Abstract:
Soil corrosivity was an active problem of water pipeline damaged by corrosion that
affects the performance of pipe manufacturers. In Addis ababa, groundwater
pipelines were facing breakage and like due to corrosion damage of the pipes. The
population of nearly four million were facing a shortage of clean and continuous
water supply. Maintenace and replacing old pipes with new ones increased
additional cost and delay of water supply for the city. For this investigation of
corrosion, causes were conducted which soil property is the one factor.
Investigation of soil corrosivity for a given specific location before installation is
important to design robust pipes that can serve for long life. Soil physicochemical
behaviors of the soil parameters were pH, moisture content, and electrical
resistivity for any type of soil. In addition, soil bulk density, total nitrogen, soil
texture, and electrical conductivity were also the main factors to be studied. The
laboratory result indicated that pH of 6.98-7.04, moisture content of 23.7-37.5%,
and electrical conductivity of 0.105-313 ds/m were observed. Total nitrogen was
small as 0.06-0.10 for a type of soil were class and loam soils. From the analysis of
eight soil samples taken from different cities. The results show that the corrosivity
behavior of buried iron pipes in the capital city of Ethiopia was moderately
corrosive. As confirmed from various soil samples tested from corroded pipes at
different depths of 40, 80, and 120 cm. The influence of soil corrosiveness factors
initiates pits formation and propagates its width and depth on the surface of pipes.
