Operational based corrosion analysis in naval ships

Life extension of ageing steel structures such as naval ships requires consideration of plate thickness losses due to corrosion, particularly when protective measures such as paint coatings and sacrificial protection are not entirely effective. Traditionally, corrosion prediction models for ships take no account of the operational profile. Consequently, the corrosion models have an inherently high variability with poor corrosion prediction capability. A new corrosion model for the prediction of corrosion loss in the seawater ballast tanks of naval vessels has been developed. The model incorporates previously available corrosion models for immersion corrosion and atmospheric corrosion and takes account of operational and environmental variables. Experimental validation is presented for a trial on an operational naval vessel.