I recently did a repair job on a sheet pile quay and im looking for an excuse to get some more welding time under my belt now one of the guys there asked me wether or not it would be worth their while to attach annodes to the piles to make them last longer (he recons he has a few luying around) unfortunately i havent a fooking clue about cathodic protection the water there is about 6m deep and the quay is about 100m long would it be benificial to have anodes on there and if so how often along the legnth would it be necesary to attach them

 

if you guys could shed some light on this for me or steer me towards a site that will have this kind info it would be much apreciated

 

cheers

George Patterson

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thanx for the doc mike its not what they are looking for as they already have annodes but its definately a keeper
yes - sacrificial anode are very beneficial.

although if you can only put them on a couple of piles you might think of stringing a chain or cable between the piles to electrically connect them(if they are not already).
skylar do you recon a weld on the joints of the sheet piles would be the way to get decent conductivity between the piles

thanx
george
yes

the only thing is with potentially dissimilar metals you may find corrosion occurring at or next to the weld.

this is a perfect opportunity to sell the client a yearly inspection
i like the way you think
i would go anodes and cable keeping it simple
Are the sheetpiles not painted? Just putting anodes on and saying the quay will live longer is probably true but in order to divide a certain load of anodes over a quay wall needs some study and calculation. There are different kinds of anodes. Zinc and Aluminum are used the most, then you have different sizes aswell. All things you have to think about. How are you going to install them? On my last Quay/anode job these aloy mothers weighed 160LBS a piece and the keywall was overhanging the sheetpiles by 2m. We found a good system but it took some trail and error to find it. And then there is the legal factor. You putting random anodes may give you a yearly inspection and a couple of high fives back at the office but if you welded the wrong kind of anodes at the wrong interval it might come back to bite you.
For our job we contacted a study bureau with a good insurance who calculated the wh*** layout of anodes on several quay walls. It tells you what kind of anode you need, size and interval. Better be safe than sorry.
my initial recomendation to them when they asked was to contact a specialist company but im guessing they were scared of the price where as we are part of the same group of companies and instead of charging them we are getting a discount on some floating hoppers that they are making for us as for the type and number of anodes they apparently have some there already so it wouldnt be my prob if they supplied the wrong ones besides worst case senario is they have some useles anodes on there and they are no worse off than when we started (i did recomend they contacted a specialist but they arent going to spend money on this so its these anodes or none) fitting wise we have constant access to cranes along the wh*** quay and if they are too big to handle then a padeye above the attachment point should sort the overhang problem
Try to get everything on paper and signed. Even your suggestions...
Another tip to attach those anodes. First of all we made sure those anodes had padeyes on both sides. So, we prepared strips of steel with a piece of threaded bar (4-5 inch) welded in the middle. Those strips cover the gap area of the sheetpiles. Then you measure the distance between those padeyes on the anode. Take a rope and put those measurements on there with yellow tape. Lower it down in the water and now the diver knows at which points he should weld those strips. If you covered the wh*** quaywall with that then you can just put the anodes in with a forklift (much quicker than a crane). The diver only has nuts in his pocket. When the anode comes down he just fits em on those pieces of threaded bar, puts a nut on there and finished. Once the wh*** quay is supplied with anodes another diver pa**** the job again and gives every anode-strip a couple of welding points. We covered miles like this. We also encountered overhangs, a real b**** but possible with bouys so the anode would be neutral buoyant in the water and easy for the diver to take the anode with.
A crane won't solve your overhang problem. I imagine you swimming with an anode towards the sheetpiles, underneath the quay with the anode in the left hand and torch in the right. And when it hits the metal you at the same time give it a point with your rod. We tried it and came back swinging. When working with sandwiches or baguettes as we call it (small anodes) it's maybe possible. Have fun
i was thinking the padeye would be attached to the pile but your method using the bouy would prob be much quicker and i can see a forklift really shaving hours off the job aswell also ill try cover my ass with the paperwork

Thnax to everyone that has provided input there are some ideas here that should really make my life easier iv made up a brief proposal that im going to submit later this week if they approve then ill let you guys know how t goes

Thanx again

George Patterson
Another thing George. Make sure you use those rigid buoys or the anode won't come up again lol. And to make it even easier, you should have a padeye on top of the anode and an open padeye on the bottom. A U-shaped padeye if you know what I mean. Like that when you swim with the anode towards the welded strips you could just slide it in on the bottom and push the anode on the threaded bar ontop, nuts on done! It also gives you more play when putting the anode on. Looking forward to your proposal!
this is the proposal im going to give them it has my recomendations as well as some info on cathodic protection there will also be some photos of anodes in place just because i know they like s*** like that
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