Monday 13 October 08 - 22:40
 

Marine Civils by David Foxwell

Revised Standard for CP Systems Due Next Year

An updated and revised version of a European standard for cathodic protection of harbour structures, EN 13174, which will be of direct use for port and harbour engineers planning protection against ALWC or dealing with its effects, should be available early next year.

Sacrificial anodes form part of a CP system to protect against ALWC
Sacrificial anodes form part of a CP system to protect against ALWC

Brian Wyatt of Corrosion Control & Associates Ltd in the UK, who is Convenor of the European Standards Committee TC/219/WG3 which is currently in the process of revising EN 13174 'Cathodic Protection for Harbour Installations' in order to better address ALWC, said he believed that the revised standard (tentatively dubbed EN 13174:2006) would be more 'user friendly, ' and would fully take into account experience gained with the treatment of ALWC since the standard was first produced.

Wyatt said the work that CIRIA has completed recently on ALWC had been extremely helpful, and noted that it collated a broad range of knowledge and would complement the newly revised standard.

'The consensus is that cathodic protection remains the best way of dealing with ALWC, ' said Wyatt, noting that although EN 13174 is a competent document, there are parts that warrant improvement and where terminology is a little unclear.'

In some cases, said Wyatt, design consultants and contractors have also made use of another standard - DNV RP B401 - when tackling ALWC, but this standard was actually drafted with offshore structures in mind.

'The 2001 document (EN 13174) remains the most appropriate document for engineers to use, ' Wyatt concluded. 'There are elements of DNV RP B401 that make it rather less useful in terms of tackling ALWC, but we anticipate that what will be EN 13174:2006 will be the most appropriate document by far.'

Images for this article - click to enlarge

Sacrificial anodes form part of a CP system to protect against ALWC

Unless otherwise stated, all images copyright © Mercator Media 2008. This does not exclude the owner's assertion of copyright over the material.

MTU IRONMEN