Investigation of the residual protection of steel following application of protective current

Recent studies have shown that when the operation of steel reinforced concrete impressed current cathodic protection systems is halted the steel can remain passive for a period of time. This paper reports a systematic study using both laboratory specimens and a small scale site trial to investigate the factors influencing the occurrence and duration of residual protection using charge densities of 20, 60, 180 and 540 mA/m2. Both the laboratory and site specimens demonstrated short term residual protection. The results indicated that the residual protection was dependant on both the duration and charge passed, with longer periods of protection observed on site following a second application of current.