Handbook of

Corrosion
Engineering

Pierre R. Roberge

McGraw-Hill
New York San Francisco Washington, D.C. Auckland Bogotá
Caracas Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City Milan
Montreal New Delhi San Juan Singapore
Sydney Tokyo Toronto
150 Chapter Two

TABLE 2.27 Corrosivity Ratings Based on Soil Resistivity

Soil resistivity, ⍀⭈cm Corrosivity rating
⬎ 20,000 Essentially noncorrosive
10,000–20,000 Mildly corrosive
5000–10,000 Moderately corrosive
3000–5000 Corrosive
1000–3000 Highly corrosive
⬍ 1000 Extremely corrosive

TABLE 2.28 Point System for Predicting Soil Corrosivity

According to the AWWA C-105 Standard
Soil parameter Assigned points
Resistivity, ⍀⭈cm
⬍ 700 10
700–1000 8
1000–1200 5
1200–1500 2
1500–2000 1
⬎ 2000 0
pH
0–2 5
2–4 3
4–6.5 0
6.5–7.5 0
7.5–8.5 0
⬎ 8.5 3
Redox potential, mV
⬎ 100 0
50–100 3.5
0–50 4
⬍0 5
Sulfides
Positive 3.5
Trace 2
Negative 0
Moisture
Poor drainage, continuously wet 2
Fair drainage, generally moist 1
Good drainage, generally dry 0

sidered. The assessment is directed at ferrous materials (steels, cast

irons, and high-alloy stainless steels), hot-dipped galvanized steel, and
copper and copper alloys. Summation of the individual ratings pro-
duces an overall corrosivity classification into one of the four cate-
gories listed in Table 2.31. It has been pointed out that sea or lake beds
cannot be assessed using this worksheet.