Corros Rev 2021; 39(5): 445–452
Original article
Yingwei Liu* and Haodian Liu
Prediction of corrosion rates of a ship under the
flow accelerated corrosion mechanism
https://doi.org/10.1515/corrrev-2021-0018
Received March 18, 2021; accepted May 23, 2021;
published online July 21, 2021
Abstract: In order to reveal the corrosion of a ship hull in
flowing seawater, which is difficult to study under experi-
mental conditions, a numerical method was adopted. Firstly,
the numerical model of seawater flow field around the hull
was established and computed, and the hydraulic character-
istics of the flow field such as velocity, pressure, and oxygen
concentration distribution were got. The distribution of oxy-
gen has a great influence on corrosion. Generally speaking,
where the oxygen concentration is higher, the corrosion rate is
higher. The results show that the oxygen concentration is
higher at the rear of the hull bottom surface. Next, a corrosion
model was founded based on the above calculation. Through
the calculation of the corrosion model, the mass transfer co-
efficient and corrosion rate distribution on the hull surface
were obtained and the final conclusion was got flow
accelerated corrosion (FAC) mechanism was revealed. The
conclusion is as follows: Comparatively speaking, the corro-
sion rate of the middle and rear part of the bottom and the
middle part of the sideboard is higher. Generally speaking,
the corrosion rate increases with the increase of flow rate.
Keywords: cathodic protection; computational fluid
dynamics; corrosion; flow accelerated corrosion;
turbulence.
1 Introduction
Ships traveling in the sea always suffer from seawater corro-
sion. The corrosion mechanism in such situation is quite
different from that in a static environment in which the relative
velocity between the ship and seawater is zero. The corrosion
*Corresponding author: Yingwei Liu, School of Materials Science and
Chemical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, 150001,
China, E-mail: lywbanner@163.com. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-
8336-3883
Haodian Liu, School of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering,
Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, 150001, China
rate of seawater to the hull is much higher and the corrosion
mechanism is also more complicated than that of the later.
This is due to the relative velocity between the hull and the
seawater which resulting flow accelerated corrosion (FAC).
FAC is a key drive for the corrosion of the hull in seawater.
In fact, the corrosion mechanism of FAC can be divided
into two types or levels: One is the corrosion mechanism
caused by electrochemical reaction, such as the one
mentioned in this paper, the other is physical damage to
the surface, for example erosion, caused by scratch of solid
particles on surface in solution. The total corrosion should
be the result of their joint action. For the sake of simplicity,
this paper only discusses the former, still called FAC.
There is no doubt that it is of great significance to
explore the hull corrosion under dynamic conditions. But, it
is very difficult to carry out the experimental investigations
because the practical conditions make the measurement
difficult. Furthermore, the surface area of the hull is very
large, causing a high workload to take a measurement.
However, the numerical simulation method can help solve
the problem to some extent. Currently, the research on FAC
of hull is rare, and numerical simulation in this field is even
rarer, in this paper, a numerical method is developed to
make up for the lack of this aspect.
FAC includes two aspects. Firstly an oxidation film or a
protective film in other types with a role of corrosion pro-
tection on the material surface becomes thin due to
accelerated dissolution under the flushing of fluid (mech-
anism I). Secondly seawater under the flow state can
accelerate the oxidant transport, so as to enhance the
electrochemical reaction rate, leading to a higher corrosion
rate(mechanism II). As a ship travels in seawater, it drives
the surrounding seawater to flow in a dynamic condition. A
flow field can be formed in the seawater around the hull.
The velocity and pressure distributions are very uneven in
the flow field, which leads to an uneven distribution of
oxygen in the seawater. The electrochemical reaction be-
tween oxygen and the hull surface can take place after the
oxygen, a strong depolarizer, contacts with the hull sur-
face, thereby leading to the hull corrosion.
The flow of seawater around the hull is turbulent. The
zone away from the hull is dominated by turbulent flow,
446 Y. Liu and H. Liu: Prediction of corrosion rates of a ship under the flow accelerated corrosion mechanism

