Accurate monitoring of cathodic protection relies upon the proficiency of the test personnel and the proper operation of the required equipment. The equipment consists of properly insulated test leads, an electronic voltmeter with a known internal circuit resistance, and a reference electrode. The proper operation of each piece of equipment is critical to the accuracy of the cathodic protection test results. However, the reference electrode is not often suspected of being responsible for unexpected cathodic protection readings. This paper will provide background on the use of portable reference electrodes and data used to evaluate the performance of buried reference electrodes installed adjacent to a single, cathodically protected, underground storage tank. Data accumulated at the test site clearly indicates that not all buried reference electrodes provide identical results.

Subject
Steel structures, Materials, Cathodic protection, Trends, Sulfates, Reference electrodes, Installation, Potential measurements, Lead, Backfill, Steel, Half cell potential, Soil
Keywords:
buried reference cell (BRC), cathodic protection (CP), copper/copper sulfate electrode (CSE), half-cell potential measurement, reference electrode, underground storage tank (UST)
© 1998 Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of AMPP. Positions and opinions advanced in this work are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AMPP. Responsibility for the content of the work lies solely with the author(s).
1998
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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