Steel Piling in Service—Corrosion Study

The strength and useful life of steel piling driven into the ground are not significantly affected by corrosion, according to a recent survey by the National Bureau of Standards. This result contrasts sharply with earlier findings which showed that metal structures such as pipelines, buried in backfilled trenches and excavations, exhibit corrosion in varying degrees. These disparate results are attributed to the differences in oxygen content in the ‘undisturbed’ piling environment, and in the ‘disturbed’ pipeline environment.