Evaluating Soil Corrosivity Then and Now

Abstract

Abstract This paper will deal with various parameters that affect soil corrosivity and the methods used to measure those parameters. Each parameter has been used at some time in the past to indicate corrosivity and methods were developed for its measurement. This paper explores the history of these measurements, reviews the contributions of the National Bureau of Standards (now National Institute of Standards and Technology), discusses the 10,000 ohm cm plateau, looks at the development of the understanding of microbiologically influenced corrosion and shows what has been learned from the Shepard Cane, Columbia Rod, Wenner and from Putnam’s Apparatus and continue on into present day statistical techniques and procedures.