Corrosion of Buried Steel at New and In-Service Infrastructure

美国国家科学院、工程院和医学院（简称“美国国家科学院”）将召集一个由工程、材料科学和制造业相关领域的志愿专家组成的特设委员会，审议与岩土应用（如地面稳定、管道和基础设施基础）中使用的钢材腐蚀相关的知识状况和技术问题。从学术界、私营和公共部门选出的委员会成员将编写一份同行评议的一致意见报告，总结放置在土质材料（例如不同地质环境下的松散土或岩石）中的裸钢或涂层钢腐蚀的主要机制；影响腐蚀和腐蚀速率的土材料特性表征的实践现状；以及与预测、识别和监测土材料中钢腐蚀的方法相关的使用、有效性和不确定性。委员会将通过会议和多学科讲习班寻求有关技术团体的广泛投入，讨论现有的和正在发展的现场、实验室和模拟方法，以表征和监测埋地钢的腐蚀。在知识和短期和长期的研究和实践方面的差距，需要改善钢在地球应用的长期性能将被描述。材料科学家的腐蚀模型主要集中在钢在空气和水中的腐蚀。预测土壤材料中钢的腐蚀和腐蚀速率的模型较少，而且这些模型不能充分反映具有当地化学、地质、生物、水文和土地利用异质性的地球环境。当地埋钢发生故障时，通常不知道原因是岩土场地特征差，钢设计和保护选择差，施工不当，钢腐蚀机制建模不当，土地利用或气候条件变化导致的地下条件变化，还是这些因素的综合。本研究将对地埋钢“生命周期”中的不确定性进行跨学科研究：从性能建模，到钢铁制造，到地下场地表征，再到使用地埋钢的基础设施的设计、建造、运营和维护。为填补这些努力中的知识空白所需要的研究将被推荐。最终，社会将从更具弹性和成本效益的基础设施中受益，这些基础设施可以按预期运行，并且需要更少的维修。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (the National Academies) will convene an ad hoc committee of volunteer experts from relevant fields in engineering, materials sciences, and manufacturing to consider the state of knowledge regarding, and technical issues associated with the corrosion of steel used in earth applications (e.g., ground stabilization, pipelines, and infrastructure foundations). Committee members chosen from academe and the private and public sectors will prepare a peer reviewed consensus report summarizing the primary mechanisms of the corrosion of bare or coated steel placed in earth materials (e.g., unconsolidated earth or rock in different geologic settings); the state of practice for characterizing earth materials for properties that influence corrosion and corrosion rates; and the use, efficacy, and uncertainties associated with methods to predict, identify, and monitor corrosion of steel in earth materials. The committee will seek broad input from relevant technical communities through meetings and a multi-disciplinary workshop on existing and developing field, laboratory, and modeling methods for characterizing and monitoring corrosion of buried steel. Gaps in knowledge and the short- and long-term research and practices needed to improve long-term performance of steel in earth applications will be described.Corrosion models by materials scientists have focused largely on corrosion of steel in air and water. Fewer models predict corrosion and corrosion rates for steel in earth materials, and those models do not adequately reflect earth environments with heterogeneities in local chemistry, geology, biology, hydrology, and land use. When failures of buried steel occur, it often is not known whether the cause was poor geotechnical site characterization, poor choice of steel design and protection, improper construction, inappropriate modeling of steel corrosion mechanisms, changes in subsurface conditions resulting from changed land use or climatic conditions, or a compounding of these factors. This study will be an interdisciplinary examination of uncertainties throughout the "lifecycle" of buried steel: from performance modeling, to steel manufacturing, to subsurface site characterization, and to the design, construction, and operation and maintenance of infrastructure employing buried steel. Research needed to fill the knowledge gaps in these endeavors will be recommended. Ultimately society will benefit from more resilient and cost-effective infrastructure that performs as expected and required fewer repairs.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.