Rebuilding the Gulf Coast in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: Corrosion Control and Mitigation

Janice K. Lomness

Corrosion Technology Laboratory

NASA Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899

Introduction

• Corrosion is a widespread and costly problem.• Corrosion costs the United States over $300 billion

each year.• Rebuilding or repairing hurricane damage.• Corrosion control and mitigation into the design,

materials selection, or repair stage of development.

• Avoid catastrophic failures and expensive repairs.

Corrosion Control and Mitigation

• Design Engineers, Material Science Engineers, and Corrosion Experts.

• Identify forms of corrosion that will affect system being developed.Uniform Corrosion, Pitting Corrosion, Crevice

Corrosion, Filiform Corrosion, Erosion Corrosion, Galvanic Corrosion, Selective Leaching/Dealloying, Intergranular and Exfoliation Corrosion, Stress Corrosion Cracking, Corrosion Fatigue, Fretting Corrosion

Corrosion Control and Mitigation

• Design considerationMaterial properties that influence the

degradation of the material and the probability for a particular form of corrosion of the material to lead to catastrophic failure.

Determine the extent by which a specific form of corrosion affects a material.

• Susceptibility of the material to corrosionSusceptible alloysResistant alloys

AMPTIAC Quarterly Volume 9, Number 3, 2005AMPTIAC Material Failure Modes Desk Reference

Kennedy Space Centers Experience with Corrosion

The launch environment at KSC is extremely corrosive:

Ocean salt sprayHeatHumiditySunlight

In 1981 the Space Shuttle introduced acidic deposition conditions

SRB Exhaust

Vehicle Assembly Building

• 525 ft tall• 716 ft long• 518 ft wide• Covers 8 acres• Encloses 129,428,000 ft3

• Rose Bowl or Yankee Stadium could fit on roof.

VAB Corrosion Mitigation

• Corrosion due to the presence of salt resulting from the exposure to sea water or the use of contaminated aggregate in the original concrete mix.Destroy the structural integrity of steel

reinforced concrete structures.Cathodic protection can eliminate costly cycle

of concrete repairs and repeated assessments due to corrosion.

VAB Roof Repair

Cathodic Protection

PROTECTED STEEL

Mains Power Source

DATA OUTPUT

METERS

COMPUTER CONTROL

DC Power Supply Monitoring Unit

Signal

ANODECABLING CATHODE

CABLINGSIGNAL

CABLING

CONNECTIONS

ANODE SYSTEM CONCRETE(Electrolyte)

REFERENCEELECTRODE

CONNECTIONS

VAB Corrosion Mitigation

VAB Corrosion Mitigation

Conductive Mastic

Conclusions

• Incorporation of corrosion control and mitigation into the design and material selection phase of planning and development.

• Taking advantage of new and improved technologies could dramatically reduce expensive corrosion related repairs and possible catastrophic failures.