See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/259760804

Relationship between Soil Properties and Corrosion of Carbon Steel

Data · January 2012

CITATIONS READS

11 3,777

6 authors, including:

Norhazilan Md Noor Nordin Yahaya

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
143 PUBLICATIONS 1,457 CITATIONS 100 PUBLICATIONS 1,205 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Kar Sing Lim Siti Rabeah Othman

Universiti Malaysia Pahang Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
60 PUBLICATIONS 482 CITATIONS 13 PUBLICATIONS 172 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Kar Sing Lim on 19 January 2014.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 1739
Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 8(3): 1739-1747, 2012
ISSN 1819-544X
This is a refereed journal and all articles are professionally screened and reviewed

ORIGINAL ARTICLES
Relationship between Soil Properties and Corrosion of Carbon Steel

M.N. Norhazilan, Y. Nordin, K.S. Lim, R.O. Siti, A.R.A. Safuan, M.H. Norhamimi

Reliability Engineering & Safety Assessment Research Group, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti
Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor, Malaysia

ABSTRACT

Soils constitute the most complex environment known to metallic corrosion. Corrosion of metals in soil can
vary from relatively rapid material loss to negligible effects, depending on soil environment. Soil engineering
properties and soil contents are important parameters that influence soil corrosivity and level of corrosion
dynamic. Previous researches had successfully prevailed in investigating the soil corrosiveness, but mainly
focused on the soil chemical content instead of soil engineering properties. Hence, this paper investigates the
relationship of soil engineering properties towards metal loss of X70 carbon steel coupons. The study focuses on
three types of major soil engineering properties which are moisture content, clay content and plasticity index. A
total of 84 pieces of X70 coupons were placed in seven different types of soils for 12-months to study the
influence of soil engineering properties towards metal loss via weight loss method. The coupons were
thoroughly cleaned prior to installation to avoid any contamination or any possible entities that can affect the
corrosion process. The soil and coupon were placed into a poly-bag to let the coupon corrode naturally .Since
the soil samples were collected from five different locations covering 500-km distance, the soils in the poly-bags
were transferred from its actual site to a single location for monitoring purposes. Statistical analysis was carried
out to study the relationship between soil engineering properties and corrosion rate. The analysis consists of
simple bar graph, linear regression, multiple regression method and Analysis of Variances (ANOVA). The site
testing results indicate moisture content as the most governance effect on corrosion rate based on the correlation
coefficient. Yet, further investigation using the Analysis of Variances (ANOVA) and multiple regression
analysis showed disagreement with the initial result whereby none of the factors have significance influence on
corrosion rate. Hence, other factors such as soil chemical content, microbiological activity or pollution may be
more dominant in influencing the dynamic of underground corrosion.

Key words: soil engineering properties, soil-corrosion, pipeline, carbon steel

Introduction

Soil-Corrosion Overview:

Corrosion is defined as a degradation of a material or its properties due to a reaction with the environment.
Soil-corrosion is a complex phenomenon, with a multitude of factors/variables involved. Chaker and Palmer
(1989) defined soil-corrosion as the deterioration of metal or other materials brought about by chemical,
mechanical and biological action by soil environment. Buried steel pipelines are one of the most common
mediums used to transport products such as crude oil and gas. These buried pipelines are exposed to various
environment conditions such as seawater (offshore) and soil (onshore) that may experience corrosion attack.
Steel pipelines deterioration due to corrosion attack is well known as a common and serious problem, involving
considerable cost and may cause inconvenience to industry and to the public. The study of the soil as a corrosive
environment is necessary due to the large number of buried pipelines and tanks, as their deterioration can appear
to be a real economical and environmental problem through the years (Ferreira et al., 2007). There is always a
chance that pipelines could leak or rupture leading to hazardous failure which can inflicts human fatality and
also badly damage the environment, assets and even humans due to explosion and leakage (Hopkins, 1995;
National Energy Board, 1996; Yahaya et al., 2009). Although maintenances are done regularly, corrosion attack
still remains as a serious risk to structure reliability and integrity.

