Profiling Corrosion Rates for Offshore Wind Turbines with Depth in the North Sea

Waseem Khodabux, Paul Causon and Feargal Brennan
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Waseem Khodabux: School of Water, Energy and the Environment, Renewable Energy Marine Structures—Centre for Doctoral Training (REMS-CDT), Cranfield University, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UK
Paul Causon: School of Water, Energy and the Environment, Renewable Energy Marine Structures—Centre for Doctoral Training (REMS-CDT), Cranfield University, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UK
Feargal Brennan: Department of Naval Architecture, Ocean & Marine Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 0LZ, UK

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 10, 1-19

Abstract: Corrosion in the marine environment is a complex and expensive form of damage. It is commonly studied by the deployment of coupons that reflect the marine corrosion a structure will experience, thus allowing design and maintenance prevention strategies to be developed accordingly. This study stems from the lack of information in the literature regarding the profiling of corrosion with respect to marine depth in the North Sea where important wind farm developments have been undertaken. To address such issue a field experiment has been designed and carried out in the vicinity of the Westermost Rough Windfarm in the North Sea. The field experiment consists of deploying steel S355 coupons below the tidal area and capturing the effects of corrosion, the mass loss from which the corrosion rate is derived and the chemical products that makes up the rust with water depth. The study involves proper planning and logistics to ensure that the field experiment survives the rough conditions of the North Sea for a duration of 111 days. A high corrosion rate of 0.83 mm/year has been observed in this experiment. This paper goes into the details of the deployment blueprint employed and the analyses of the coupons to provide a conclusive observation and modelling of corrosion with respect to water depth under free or open sea water corrosion condition.

Keywords: North Sea; mass loss; chemical analysis; corrosion rate; sea depth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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