but near the hull surface, there exists a very thin boundary
layer and the fluid flow is laminar. In the turbulent flow
region, oxygen concentration can be regarded as uniform
due to the turbulent mixing action. However, there is a
concentration gradient of oxygen in the thin boundary
layer which is mainly because of constant consumption of
oxygen in the electrochemical reaction occurring on the
hull surface. The oxygen concentration is the lowest on the
hull surface, and gradually increases with an increase in
the distance to the wall surface to reach the concentration
in the turbulent region. The oxygen transport in the
boundary layer is through diffusion.
The concentration gradient is the key driving force for
diffusion, which is closely related to the thickness of the
boundary layer. As the seawater velocity increases, the
boundary layer gets thinner, which makes the oxygen
concentration gradient get larger, leading to accelerated
oxygen diffusion in the boundary layer and a higher
corrosion rate on the hull surface.
FAC has been studied for several decades (Ahmed
2010; Remy and Bouchacourt 1992; Shunsuke et al. 2018).
Different models were proposed such as MIT model, CEACE
code, and EdF model et al. (Ferng et al. 2000; Keating and
Nesić 2001; Lin and Ferng 2014; Wael et al. 2012; Zhang et
al. 2013; Zheng 2007). These models were applied to
pipeline, mainly considering the first aspect of FAC, i.e. the
effect of the removed of the protection film. Few research
works have taken into account of oxidant transport
although understanding the second aspect of FAC may be
very necessary to study FAC of hulls in order to better
protect the hull. To achieve a maximum protection effect
when using coating or cathodic protection, the position of
the anode must be determined based on the feasible esti-
mation of actual corrosion of the hull regardless of
based on computational fluid dynamic (CFD) method, then
a corrosion model was set up, finally the diffusion mass
transfer coefficient and corrosion rate of oxygen in
different positions on the hull surface were calculated.
2 Numerical model and
computational methodology
2.1 Governing equation of the fluid flow
In the turbulent state, the actual velocity of the flow field u
is the superposition of the average velocity u and the
fluctuating velocity u′ :
u = u + u′ (1)
Because the direction of pulsating velocity u′ changes
rapidly, so the average value of pulsating velocity
is approximately zero in a period of time,that is u ≈ u.
Therefore, in the sense of time average, only the average
velocity of the flow field is considered and the fluid field u is
calculated from continuity and Navier–Stokes equations:
∂ρ
+ ∇.(ρu) = 0 (2)
∂t
∂ ∂(−ρu′ u′ )
(ρu) + ∇ ⋅ (ρuu) = − ∇p + ν∇2 u + (3)
∂t x
where ρ is fluid density, kg m−3; p is the pressure of liquid; u
is mean velocity of the whole flow field, m s−1; ν is the
dynamic viscosity of the fluid, Kg m s−1.
The expansion of Eq. (3) is

∂u ∂(uu) ∂(uv) ∂(uw) ∂p ∂(−ρu′ u′ ) ∂(−ρu′ v′ ) ∂(−ρu′ w′ )

ρ[ + + + ] = − + v∇2 u + [ + + ]
∂t ∂x ∂y ∂z ∂x ∂x ∂x ∂x
∂v ∂(vu) ∂(vv) ∂(vw) ∂p ∂(−ρv′ u′ ) ∂(−ρv′ v′ ) ∂(−ρv′ w′ )
ρ[ + + + ] = − + v∇2 v + [ + + ] (4)
∂t ∂x ∂y ∂z ∂y ∂y ∂y ∂y
∂w ∂(wu) ∂(wv) ∂(ww) ∂p ∂(−ρw′ u′ ) ∂(−ρw′ v′ ) ∂(−ρw′ w′ )
ρ[ + + + ] = − + v∇2 w + [ + + ]
∂t ∂x ∂y ∂z ∂z ∂z ∂z ∂z