Influence of Soil Engineering Properties on Corrosion:

Corresponding Author: M. N. Norhazilan, Reliability Engineering & Safety Assessment Research Group, Faculty of Civil
Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
E-mail: norhazilan@utm.my
 1740
J. Appl. Sci. Res., 8(3): 1739-1747, 2012

Soil engineering properties and soil contents are important parameters that influence soil corrosivity and
level of corrosion dynamic. Moisture content in soil will probably have the most profound effect when
considering corrosion potential than any other factors. There are three types of sources which provide the soil
moisture: free ground water, gravitational water and capillary water. Certainly, they have significant influence
on the determination of corrosion growth. The free ground water is present in the soil below the surface and
usually only river crossing pipelines are surrounded by ground water. In such condition, corrosion is regarded to
occur in an aqueous environment. The main sources of gravitational water are snow, rainfall, irrigation and
flood. This water enters and flows through the soil, governed by soil physical properties, including pore and
capillary spaces at various zone in the soil profile. The capillary water represents an important reservoir of water
in soil. Generally, corrosion rate increases with the increasing of moisture content.
Apart from moisture content, clay content may also contribute to the dynamic of underground corrosion.
This has to do with its characteristic as the finest particle in soil. Soils are normally named and classified
according to the size range of their particular size/grain diameter. For example, cobble (> 60mm), gravel (2mm-
60mm), sand (2mm-0.063mm), silt (0.063m-0.002mm) and clay (<0.002m). Soil texture is one of the first
factors to be considered during corrosion surveys because it determines the degree of aeration and the
permeability of the soil (Velázquez et al., 2009). Soils with poor drainage due to its fine grain size, like clay and
silt are more corrosive as compared to sand and gravel (good drainage). The study also looks into the
contribution of Plasticity Index (PI) along with moisture and clay content. Plasticity Index (PI) is a
measurement of the plasticity of soil, explained by the range of water content over which each type of soil has a
plastic consistency. Soils with high PI tend to be clay, those with low PI tend to be silt, and those with PI of
zero (0) tend to have little or no silt or clay.
Previous researches had successfully prevailed in investigating the soil corrosiveness, but mainly focused
on the soil chemical content instead of soil engineering properties (Ferreira et al., 2007; Doyle et al., 2003; Liu
et al., 2010). In most cases, study on the influence of soil engineering properties towards corrosion is hardly
available due to an assumption that these parameters have minor or no effect on corrosion dynamic. Thus, this
research is carried out to investigate the relationship between soil moisture content, plasticity index and clay
content towards material degradation subject to underground corrosion.

Materials And Methods

Corrosion Study:

The main source of material used for this study is X70 carbon steel pipes from actual pipe segment. The
pipes were machined into smaller size of coupons (40mmx60mm) using hot cut method. Cold cut method was
then used to remove heat affected zone on the coupon which may cause changes in properties of the material
(Noor et al., 2011). Coatings of those samples were removed (refer to Figure 1) to avoid inconsistent coating
protection that might lead to bias result as well as to let the coupon to corrode under worst case scenario. The
samples were thoroughly cleaned prior to installation to avoid any contamination or any possible entities that
can affect the corrosion process. The procedures of the preparation and cleaning process referred to ASTM G01-
03 (American Society for Testing and Material, 2003).

Fig. 1: Original coupon (with coating) and coupon after coating removed (right)
 1741
J. Appl. Sci. Res., 8(3): 1739-1747, 2012

Simulated field works were carried out to measure the metal loss rate due to corrosion when steel coupons
are exposed to various types of soils. There are seven types of soil collected from five different locations namely
types 1 to 7. The soil and coupon were placed into a poly-bag to let the coupon corrode naturally (as shown in
Figure 2). The procedures of preparing soil medium are referred to ASTM G162-99 (American Society for
Testing and Material, 2010). Since the soil samples were collected from five different sites along East Coast
Malaysia covering 500-km distance, the soils in the poly-bags were transferred from its actual site to a single
location for monitoring purposes. The poly-bags were installed underground to simulate the soil-corrosion
mechanism. A total of 84 steel coupons installed in 84 poly-bags whereby 12 steel coupons were allocated for
each type of soil. Coupons retrieval was carried out periodically every three months. The retrieved coupons
were not restored for later retrieval because the retrieved coupon is regarded as disturbed sample. The cleaning
process will mess up the rust layer on the sample as a product of corrosion. In order to get a time-function data
of metal loss, every single sample is assumed uniform in terms of strength, dimension and corrosion resistance.
Hence, metal loss measurements from respective retrieval at different time within 12 months period are
considered correlated with each other.

