Atte:úuation of Foreed Drainage Effeets

on Long Unifornt Struetures

By Robert Po pe
&U Telephone Laboratories, New York, N. Y.

"'\VTHEN forced clrainage is ap­ Soil Resistivity (P) in meter­ohms

W plied to an underground metal­ is the resistance of the soil in ohms
lic structure to provide cathodic pro­ between opposite faces of a one­rne­
tection, the g reatest effccts on the ter cube. One meter­ohm equals 100
structure and earth potentials occur ohm­centimeters, a unit f r e q u e n tly
in the vicinity of the drainage point used. The meter­ohm appears to be
and anode. These effects taper off as a handier unit for engineers since it
the clistance from the drainage point results in smaller numbers and fewer
increases ancl even in the relatively ciphers.
simple case of a long, uniform struc­ Longitudinal Resistance of the
ture, the manncr in which these ef­ Structure (Rs) in ohms per kilofoot
fects taper off or attenuate is quite is the longitudinal electrical resist­
complex. (1) (2) However, by mak­ ance of the structure including
ing a few justifiable assumptions, joints.
relatively simple equations are devel­ Leakage Resistance of the Struc­
oped which provicle sufficiently accu­ ture ( RL) in kilofoot­ohms is the
rate results in most practical cases. electrical resistan ce in ohms be­
Furtherrnore, the simple equations tween a 1,000­foot segment of the
bring out more clearly the relative structure and remote earth. I t in­
importance of the various factors in­ eludes the resistance provided by
volved than do the more rigorous the soil as well as the resistance of
equations. The approximate equa­ any coating or conduit surrounding
tions have been used with fair suc­ the structure.
cess in ,predicting the effects of Characteristic Resístance (RK) in
clrainage on unclergrouncl telephone ohms is the electrical resistance be­
cables i11 conduit and on buried coat­ tween the structur e and remote earth
ecl cables. They should apply quite looking in one direction only. For
accurately to coated pipes, ancl there example, the resistance 1ooking east
are examples of reasonably good ap­ on a stnicture at any point is the re­
sistance to earth which would be
plication on sorne bare pipes. (3)
measured if the structure did not
The soil .and structure character­ exist west of this point. On a long
istics which enter into the equations uniform structure, the resistance
will be discussed, and the units used looking east (RE) is the sanie as the
esta blish ed. resistance looking west (Rw) and

307
~08 CORROSION­NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CORROSION ENGINEERS Vol. Il

STRU.CTURE
flG 1­A· ORAINAGE TO NEARBY ANODE

TO oo

STRUCTURE
· FIG. 1- B DR'AINAGE TO VERY REMOTE ANODE

FROM co

ANODE

STRUCTURE r~:
1­­­­­­­­ X ­­­­­­ 1
FIG. i -c CURRENT FROM REMOTE EARTH TO NEARBY ANODE
December, 1946 FORCED DRAINAGE EFFECTS ON STRUCTURES 309

