Geochemical soil sampling is a common method to assess the level of corrosivity to the material type of the asset being inspected. ExCor™ is Rock Solid Group’s tried and tested sampling methodology and service. Soil sampling can provide valuable insights when there has been evidence via burst history or otherwise of external conditions contributing to wall thinning, graphitic corrosion and cracking.
Soil samples are collected from either directly from excavation pit walls or bore holes to the depth and adjacent to buried pipe assets. The samples are then sealed in air-tight PVC containers for shipping to our preferred soil testing laboratory.
The laboratory has the following equipment:
TACUSSEL MINISIS 6000, MEGGER Earth tester, FLAM-COMP thermos balance, Ohaus Scout balance (n=0.02g), Consort C6010 Electrochemical Analyzer and pH glass electrode, calomel and platinum electrodes.
The laboratory output results summarize the following:
A brief description of the key characteristics of the soil
Soil resistivity (natural) (Ωm)
Minimal resistivity (Ωm)
Moisture (%)
pH
Redox potential (mV)
An overview of the soil samples alkalinity, aeration and level of corrosivity to the material type of the asset being inspected.
The results of the Geochemical soil sampling can potentially assist to identify the locations along a pipeline where additional data, such as BEM™ scanning should be collected from.