes or impressed anodes (ICCP) or their combination is
employed. ICCP anodes are frequently referred to as
“active” systems because of their rapid respond to variations
in the protection requirements while sacrificial anodes based
system is considered passive [7].
A. Fundamentals of Computer Modelling used to Design
Cathodic Protection System
The main objective of computational modeling applied
to the CP systems such as ICCP anodes is to acquire numerical
outcomes for various levels of protection against corrosion
attack on the structure by incorporating surrounding
environment and design parameters of the system, i.e. anode
geometry, type and composition of material, electrolyte
conductivity of the harbor water, etc. [7]. The result from the
computer based simulation is current density, over-potential
and electric potential values at any point within the
electrolyte and on the metallic surface under evaluation [1, 7].
One of the key characteristics of any modeling study is the
definitions of the cases that are being investigated. Few
examples are:
• Verification of corrosion protection system design vis-à-
vis the design life of the vessel / structure.
• Comparison between various chosen designs for their
effectiveness and select the optimum.
• Test the robustness of the design by simulating various
possible damage and failure scenarios the vessel / structure
may experience over its life.
One such study using computer modeling was performed to
verify the protection provided by the initial design over the
design life of the ballast tank, optimize the design of the CP
system and investigate the option of an ICCP based design [8].
B. Boundary Element Method Technique
Corrosion damage estimates and development of design for
protection under marine environment can be attained using
Boundary Element Method (BEM). Since corrosion problems
generally involve evaluation of surface of structures against
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physical quantities; potential and current densities, therefore, III. STUDIES METHODOLOGY & RESULTS
BEM method becomes more sensible approach rather than In this research work, computational simulation techniques
applying discretization of internal domain. More recently, based on boundary element method (BEM) are applied in the
further improvements in BEM are used to avoid large number studies to evaluate the effect of poor harbour water and
of elements and their computational time. These methods are material composition changes on the vessel surface as
generally adopting Fourier series in circumferential and axial discussed in the coming sub-sections. These analyses were
directions of the subject structure [9]. Additionally, compared performed in the commercially available software; BEASY
to other computational based methods such as Finite Element Corrosion and CP.
Method (FEM) and Finite Difference Method (FDM), BEM
can effectively solve 3D large structural problems more A. QUALITY OF HARBOUR WATER
proficiently and with less meshing requirements [10]. Sea water usually contains about 3.4% salt and is slightly
alkaline. Corrosion is seawater is influenced by oxygen
II. CATHODIC PROTECTION OF MARINE PLATFORMS
content, pH, velocity, temperature and biological organisms.
Use of appropriate materials, coatings, chemical inhibitors, Greatest attack occurs in the splash zone because of alternate
sacrificial anodes and impressed current methods are important wetting and drying and also aeration. Corrosion by sea water
for effective protection against corrosion attack [1, 11]. at greater depth is usually decreased because of the lower
Alloy steels containing elements of nickel, chromium and temperature. However, fracture damage is increased owing to
molybedium in appropriate quantity are used for the purpose as pressure increase with depth in the affected zones.
a first criterion. Coating provides corrosion resistant layer To evaluate harbour seawater, sample was collected from
between metal and the environment. Its protective action is Karachi near Pakistan Naval Dockyard and tested from local
often more complex than simply providing a barrier between laboratory and results are shown in table 1.
metal and environment. In order to confer cathodic protection,
paints may contain a corrosion inhibitor zinc coating on iron or
steel, but, even that, all coatings are subjected to degradation Parameter Case I: Standard Case II: Sample
over their service lifetime [2, 11]. The corrosion inhibitors are Salinity(ppt) 32-40 31.2
used in areas where the electrolyte solution is of a known and
Electrical
controllable quantity. On ships, this occurs in on-board
equipment (boilers, tanks, pipes) but not on the hull [1, 11]. conductivity 52000 47400
(m Mho/cm)
Scope of cathodic protection in sea-going vessels include pH 7.9-8.2 6.79
external area that is immersed in water, openings, piping HCO3-1(ppm) 139 179
networks, internal protection of various tanks, bilges etc.
Measures against stray currents and use of dissimilar metals are Table 1: Comparison of quality of harbour water.
also essentially required. Impressed current cathodic protection
(ICCP) systems are usually used for cathodic protection in case
of larger vessels. At the same time, sacrificial anode retrofits Polarization curves for both cases for HY-100 steel plate
are preferred over impressed ones due to numerous aspects were generated using electrochemical moisture acceleration
such as simplicity of individual components, better current tests thorough local laboratory and data was used in the
distribution achieved throughout the structures, ease of repair BEASY CP software as provided in the table 2.
and modification etc. [12-15].