the actual resistance to earth (Ra) step, with reasonable separation of

is equal to these resistances in paral­ anode from structure, the change in
lel or half the characteristic resist­ the structure potential can be con­ ·
ance. sidered to be negligible, ancl the en­
RK = 2 Ro ohms (1) tire effect resul ts in raising the po­
The characteristic resistance is a ten ti al of the earth. Figure lA shows
function of series resistances repre­ forcecl drainage applied in the usual
senting the longitudinal resistance manner. Figure lB shows drainage
of segments of the structure shunted to a very remote anode, and Figure
by the leakage resistance of these 1 C shows th e transfer of current
segments. It is related to the longi­ from the remote electrode to the reg­
tudinal resistance and leakage resist­ ular anocle location. ·
ance as follows: Figure 2 shows the manner in
RK = ­VRs Ri, ohms (2)
which these two steps affect the
· Attenuation Constant (ª) per kilo­ structure and earth poten tials. Sin ce
foot is a characteristic of a structure both the structure potential and earth
which determines the rate at which potential are affected in the vicinity
attenuation takes place. of the drainage, the change in pot~n­
a = -V Rs per kilofoot (3) tial of structure to nearby earth is
Rr, . representecl by .the value of the ordi­
or na te between the two curves.
a = Rs per kilofoot ( 4) \Vhere the clrainage ano de is more
RK
. than about 500 feet from the struc­
In draining a structure to a near­ ture, it can usually be considered as
by anode, two effects are superposed. being sufficiently remote that the
The poteritial of the structure is de­ effect on the structure potential will
pressed ( made more negative) and follow esscntially the laws applying
the potential of the earth 'is .raised to drainage to. a remote electrode.
(made more positive). For purposes
The effect of drainage is usually
of analysis, these effects can be sep­
measured in terms of volts per am­
arated by regarding the drainage ac­
tion as the result of two separate ac­ pere, where "volts" refers to the
tions. In the first step the clrainage change in structure­to­earth poten­
current is assumed to be delivered tial at the drainage point.(V0), and
to a very remote anode, and the ef- "ampere" is the val ue of the drain­
fect of the anocle in raising the poten­ age current (IA). If the potential
tial of the earth in the · vicinity of electrode is sufficiently remote Irorn
the structurecau be considerecl to be both the anode and the structure to
negligible. The on ly effect of th is be essentially unaffected by them,
step then is the lowering of the the change in structur e potential at
structure potential. In the second th e d r a i 11 a ge p o i 11 t, p e r amper e
step, the drainage curr ent is assumed drained, is t h e resistance of the
to be taken from earth at a very re­ structure to earth.
mote poin t and delivered to earth at
(5)
the actual anode location. In this
310 CORROSION­NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CORROSION ENGINEERS Vol. lI

The attenuation of the structure Ix = loe -ax amperes, . (8)

potential caused by the drainag é
in which Ix is the current in the
curren t will follow the atten ua tion structure at a,ny point.
equation as follows: The current picked up by the
. Vx = Voe ­ex volts, (6) structure from the earth is equal to
where Vx is the change in structure­ the deciease in Ix per unit length,
to­earth potential at any point and and dividing this value by the cir­
X is the distance of this point from cumference of the structure gives
the drainage point in kilofeet. the cathodic current density at any
The current from · either direction poin t ( ix) as Iollows :
in the structure at the drainage point 12Ioae ­a:x milliamperes
tx= per square ft.,
(Io) is equal to half the drainage. 7Tcl (9)
current, since the other half of the or
drainage current comes from the op­ . _ 12 Ixa
tx ­­ rid ma. per squar e ft., (lü)

+·
posite direction.
lo= I.,\ amperes (7) where d is the diameter of the out­
side of the structure in inches. If
Since the characteristic resistance X=O, the cathodic current density
of a uniform structure <loes not at the drainage point (i0) can be de­
change frorn. point to point, the cur­ termined as follows :
ren t in the structure follows the io = 12 loa ma. per squar e ft .
. same attenuation law as the voltage. 7Tcl (11)

E F FE C1 OF VER Y CLOSE ANOOE IN

RAISING POTENTIAL OF EARTH AT ---,J
STRUCTURE. (Y=SO')
s.~ _J
o EFFECT OF ANOOE NOT QUITE SO
> CLOSE TO STRUCTURE.{Y=200')

~ººº. 1000
FROM DRAINAGE
500
POINT-FEET

5. EFFECT OF ORAINAGE IN LOWERJNG ___/

PO T E N TI A L O F S T R U C TU RE . C ex: = l )

'
DRAIN.(
ANO AN(j
l

. . ' . .

