Cathodic Protection (CP) systems are widely applied to buried or submerged steel structures (e.g. pipes, tanks, vessels, oil platforms), as they compensate (by electrochemical means) for the loss in physical protection due to the degradation of coatings over time. In addition CP systems offer additional survey and control opportunities to tackle corrosive effects.

Often these CP systems contain a series of impressed current anode groundbeds placed at a remote distance from the structure to be protected. Also sacrificial anodes can be used, which are in general positioned much closer to the structure.

The entire configuration of the CP system and the buried or submerged structure has some particular characteristics that necessitate and justify the use of numerical simulations. First, the hidden character and low accessibility of the structures make installation, maintenance and repair intricate, elaborate and very expensive. Also, the geometry of most steel structures subject to cathodic protection is too complex to enable analytical or even empirical estimations for determining the local protection level. Numerical modeling provides significant relief by pointing out:

• insufficiently protected regions, possibly subject to corrosion
• overprotected regions, subject to hydrogen evolution and hence coating delamination or hydrogen embrittlement

As a consequence, numerical modeling allows simplification and optimization of installation, maintenance and repair. Moreover, models also provide reference values for measurements on operational sites, enabling to trace and solve any possible anomaly.

Elsyca has developed 2 advanced software tools for modelling CP systems:

• Elsyca CPMaster is a 3D software tool for modeling CP and anodic protection systems applied to structures of restricted size (e.g. tanks, vessels)
• the CatPro software tool is applicable to describe a wide network of pipelines, including all desired CP-instruments.