Influence of anode location and quantity for the reduction of underwater electric fields under cathodic protection

To investigate the effect of anode location and quantities on underwater electric fields, numerical simulations were performed using the boundary element method. Simulations were performed for the cases of 3, 4, and 5 pairs and the installation locations of the anodes were set at 10 different hull regions. Although the potential difference was nearly unchanged with changes in the anode locations, the electric field was effectively diminished when the anodes were uniformly distributed through prevention of the current concentration at the specific region. Additionally, increasing the number of anodes decreased the underwater electric field, although the decrease rate of the electric field reduced. Thus, the locations of anodes should be uniformly distributed and an adequate number of anodes should be applied to effectively reduce the underwater electric fields.