Fig. 2: Site arrangement to simulate soil-corrosion mechanism

The weight of the sample prior and after being exposed to soil environment was recorded to determine the
metal loss and subsequently, the corrosion rate. Two cleaning methods were used to remove the impurities and
corrosion product off the coupons, namely mechanical and chemical cleaning. The mechanical cleaning was
carried out to remove the soil particles on the surface of samples using a soft steel brush. It was then followed
by chemical cleaning whereby the samples were immersed in a pre-mixed solution (Hydrochloric acid +
Hexamethylene Tetramine + Reagent water), as stated in ASTM G01-03(American Society for Testing and
Material, 2003). Figures 3 and 4 show the physical look of the retrieved coupon before and after the cleaning
process. Boisch (1970) mentioned that the difference in weight of the sample is most often used as a measure of
corrosion or the basis for calculation of the corrosion rate. The average corrosion rate can be calculated using
the following equation:

(1)
where;
CR = corrosion rate (mm/y),
K = a constant,
T = time of exposure in hours to the nearest 0.01 hr,
A = area in cm2 to the nearest 0.01 cm2,
W = mass loss in g, to nearest 1 mg (corrected for any loss during cleaning),
D = density in g/cm3
 1742
J. Appl. Sci. Res., 8(3): 1739-1747, 2012

Fig. 3: Retrieved coupon before cleaning

Fig. 4: Retrieved coupon after cleaning

Determination of Soil Engineering Properties:

Soil samples in the poly-bag were replaced periodically to maintain its freshness and its original contents.
The soil properties were measured repeatedly during coupon retrieval (three months interval) so that the average
value of soil engineering parameters can be properly recorded for correlation and sensitivity analysis purposes.
Moisture content, clay content and plasticity index testing were carried out according to BS1377-2:1990 (British
Standard Institution, 1998).

Multiple Regression Analysis:

Regression analysis was used to produce an equation to predict corrosion dynamic using multiple
independent variables related to soil properties. A typical multiple regression analysis models have the form of:

(2)

where;
= dependent variables
= constant
= coefficient of independent variables
= independent variables
= numbers of independent variables

Multiple regression and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test was performed at 95% confidence level to
examine the combined effect of moisture content, clay content and plasticity index on corrosion rate of studied
coupons.
 1743
J. Appl. Sci. Res., 8(3): 1739-1747, 2012

Results And Discussion

Effects of Moisture Content:

Using bar graph and linear regression method, the average moisture content (Average M.C) and average
corrosion rate (Average C.R) shared similar line pattern that reflect the possibility of correlation between
moisture content and corrosion rate (refer to Figure 5). The corrosion develop faster by higher moisture content
as shown by result of soil type 3 and type 5 and vice versa. Figure 6 shows the correlation between moisture
content and corrosion rate. The coefficient of correlation, R2 yielded a moderate value of 0.503 with the incline
trend whereby corrosion rate increase with the increase of moisture content. This is in line with the previous
mentioned theory.

Moisture Content Influence

60.00 0.300

Corrosion Rate (mm/y)

50.00 0.250
Moisture Content (%)

40.00 0.200 M.C (3 month)

30.00 0.150 M.C (6 month)
20.00 0.100 M.C (9 month)

10.00 0.050 M.C (12 month)

0.00 0.000 Average M.C

type type type type type type type Average C.R
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Soil Type

Fig. 5: Relationship between corrosion rate and moisture content according to soil types

Average Corrosion Rate Vs

Average Moisture Content
0.300
Corrosion Rate (mm/y)

0.250
0.200
0.150
R² = 0.503
0.100
0.050
0.000
0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00 30.00 35.00
Moisture Content (%)

Fig. 6: Influence of moisture content towards corrosion rate

Effects of Clay Content:

Figure 7 displays the relationship between clay content and corrosion rate according to soil type. The result
does not exhibit a clear trend between average corrosion rate and average clay content. The corrosion rate
 1744
J. Appl. Sci. Res., 8(3): 1739-1747, 2012

increase for soil type 1 to 3 but the clay content does not show consistent trend. Similar pattern was found for
soil type 4 to 6 where the increment of clay content does not reflect by the pattern of corrosion rate. The
conclusion is conformed by a very low coefficient of correlation, R2 (0.042) which indicates poor correlation
between both parameters as can be seen in Figure 8.