FIG. 2 -EFFECT OF DRAINAGE ANO ANODE POTI.I

. - ANO SURROl;
 December, 1946 FORCED DRAIN AGE EFFECTS
Figure 3 shows the application of
the approximate equations to obtain
curves representing the atteriuation
of structure potential, current on the
structure, and cathodic current den­
si ty f o r a 12­inch pipe, where
R~0.004 ohm per kilofoot and RL
=0.1 kilofoot­ohm. The other char­
acteristics can be computed to be
RK=0.02 ohm, RG=0.01 ohm and
ª­Ü.2 per kilofoot. As indicated 011
these curves, the effects per ampere
at 2500 feet from the drainer are
about 0.006 volt to earth, 0.3 ampere
011 the structure and 0.017 milliam­
pere per square foot cathodic cur­
rent density.
By taking the logarithms of both
sides of the attenuation equation (as
for example V x) we get
ax= log, Vo (12)
Vx
or
POTE NTIAL or EARTH ANO
STRUCTURE-NO DRAINAGE
500 1000
DISTANCE FROM DRAINAGE POINT-FE.EE_!_T
OAAINAGE CURRENT
EARTH RESISTIVITV
~GE .POINT
)DE LOCAT10N
~NTiAL GRADIENT ON POTENTIAL OF STRUCTURE
JNDING EARTH .
ON STRUCTURES 311
ax= 2.3 log Vo (13)
Vx
Therefore, these curves appear as
straight lines 011 semi­logarithmic
coordina tes, and it is necessary to
compute only two points, one of
which may be the drainage point,
and connect them with a straight ·
line to obtain the attenuation curve.
The curves shown on Figure 3 are
reproduced on semi­log coórdinates
in Figure 4. The same val ues are ob­
tained with these curves as wiH be
observed, for example, at the 2,500­
foot point.
Influence of Attenuation
Constant (ª)
Figure 5 is a family of curves il­
lustrating the effect of varying the
attenuation constant, «. In these.
curves, the effect at the drainage
point is taken as unity. The curves
1500 2000
_
I AMPERE.
100 METER OHMS.
312 CORROSION­N ATION AL ASSOCIATION OF CORROSION ENGINEERS Vol. 1/

VOLT

'~
.010
"- 1
1
,008
<,
,006
~
Eo '"~ CHANGE IN STRUCTURE -SOlL POTENTIAL
"""'-.
.004 ........
Ex ~ ¡­­,...... """------
,002 ~ ......
-
1~
X-
H ~

AMP.
.5

'
·"
~1'11,,.
,4
CURRENT ON STRUCTURE
~~
• 3
Io <, .

,2 ~
:-.............
Ix ............... r­­,......
,1 -........
­
.. 1

H
r­­­
­ '
x­ -
MA/ SQ. FT
.02 5
\
,­ '
Rs = .004
RL = .f KILOFOOT-OHM.
OHM/KILOFOOT

'- ~ RG = .01 OHM

.02 o
'"'!'­­
. CATHODIC CURRENT DENSITY

"'
.01 5 ~ .

,010
io - r-, """"'-
--....
r­,­....
Át)( r----.. r-,.......,
--- ..........
,00 5
- X-
H
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
DISTANCC FROM DRAINAGE POINT-THOUSAND FEET
FIG. 3-COMPUTED EFFECT ÓF DRAINING ONE AMPERE FROM STRUCTURE
December, 1946 FORCED DRAIN AGE EFFECTS ON STRUCTURES 313

