Effectiveness and potentialities of the use of cathodic protection simulation software for managing underground natural gas pipelines

Cathodic protection is an electrochemical technique used to prevent the corrosion phenomena for metallic underground materials and pipelines. It is essential because the external coating could be insufficient for corrosion protection. The real corrosion protection level of a structure, a pipeline for example, is usually evaluated through measures made in few points of the pipe, generally once a day. In this way, the protection level of the whole structure is unknown. Advanced cathodic protection simulation software are spreading in order to fill this gap, especially for application in the oil and gas industry. The aim of this study is to evaluate what kind of advantages can derive from the application of simulation software to model the cathodic protection level for natural gas distribution pipeline. A real case study has been conducted in order to examine the real potentiality of this instrument. The main evaluated aspects are about the improvement of the process control effectiveness, its implementation costs and the break-even point of the investment.