sacrificial anode or impressed current method used in
practice. This requires a comprehensive prediction of
corrosion considering both aspects of FAC.
In this study, a numerical simulation was applied to
help with a better prediction of corrosion of a ship under
FAC mechanism. Firstly, the flow field was calculated
It can be seen that due to the existence of pulsating
velocity, one term −ρu′ u′ is added to the equation, so the
number of equations is less than the number of unknowns
and cannot be solved.
In order to make the equation closed, the treatment of
pulsating term must be introduced, so equations about
 Y. Liu and H. Liu: Prediction of corrosion rates of a ship under the flow accelerated corrosion mechanism 447

turbulent kinetic energy κ and dissipation ε are introduced J O2 = K trans, O2 (CO2 , bulk − C O2 , wall) (9)
respectively:
where K trans, O2 is mass transfer coefficient of oxygen, m s−1;
∂ μ C O2 , bulk is oxygen concentration in bulk fluid, mol L−1; and
(ρκ) + ∇ ⋅ (ρuκ) = ∇ ⋅ [(μ + t ) ∇ κ] + Gκ − ρε (5)
∂t σκ C O2 , wall is oxygen concentration near the wall, mol L−1.
If K trans, O2 is known, the oxygen diffusion flow rate all
∂ μ ε
(ρε) + ∇ ⋅ (ρuε) = ∇ ⋅ [(μ + t ) ∇ ε] + C 1ϵ Gκ over the surface can be calculated, and the corrosion rate
∂t σϵ κ can be determined also. According to the characteristics of
ε2 the fluid flows around the ship, the flow field can be divided
− C2ϵ ρ (6)
κ into two regions: the turbulent zone and the boundary
layer near the ship surface, as shown in Figure 1.
where κ = 21 u′ u′ = 21 (u′ u′ + v′ v′ + w′ w′ ), ϵ = μρ (∂x
∂ui ∂ui
)(∂x ), μ is
k
2
k
The thickness (δ) of laminar layer is about y+ < 5. y+ is
the dynamic viscosity of the fluid, Pa s; μt = ρC μ κε is tur- defined as follows:
bulent viscosity; Gκ is turbulent kinetic energy generated yuτ
by mean velocity gradient. The value of other constants y+ = (10)
ν
used in the above equations are given in Table 1. √̅̅
Equations (5) and (6) shows that κ and ε can be where y is the actual distance from the surface; uτ = τρw is
transported in the mean velocity field like transport of so- defined as friction velocity; τw is the wall shear force which
lute in water. This treatment of fluctuating velocity is called can be estimated by the following formula:
standard κ–ε model (Launder and Spalding 1974). 1
τw = Cf ρVfreestream
2
(11)
In order to deal with the flow with high strain rate and 2
large curvature of streamline better, RNG κ–ε model was
Cf and Vfreestream are resistance coefficient of water and
proposed by Yakhot and Orszag (Yakhot and Orszag 1986)
freestream flow velocity respectively. Vfreestream is approx-
with strict statistical methods. RNG is the abbreviation of
imated to be the velocity at inlet and Cf is related to Rey-
renormalization group, the equation is similar to the
nolds number of Re:
standard κ–ε model and the main difference between the
−2.3
two is the correction of C1s. C f = (2logRe
10 − 0.65) (12)

ρVfreestream Lboundarylayer
Re = (13)
2.2 Corrosion model μ

Lboundarylayer is the characteristic length of boundary

Seawater contains various ions and has good conductiv-
ity, the following electrochemical reaction will happen
when the oxygen reaches the steel hull surface if only
oxygen, the most oxidizing oxidant, is considered in the
seawater:
2Fe → 2Fe2+ + 4e
layer, 1.8 m, the width of the ship (see Figure 2(b)).
When meshing the fluid zone, the first layer of ele-
ments should be located in the laminar flow region, so the
dimensionless distance of the center of the element from
the surface should be y+ ≈ 1 according to the following
(7) formula:

O2 + 2H2 O + 4e → 4OH− (8)

Because the speed of electron exchange process is

faster than that of oxygen diffusion, so the electrochemical
reaction (7) and (8) is controlled by diffusion. The diffusion
of oxygen is the control step of the whole reaction. The
oxygen near the hull surface is continuously consumed
due to an electrochemical reaction. The oxygen in the bulk
solution supplements the consumption near the surface,
the flow flux can be expressed as

Table : Turbulence model constants.