Parameter Case I Case II
Traditionally, extent of corrosion protection of marine Beta A V/decade 128.1 e-3 105.3 e-3
vessels; both surface and sub-surfaced ones, was considered a
Beta C V/decade 120.5 e-3 86.8 e-3
matter of agreement among designer, yard and end-user [15-
18]. However, in the last two decades the subject has been Icorr µA 4.133 5.833
taken more actively by International Association of Ecorr mV -734.0 -619.0
Classification Societies (IACS), the International Maritime Corrosion rate
1.1462 4.179
Organization (IMO) and the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) (mpy)
convention towards provision of proper corrosion protection Chi Squared 15.174 9.9152
system in marine platforms [19-23].
Effects of changes or impurities can significantly decrease Table 2: Summary of polarization curve from
the life of the corrosion protection systems and subsequently electrochemical moisture acceleration tests.
may influence the design life of the protected structure. This
may become even adverse if changes adoption to impact of Results show that corrosion rate increased in case II owing
impurities is not addressed in retrofits by making changes in to influence of changes in values of salinity, electrical
the design in abovementioned protection systems. Rules based conductivity and pH as highlighted in Table 1.
design approach does not cater for the involvement of these
changes / impurities and hence, the same has been the subject
Subsequently, steel plate (25 × 25 × 10 mm) was modelled
in this research work.
that was surrounded with infinitive seawater. The seawater
conductivity was defined using Table 1. The boundary

Proceedings of 2019 16th International Bhurban Conference on Applied Sciences & Technology (IBCAST) 843
Islamabad, Pakistan, 8th – 12th January, 2019
element discretization was 9-point quadrilateral elements. Ship
model was meshed having 296 elements and 1719 nodes.
Results showed that steel plate in case of case II inputs
resulted in more effects by corrosion and matches to
experimental results. This confirmed verification of the
computer model.
Therefore, half of the plate surface was now considered as
wet and remaining as dry. Analyses were performed on plate
surface against considered potential level and different values
of anode current by using iterative process. The range of
potential level was - 0.78 Ag/AgCl to - 0.88 Volts Ag/AgCl on
the wetted plate surface. The reference cell reading was set up
to - 0.83 Volts Ag/AgCl in the computer model. Various
iterations were performed unless desired results were
achieved. This guideline for performing analyses was taken
from the reference [24].
Results showed that more potential difference and increase
in corrosion rate demanded more efficient corrosion control
system based on anodes for case II as compared to case I. This
is supported by the fact as corrosion attack in case of seawater
is a function of water conductivity, salinity, temperature, pH
reaction, oxygenation, water flow, dissolved gas content and
pollutants [25].
B. COMPOSITION CHANGES OF MATERIAL
Analyses were repeated but now for X60 steel by taking
polarization curve results [26] and summarized in Table 3
below and compared with that of HY 100 for case I as shown
in the Table 2.
Parameter X 60 steel
Beta A V/decade 150.1 e-3
Beta C V/decade 139.3 e-3
Icorr µA 4.7341
Ecorr mV -654.0
Corrosion rate
2.8962
(mpy)
Chi Squared 12.317
Table 3: Summary of polarization curve from
electrochemical moisture acceleration tests for X60 steel
[26].
X60 and HY 100 both are the high strength low alloy
(HSLA) steels; however, they are used in pipelines and marine
vessel’s hull respectively. Accordingly, there microstructure
and material composition are also different leading to different
corrosion rates as results of table 2 and 3 highlighted. Data of
X60 steel was also influenced by presence of carbon dioxide.
The same were used as an input in computer model as
discussed in section III A in above in BEASY CP software.
Results showed that potential and density for both materials
for corrosion protection were dissimilar and hence, establish
different requirements of cathodic protection for different
composition of material of structures. This is further supported
Proceedings of 2019 16th International Bhurban Conference on Applied Sciences & Technology (IBCAST)
Islamabad, Pakistan, 8th – 12th January, 2019
by the fact as corrosion attack in case of seawater is a function
of water conductivity, salinity, oxygenation, dissolved gas
content, pollutants and its relation to different composition of
metals of structures.
IV. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Cathodic protection is one of the known corrosion control
techniques. Cathodic protection system can be designed both
by formula and analyses techniques. As per the Part I of this
research, location and ways of distributions of anodes on the
structure to be protected is not covered by rules based formula
designing and is supported further in case of changes in
quality of harbor sea water quality and material composition
(adding of impurities). Computer modeling is a better
technique for obtaining the answers in such scenarios with
precision and leading to design optimization process.
Parametric design factors such as distribution of potential
and electric power amount for cathodic protection can be
evaluated and different scenarios can be modeled using these
commercially available computer software. Hence, the
objective to get optimum designing can be achieved and
subsequently design performance can be enhanced
accordingly. In the future work, calculation of number of
anodes and their distribution for a ship hull would be
calculated by BEM method and design optimization under
different environments would be simulated.
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Proceedings of 2019 16th International Bhurban Conference on Applied Sciences & Technology (IBCAST)
Islamabad, Pakistan, 8th – 12th January, 2019
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