NUMERICAL MODELING OF CATHODIC PROTECTION SYSTEM LOOKING FOR PRESENT CONDITION EVALUATION AND IMPROVMENT OF PIPELINE NETWORK AT MANZANILLO, MEXICO

摘要

The capability to design and evaluate the optimal operation of cathodic protection systems depends on the consideration of the fundamental variables, and having alternative tools as data modeling, the optimization perspective. In case of cathodic protection modeling, it is expected to determine the actual conditions and to discard those that does not affect to the CP operation. Numerical modeling of CP Systems has been used to study the current and pipe/soil potential behavior. Based on the boundary element method, with discrete approaches, the CatPro software is applied1. With models from the identified geometries in field and the pipeline conditions, an effective modeling methodology is established. This work is focused on the study of a pipeline network at the city of Manzanillo, found in the Pacific Coast of Mexico. The validation of the initial model is made against pipe/soil potential data obtained from the CIS, which results in retro-alimentation data about the quality and size of defects in the used coating for the models, obtaining a model that represents the CP system conditions. Once the re-habilitation of the CP system, based on the modeled results, the new pipe/soil potential values are compared with the predicted by the model, and the conjunction of experimental and theoretical data gives information of substantial elements for the pipeline network maintenance and generates a perspective of continual parameters evaluation in critical sites predictable from the modeling procedure.