SCALE $CALE
A . B

.2

.002

R5=.004 OHM PER KILOFOOT

RL:.I KILOFOOT-OHM
RG= .01 OHM
.0005

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
DISTANCE FROM ORAINAGE POINT - THOUSANO FEET
FIG. 4.- COMPUTEO EF íECT OF' ORAiNI NG ONE AMPERE
 314 CORROSION­NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
can be used to determine the prob­
able effect at any point on a long,
uniform structure in the following .
manner: Rs can be measured, corn­
puted or obtained from tables. R0 .
can be measured in the fi.eld and ª
can be computed from these, using
equations (1), (4) and (5). Ra is the
same as Vo per ampere. lo is corn­
puted from (7), and i0 is computed
from (11). Thus the conditions at
the drainage poirit ~re determined.
By taking the attenuation curve
corresponding to the computed ª,
the proportion of the effect at the
drainage point can be obtained for
· any point along the structure. Using
the same 12­inch pipe as in Figures
3 and 4 (ª=0.2) as .an example, the
effect at 2,500 f eet is a Iittle over
60 percent of the effect at the drain­
age point. Thus the change in. struc­ .
ture­to­ear th potential is about 60
percent of 0.01, or 0.006 volt per am­
pere, the current on the structure is
about 60 percent of 0.5, or 0.3 am­
pere and the cathodic current density
is about '60 percent of 0.03, or 0.018
milliam pere per sq u are foot.
Effect of Irnprovements in Coating
The equations discussed above
can be used to illustrate the effect of
coating on a structure. In this case,
however, the range of values is so
wide that it is necessary to use log­
ari thmic scales for both ordina te and
abscissa.
Figure 6 shows the structure­to­
earth potential attenuation for a 12­
inch pipe with various values of
"leakage resistance. Assuming a one­
millivolt change per ampere as be­
ing mínimum · practica! effect, the
curves can be in terpreted as follows :
With 0.01 kilofoot­ohm leakage re­
OF CORROSION ENGINE:ERS Vol. /l
sistance, .corresponding to a bare
pipe in sea water (1.4 meter­ohms),
the change in potential becomes neg­
ligible at less .than 2,000 feet. With
10 times this leakage resistance, or
0.1 kilofoot­ohm corresponding to a
bare pipe in very low resistivity soil
(,P==l4 meter­ohms), the change in
potential becomes negligible at about
11,000· feet. With one kilofoot ohm,
or bare pipe in normal soil (140 me­
ter­ohms), the change in poten tia]
does not hecome negligible until be­
yond 50,000 feet. A leakage resist­
anee of 10 kilofoot­ohms represents
a bare pipe in high­resistivity soil
(1,400 meter­ohms) ora pipe with a
leaky coating, and a leakage r esist­
anee of 100 kilofoot­ohms can be ob­
tained on ly with a very good coat­
.ing. In these cases the effect extends
great distances, far beyond the limit
of practical applicatiori of the ap­
proximate equations.
Figure 7 shows the cathodic cur­
rent density attenuation for the
same conditions. This shows that
with low­leakage resistance, the cur­
rent density near the drainage point
is relatively high, but the effect does
not extend very far. With high­leak­
age resistance, the current densitv
is lower near the drainage point, but
the effect extends farther. In this
case, a criterion of negligible pro­
tection cannot be as sume d, si rice
coated pipe generally requires only
a small current density for protec­
tion as comparecl with bare pipe.
Effect of Anode on Earth Potential
· The above discussion applies only
to the effect of the drainage on the
structure potential. An additional ef­
fect is obtained due to the anocle
raising the . earth poten tial. This is
December, 1946 FORCED DRAINAGE EFFECTS ON STRUCTURES 315

a:.=

ex. ::,os

.05
X
tj
1 ,03
ClJ

.02

5 7 8 9 10 11 12
x.
f'IG. 5 - VALUES OF e­a:x
. 316 CORROSION­NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CORROSION ENGINEERS Vol. Il

-­
0.5
­-
,- Rl = IOOKILOFOOT-OHM
-
0.2
­­­­............ """""'­­

'
o
w
z
= 10 KILOFOOT-OHM
­
~ RL
a:
o o. 1
­­
,...._

­
w ~
a:
w
a.
~ .05
~
r­,
'<;
-,
4:
a: --RL= 1 KILOFOOT - OHM
w
Q.

-~
-
--------...._ i,....,,.

' r­,
.02
o
> '

----
.J
<f. RL= .t KILOrOOT-OHM
,¡91

'\
¡::
z ~ ­-
~ '} - ~
o - <,

\
<,
a. ,005
_J

\
V)
~l:.,01 KILOFOOT-oHM

LJ
1
­.............. ...............

