抄録
This paper presents a boundary element application to determine the optimal impressed current densities in a cathodic protection system. In this system, enough current must be impressed to lower the potential distribution on the metal surface to the critical values. The potential within the electrolyte is described by the Laplace's equation with nonlinear boundary conditions which are enforced based on experimentally determined electrochemical polarization curves. The optimal impressed current densities are determined in order to minimize the power supply for protection. The solution is obtained by using the conjugate gradient method in which the governing equations and the protecting conditions are taken into account by the penalty function method. The boundary element method is employed to descretize the governing equations. Several numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the practical applicability of the proposed method.