Cμ σκ σϵ Cϵ Cϵ

RNG κ–ε . . . . .

Figure 1: Oxygen diffusion near the surface.
448 Y. Liu and H. Liu: Prediction of corrosion rates of a ship under the flow accelerated corrosion mechanism

Figure 2: Establishment of finite element model: (a) Division of study zone around the hull; (b) geometric length and width of the hull;
(c) boundary conditions; and (d) geometry discretization.

√̅ +
2 νy diffusion is the controlling step, it is easy to measure the
y= √ ̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅ ̅ (14)
Re −2.3
(2log10 − 0.65) Vfreestream
2 diffusion of oxygen, so the diffusion flux of reaction (7)
could be determined from Eq. (9):
This ensures that the following formula holds:
J Fe = 2J O2 = 2K trans, O2 C O2 , bulk (18)
(C O2 , center − C O2 , wall)
J center−wall
O2 = DO2 (15) JFe is the corrosion rate of the hull surface.
dcell

where dcell ～ y+ = 1 is the distance between wall and the

center of first layer element and can be calculated by (14), DO2
is diffusion coefficient of oxygen in seawater (Liu et al. 2017).
Due to J center−wall
O2 = J O2 , K trans, O2 can be obtained by
DO2 (C O2 , center − CO2 , wall)
K tarns, O2 =
dcell (CO2 , bulk − CO2 , wall)
The control step of the electrochemical reaction is the
diffusion of oxygen. Once oxygen diffuses to the hull sur-
face, it immediately participates in the reaction and is
consumed, i.e. C O2 , wall = 0. Therefore Eq. (16) can be
simplified to:
DO2 C O2 , center
K tarns, O2 =
dcell C O2 , bulk
The mass transfer coefficient, K trans, O2 can be deter-
mined subsequently.
From the stoichiometry of reactions (7) and (8), it can
be seen that the consumption of iron is twice that of oxygen
in the electrochemical reaction. In a reaction in which
2.3 Boundary condition and computational
methodology
As a ship travels in seawater, the movement of ships will
(16) drive the water around it to flow, so a body of waters of
suitable size is divided out around the hull. This water zone
is the object of study shown in Figure 2(a) and (b). The
length, width and height of this body should be 3–5 times
of the corresponding size of the hull to ensure ∂w
∂z = 0 on the
outer boundaries. W is the physical quantity, pressure,
speed, etc. located there.
The hull contacts with the body and form a common
(17) interface, which encloses a closed solution domain with
the boundaries as shown in Figure 2(c). Since the hull is
symmetrical about XOZ plane, therefore, only half of it is
taken for study as shown in Figure 2(c). Before the finite
element calculation of the flow field, it needs to be meshed.
In this study, tetrahedral mesh with strong adaptability is
used for meshing, as shown in Figure 2(d).
 Y. Liu and H. Liu: Prediction of corrosion rates of a ship under the flow accelerated corrosion mechanism
Before calculation, boundary conditions should be
applied to the model. For the convenience of research, the
hull is assumed to be at rest, so the sea water impacts the
hull and produces complex flow around it. In Figure 2(c),
VELOCITY_INLET boundary condition is applied at the
Inlet, and Outlet is set as OUT_FLOW boundary condition
(which means ∂w ∂z = 0), and the hull surface (ship wall) is set
as NO_SLIDE_WALL boundary condition(that mean the
velocity on it is zero because of the adhesion of hull sur-
face). The top and plane XOZ is set as SYMMETRY boundary
condition. The bottom and the side are set as SLIDING_-
WALL boundary conditions, that is, the boundaries are
sliding. In addition, oxygen concentration at the Inlet is set
as a fixed value as shown in Table 2. Figure 2c shows the
mesh distribution for the whole computational domain. All
capitalized abbreviations, such as VELOCITY_INLET, are
reserved words defined in FLUENT software for corre-
sponding boundary conditions.
3 Results and discussion
3.1 Relationship between pressure and
oxygen distribution
There is no doubt that the distribution of oxygen distribution
has a great influence on corrosion, so it is necessary to
