The critical role of marine bacterial processes in the development of models for pitting corrosion of structural steels

The next section outlines the recent development of an appropriate model for fn(t, E) based on actual and very detailed observations of steels exposed to natural seawater. The model has been shown to be applicable to immersion, tidal and coastal atmospheric corrosion environments (Melchers 2003a, 2007b). Next is described how the model may be slightly simplified for practical application under longer-term exposure conditions. Field data is then used to estimate the variability in maximum pit depth at a given exposure location, derived from the application of extreme value statistics. Some comments are made also about the application of the simplified model.