ABSTRACT
The difference between Northern Europe and the United States on the survivability of impressed current cathodic protection (ICCP) systems is large and probably reflects the cultural differences found in construction. The most commonly used sensors are reference electrodes as they address the potential of the steel so the 'work' that the CP system applies to the steel can be measured. The first power supplies were taken straight from traditional CP practice and were tapped transformer rectifiers with a limited smoothing circuit. While these were extremely rugged and reliable, they were not suited to the low-voltage and current outputs of the smaller circuits required for the effective ICCP of reinforced concrete. Various metal coatings have been applied to the concrete over many years. Some of these have relied on the reactiveness of the metal to provide sacrificial CP and these are not considered further as this section is on ICCP systems.
