Pipeline backfill reimagined to provide in-line corrosion protection

Corrosion of buried ferrous pipelines is a massive problem that compromises the resilience of this infrastructure that provides essential services such as water and gas. The present protection methods such as coatings and cathodic protection are not sufficient or not always possible due to pipeline variability and congestion. A very effective and low-cost approach is to electrically isolate the pipeline by engineering the backfill to provide enhanced corrosion resistance, on top of the mechanical support currently targeted. Combining both geotechnical and material sciences, this project will innovate engineered backfill materials and construction methods and develop numerical techniques to minimise pipeline corrosion at network level.