The measurement and interpretation of soil resistivity data is a fundamental aspect of pipeline corrosion engineering; nevertheless, very little information has been specifically published to assist pipeline corrosion personnel with these tasks. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the various techniques and instruments which are available for the measurement of soil resistivity, and also to consider the methods which are available to interpret the data. Although large amounts of information have already been published on this subject in other fields of engineering, much of this literature...
The measurement and interpretation of soil resistivity data is a fundamental aspect of pipeline corrosion engineering; nevertheless, very little information has been specifically published to assist pipeline corrosion personnel with these tasks. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the various techniques and instruments which are available for the measurement of soil resistivity, and also to consider the methods which are available to interpret the data. Although large amounts of information have already been published on this subject in other fields of engineering, much of this literature is not applicable to pipeline corrosion applications. A test method which might be considered a standard practice in one field of engineering may not be applicable to pipeline corrosion engineering at all, and so it was important that this evaluation be conducted by a pipeline corrosion engineer on behalf of all pipeline corrosion engineers. It was anticipated that this report might serve as a soil resistivity reference for the pipeline and corrosion industries, and possibly for electrical engineers in general, who are interested in the investigation of the earth's electrical characteristics.