Residual protection on a wharf structure following application of impressed current cathodic protection

School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, 3001, Australia

^* Corresponding author: David.Law@rmit.edu.au

Abstract

Recent studies have suggested that residual protection is afforded to structures following the application of impressed current cathodic protection (ICCP), in some cases for significant periods of time, while others for periods of only a few days. This study reported the findings of the de-activation of a 20 year old ICCP system installed on a 50 year old structure. The ICCP was de-activated for 84 days and the steel potentials at locations on the front pile cap and front wall were monitored via the installed reference electrodes. An adjacent water anode system was also de-activated for 48 hours during the initial de-activation period to observe the impact on the steel potentials. The results showed that out of 42 reference electrodes, 17 achieved a 100 mv decay within 24 hours and 10 had more positive instant off potentials than -150 mV. Furthermore, all displayed a positive shift in potential following deactivation of the ICCP system for a period of time, indicative of residual protection, with 22 displaying this positive shift for the whole 94 days of the trial.