Marine cathodic protection-historical trends and recent accomplishments

Historical hallmark accomplishments pertaining to design and function of cathodic protection (cp) systems for marine structures are listed and briefly discussed. The newly developed first-principles based slope parameter method and a unified design equation developed therefrom are described and compared to present standard design practice. Application, including advantages and limitations, of this approach to both galvanic and impressed current cp systems upon space frame (oil production platforms, for example), two dimensional (ship hulls), and one dimensional (pipelines and cables) structures is described. It is demonstrated that this method is advantageous compared to that of existing standard recommended practices