Clay Content Influence

30.00 0.300
CC (3 month)

Corrosion Rate (mm/y)

25.00 0.250
CC (6 month)
Clay Content (%)

20.00 0.200
CC (9 month)
15.00 0.150
CC (12 month)
10.00 0.100 Average C.C
5.00 0.050 Average C.R
0.00 0.000
type type type type type type type
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Soil Type

Fig. 7: Relationship between corrosion rate and clay content according to soil types

Average Corrosion Rate Vs

Average Clay Content
0.300
Corrosion Rate (mm/y)

0.250
0.200
0.150
0.100
R² = 0.042
0.050
0.000
0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00
Clay Content (%)

Fig. 8: Influence of clay content towards corrosion rate

Effects of Plasticity Index:

Similar to moisture content and clay content, Figure 9 was constructed for initial investigation on the
relationship between corrosion and plasticity index for all soil types. The result shared some common agreement
with the above finding for clay content. There are no distinct proofs on the influence of plasticity index on
corrosion rate for most of the soil types, if not all due to unclear pattern between average corrosion rate and
average plasticity index. Figure 10 illustrate the influence of plasticity index towards corrosion rate. The
coefficient of correlation, R2 yielded a small value of 0.282 with an incline trend which express the development
of corrosion rate as soil plasticity increases.
 1745
J. Appl. Sci. Res., 8(3): 1739-1747, 2012

Plasticity Index Influence

50.00 0.300
45.00

Corrosion Rate (mm/y)

Plasticity Index 40.00 0.250
35.00 0.200 PI (3 month)
30.00
25.00 0.150 PI (6 month)
20.00
15.00 0.100 PI (9 month)
10.00 0.050 PI (12 month)
5.00
0.00 0.000 Average PI
type type type type type type type Average CR
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Soil Type

Fig. 9: Relationship between corrosion rate and plasticity index at all soil type

Average Corrosion Rate Vs

Average Plasticity Index
0.300
Corrosion Rate (mm/y)

0.250
0.200
0.150
0.100
R² = 0.282
0.050
0.000
0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00 30.00 35.00
Plasticity Index

Fig. 10: Influence of plasticity index towards corrosion rate

Regression Analysis:

Multiple linear regression analysis method was used to further investigate the influence of the studied
parameters towards corrosion rate. Table 1 shows the summary of regression analysis with the average corrosion
rate as dependent variable (response) while moisture content, clay content and plasticity index are regarded as
independent variables (predictors). The coefficient of correlation, R2 for the regression is 0.732 while the value
of adjusted R2 decreased to 0.464 shows that approximately 46% of the variation in the dependent variable can
be explained by the independent variables. This decrement may be due to the dependency among independent
variables (such as clay content and plasticity index), thus result in higher variance of independent variables. The
findings in Table 2 indicate the value of significance F is greater than 0.05, therefore the regression is found to
be statistically not significant to express the relationship between the response and predictors. This is agreed
with the above mentioned value of adjusted R2. Table 3 shows the coefficient of regression model and
significance (p-value) of all predictors towards response. The regression model equation is shown in equation
(3):
 1746
J. Appl. Sci. Res., 8(3): 1739-1747, 2012

(3)

where;
CR = corrosion rate (mm/y)
M.C = moisture content (%)
C.C = clay content (%)
P.I = plasticity index

The p-values of all independent variables (moisture content, clay content and plasticity index) are greater
than 0.05 (tested significant level) which explains that these factors have no significant effect on the test
parameter (corrosion rate). Although moisture content was determined to have some influence on corrosion rate
via initial observation, however when combined its influence with clay content and plasticity index, their overall
effect towards corrosion growth is not significant.

