Boundary element method solution for large scale cathodic protection problems

Abstract

Cathodic protection techniques are widely used for avoiding corrosion sequences in offshore structures. The Boundary Element Method (BEM) is an ideal method for solving such problems because requires only the meshing of the boundary and not the whole domain of the electrolyte as the Finite Element Method does. This advantage becomes more pronounced in cathodic protection systems since electrochemical reactions occur mainly on the surface of the metallic structure. The present work aims to solve numerically a sacrificial cathodic protection problem for a large offshore platform. The solution of that large-scale problem is accomplished by means of "PITHIA Software" a BEM package enhanced by Hierarchical Matrices (HM) and Adaptive Cross Approximation (ACA) techniques that accelerate drastically the computations and reduce memory requirements. The nonlinear polarization curves for steel and aluminium in seawater are employed as boundary condition for the under protection metallic surfaces and aluminium anodes, respectively. The potential as well as the current density at all the surface of the platform are effectively evaluated and presented.