""' -,
Q.
0:: .002
:? \
­-
w
\ \
~
4:
I
u
.001

­ '¡\. \ \
­
\\ \ j\
.0005

,...._

R5: .004 OHM PER KILOFOOT

.0002

.0001
100 200
1 1
500
1 1 11
1000 2000
1 1
5000
1 1 11 \1
10,000 . 20,000
1
50,000.
FEET FROM DRAINAGE POINT

FIG. 6- APPLICATION OF SIMPLIFIED EQUATION TO SHOW EFF'ECT OF DRAINING

ONE AMPERE FROM 12" PÍPE UNE WITH VARIOÜS LEAKAGE RESISTANCES
December, 1946_ FORCED DRAINAGE
0 EFFECTS ON STRUCTURES 317

CATHODIC CURRENT DENSITY- MILLIAMPERES PER SQ FT. PER AMPERE ORAINED

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318 CORROSION­NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CORROSION ENGINEERS Vol. l/

~<
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 De cember, '1946 FORCED DRAIN AGE EFFECTS
called the anode potential gradient
in .the earth, and can be determined
for the case of a single vertical rod
by 'the following equation:
Er = 1.64 IAP log, ( L + V L2 + r2)
"ITL · r
where E, is the rise in earth poten­
tial at any point caused by the cur­
rent IA being delivered to the earth
by the anode, L is the length of the
rod below the surface of the ground
in feet and .r is the distan ce frorn the
rod in feet. When r .is more than
about 10 L, the equation becomes
approximately
Er = 0.522 IAP volts
r (15).
If a bare · metallic structure tra­
verses the anode potential gradient,
the gradient will be distorted due to
the high electrical conductivity of the
structure compared with that of the
earth. The anode current tends to
concentrate on the structure in the
vicinity of the anode and this effect
will become more pronounced the
closer the anode is to the structure.
I t. wiÜ also be more pronounced in
high resistivity soil than in low' re­
sistivity soil.
The current picked up by the
strúcture will be conducted along it,
away from the anode location, and
. this currerit will create a potential
gradient in the structure. If the
ano de is more than 500 f eet from the
structure in soil of average resistiv­
ity or less (say under 200 · meter­
.ohms) this ·gradient will be small
compared with that caused by drain­·
age current of the same magnitude,
and can be considered as negligible
ON STRUCTURES 319
in practica} cases. For coated struc­
tures this gradient will be even
smaller, since less of the anode cur­
rent will be picked up by the struc­
ture. The potential created in the
volts,
earth, however, may be substantial,
(14) particularly in the vicinity of the
anode, and should be taken into ac­:
count. An enginéering approxima­
tion of this can be obtained in most
cases by considering the potential
gradient as being undistorted by the
presence of . the structure. In this
way, the earth potential can be ob­
tained for any point along the struc­
ture by computing the distance r
(15) (Figure 1) and applying equation
Figure 8 gives values .of IEr in
AP
volts per meter­ohm per ampere for
various values of x and y. Appli­
cation of these values will reveal
that in extreme cases the effect
of the anode gradient may be con­
siderably greater than the effect
of the drainage. In such cases where
the anode is not located opposite the
drainage point, the greatest effect
on the potential of the structure to
nearby earth will be obtained oppo­
site the anode rather than at the
drainage point.
References
(1). E. D. Sunde, Currents and Potentials
along Leaky Grouncl Return Con­
ductors. Electrical Engineering 51
1338, 1936 (Dec.) Bell Telephone
Systern Monograph B­970.
(2). Scott Ewing, Soil Corrosión ancl Pipe
Line Protection Chap. X p. 227,
American Gas Association, .1938.
(3). Harry C. Gear, Current Density Re­
latecl to Current Distribution, Petro­
leum Engineer Refer ence Annual
1943.