Can AC power lines cause corrosion of Ductile Iron pipe?
Because buried Ductile Iron pipelines are electrically discontinuous and are essentially grounded for their entire length, overhead AC power lines normally don’t impose corrosion or safety concerns. A consequence of AC power lines and buried pipelines sharing rights-of-way is that AC voltages and currents can be induced by magnetic induction on the pipelines. The magnitude of the induced voltage and current on the pipeline is a function of a number of variables, including the length of pipeline paralleling the AC power line, the longitudinal resistance of the pipeline, and the resistance of the pipeline coating. Ductile Iron pipe is manufactured in nominal 18- and 20-foot lengths and employs a rubber-gasketed jointing system. These rubber-gasketed joints offer electrical resistance that can vary from a fraction of an ohm to several ohms but nevertheless is sufficient for Ductile Iron pipelines to be considered electrically discontinuous. In effect, the rubber-gasketed joints normally s
