Elucidation of Corrosion and Failure of Stainless Steel Tubing buried in Soil for Potable Water
Since buried pipes contact the soil directly, corrosion by the soil could be occurred. Recently, some stainless steel pipes after 8 years burial at G area were corroded and leaked. In order to elucidate highly corroded phenomena(its rate was about 0.175 mm/y) of these pipes, the investigation for corrosion environment, soil, stray current`s effect, and chemical analysis on the pipes were performed. Most of investigated sites were close to traditional water-closet and showed high moisture and thus those areas could be highly corrosive. In the investigation by two kinds of soil evaluation methods, it was revealed that the soils at G areas were highly corrosive, and moreover the contents of sulfate reducing bacteria in the soils were high. Also, open circuit potentials of many pipes showed different values and its potentials were high positive. Therefore, it was considered that corrosion of buried pipes at G area could be affected by high corrosive soil`s environment and stray current corrosion.