Soil Corrosivity Testing Service

Soil Corrosivity Analysis

The soil we bury our infrastructure in can, unfortunately, be highly corrosive. Depending on the location and scale of your pipeline, tanker, or other projects, you may not be able to do much to combat the existing soil conditions and the financial burden they can pose.

The first step in assessing your need for a corrosion prevention system is an accurate and reliable soil corrosivity test. Taking advantage of a soil corrosivity testing service conducted by the corrosion specialists at Dreiym Engineering PLLC can help you plan for and design around any limitations to mitigate the ravaging effects of electrochemical corrosion on your assets.

When you request our soil corrosion testing service, Dreiym mobilizes to the site to test and evaluate the soil resistance characteristics and to perform soil sample collection. The samples are tested in a laboratory for pH, moisture content, laboratory resistivity testing, sulfates, chlorides, and the presence of bacteria, which may accelerate corrosion on underground assets. Multiple other considerations are evaluated during our soil corrosivity testing to determine the most cost-effective protection method for your systems. Some of the factors that impact soil corrosivity are:

Aeration

• This refers to the amount of air trapped in your soil. Aeration affects the rates of both water retention and water evaporation.

Acidity (pH Levels)

• Soils can have a wide range of pH levels—typically anywhere between 2.5 to 10 pH. A pH level of 7 is the most desirable, but pH levels below 5 can create disastrous levels of metal corrosion.

Soil Resistivity

• Soil resistivity is a measure of how much the soil resists electrical flow. It’s heavily influenced by the soil’s moisture content; studies suggest that as moisture content increases, soil resistivity decreases. This means that the potential for corrosion increases as moisture levels increase. Water, oxygen, and metal are also required for electrochemical corrosion to occur.

Temperature

• Temperature also plays a role in corrosive potential because temperature impacts soil resistivity. For example, while soil resistivity increases gradually as we approach the freezing point, further drops in temperature are followed by a rampant decrease in soil resistivity. This increases corrosive potential. As such, the range of soil temperatures present at your sites are not something to be ignored.

Contact Us for a free consultation on your site.