Table 1: Summary of multiple regression analysis

Regression Statistics
Multiple R R Square Adjusted R Square Standard Error Observations
0.856 0.732 0.464 0.029 7.000

Table 2: Summary of ANOVA analysis

ANOVA
df SS MS F Significance F
Regression 3.000 0.007 0.002 2.731 0.216
Residual 3.000 0.003 0.001
Total 6.000 0.010

Table 3: Summary of parameters estimation

Coefficients Standard Error t Stat P-value Lower 95% Upper 95%
Intercept 0.124 0.027 4.569 0.020 0.038 0.210
X Variable 1
(Moisture Content) 0.002 0.001 1.638 0.200 -0.002 0.006
X Variable 2
(Clay Content) -0.003 0.003 -1.200 0.316 -0.012 0.005
X Variable 3 (Plasticity Index) 0.004 0.002 1.670 0.194 -0.004 0.011

Conclusion:

Based on simple linear regression done individually between corrosion rate and soil engineering properties,
soil moisture content was found to have moderate influence towards corrosion dynamic at most of the soils,
while clay content and plasticity index are on the other side of spectrum due to less distinct pattern of
relationship between line graphs. Nevertheless, the ANOVA test and multiple linear regression analysis yielded
contrary result whereby all parameters were found to be not significant against corrosion rate. The measured
metal loss from the buried coupon is mathematically caused by so many factors including soil chemical
contents, microbiological factor (such as Sulphate-Reducing Bacteria, SRB) and other third party factors such as
pollution. This is in line with the previous statement which mentioned soil engineering properties may pose
minor influence on corrosion rate, hence not the most influential factors. This shows that the measured corrosion
rates from the loss of weight of buried steel coupon may be dominantly caused by other factors apart from the
tested parameters.

Acknowledgement

The authors gratefully acknowledged the supports for this research from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
through GUP Research Grant 00H38, Ministry of Science and Technology (MOSTI) and Ministry of Higher
Education (MOHE).

References

American Society for Testing and Material, 2003. ASTM G1-03. Standard Practice for Preparing, Cleaning, and
Evaluating Corrosion Test Specimens. U.S: West Conshohocken.
American Society for Testing and Material, 2010. ASTM G162-99 (Reapproved 2010). Standard Practice for
Conducting and Evaluating Laboratory Corrosions Tests in Soils. U.S: West Conshohocken.
Bosich, J.F., 1970. Corrosion Prevention for Practicing Engineers. USA: Barnes & Noble Inc., New York.
British Standard Institution, 1998. BS 1377-2:1990. Classification Tests. London: British Standard Institution.
 1747
J. Appl. Sci. Res., 8(3): 1739-1747, 2012

Doyle, G., M.V. Seica and M.V. Grabinsky M.W.F, 2003. The Role of Soil in the External Corrosion of Cast
Iron Water Mains in Toronto, Canada. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 40(2): 225-236.
Ferreira, C.A.M., J.A.C. Ponciano, D.S. Vaitsman and D.V. Pérez, 2007. Evaluation of the Corrosivity of the
Soil Through Its Chemical Composition. Science of the Total Environment, 388: 250-255.
Hopkins, P., 1995. Transmission Pipelines: How to Improve Their Integrity and Prevent Failures” In: Denys, R.
(ed). Pipeline Technology. In the Proceedings of the 2nd International Pipeline Technology Conference,
(PTC’96), Amsterdam., pp: 683-706.
Liu, T.M., Y.H. Wu, S.X. Luo and C. Sun, 2010. Effect of Soil Compositions on the Electrochemical Corrosion
Behavior of Carbon Steel in Simulated Soil Solution. Materials Science and Engineering Technology,
41(4): 228–233. doi: 10.1002/mawe.201000578.
National Energy Board, 1996. Stress Corrosion Cracking on Canadian Oil and Gas Pipelines. Report of the
enquiry. Calgary. MH-2-95.
Noor, N.M., N. Yahaya, S.R. Othman, K.S. Lim and M.M. Din, 2011. New Technique in Soil-Corrosion Study
of Underground Pipeline. Journal of Applied Sciences, 11(9): 1510-1518.
Velázquez, J.C., F. Caleyo, A. Valor and J.M. Hallen, 2009. Predictive Model for Pitting Corrosion in Buried
Oil and Gas Pipelines. Corrosion., 65: 332-342.
Victor Chaker and J. David Palmer, 1989. ASTM Committee G-1 on Corrosion of Metals. Effect of Soil
Characteristics on Corrosion. ASTM International., pp: 81.
Yahaya, N., N.M. Noor, M.M. Din, and S.H.M. Nor, 2009. Prediction of CO2 Corrosion Growth in Submarine
Pipelines. Malaysia Journal Civil Engineering, 21(1): 69-81.

View publication stats