discuss the factors affecting it. Take the case of 0.3 m s−1 at
Inlet as example. Figure 3(a) shows the contour map of ox-
ygen distribution on the hull. It is could be seen obviously
that the oxygen is distributed on the rear of bottom, and
there is also a certain distribution on the middle of side-
board. Such a distribution has a lot to do with the pressure of
the fluid. Generally speaking, the oxygen concentration is
lower on the area with high fluid pressure, but higher on the
area with low fluid pressure, as the higher the fluid pressure,
the less oxygen is likely to accumulate. Figure 3(b) shows
that in the bow (zone A), the surface of the hull is subjected
to great fluid pressure, and correspondingly, the oxygen
concentration is low; on the other hand, at the rear of the
bottom (zone B) and on the sideboard (zone C), the fluid
pressure is lower and the oxygen concentration is higher.
(The fluid pressure is referred to atmospheric pressure).
Table : Calculation parameters.
Oxygen concentration at inlet, mol. L− . × −
DO, m s− . × −
ν, Kg s m− . × −
μ, Pa s . × −
449
3.2 Relationship between velocity and
pressure
The pressure distribution (more detailed with other veloc-
ity will be found in Figure 4) on the hull with inlet velicty of
0.3 m s−1 is shown in Figure 3(b). There is a certain rela-
tionship between velocity and pressure. Figure 5(a) and (b)
shows the velocity distribution on plane of XOZ and XOY.
From view of XOZ as shown in Figure 5(a), it could be seen
that there are obviously higher velocity zone beneath the
ship. From the top view of plane XOY, as shown in
Figure 5(b), the velocity of the fluid flowing through the
sideboard of the hull is faster. These regions with faster
velocity are corresponding to B and C which is in low
pressure as described in Figure 5(b).
This mechanism can be explained in more detail by the
sketch of fluid flow in Figure 6. A flow channel is formed
between the ship wall and the sliding wall as the fluid flows
from the bow to the stern, which is gradually narrowed as
shown in Figure 6. The flow velocity can be accelerated in
the narrow region(higher velocity zones in Figure 5). Take P
and Q in plane XOZ as an example, according to Bernoulli
equation (because P and Q are close in height, the gravi-
tational potential energy is ignored):
p ν2
+ =C (19)
ρ 2
where p and ρ are liquid pressure and density, repectively;
v is fluid velocity and C is constant.
From Figure 6(a), we know that the velocity at position
Q is faster, so it could be deduced easily that the pressure at
this position is lower (Corresponding zone is B in Figure 3).
In addition, there are eddy current zone at the stern of the
ship as shown in Figure 5. Due to the chaotic fluid flow,
although the fluid pressure is small, it is difficult for oxygen to
diffuse to the hull surface, so the oxygen concentration is low.
3.3 Corrosion rates
The mass transfer coefficient of oxygen at different posi-
tions on the hull surface can be calculated according to Eq.
(17). In Eq. (17), C O2 , center refers to the oxygen concentration
at the central point in the first layer of elements near the
wall surface. Because the element is very thin, its center
concentration can be replaced by the surface concentration
as shown in Figure 7. Since the corrosion is controlled by
the diffusion of oxygen, it is assumed that oxygen is
completely reacted once it diffuses to the surface, i.e.
C O2 , wall = 0 at the surface. After C O2 , center and dcell are
determined, K tarns, O2 can be calculated, which is realized
450 Y. Liu and H. Liu: Prediction of corrosion rates of a ship under the flow accelerated corrosion mechanism

Figure 3: Relationship between (a) oxygen distribution and (b) pressure distribution on hull surface.

Figure 4: Pressure distribution on hull surface with the velocity of (a) 0.3 m s−1, (b) 0.5 m s−1, and (c) 07 m s−1 at the inlet.

Figure 5: Velocity distribution on plane (a) XOZ and (b) XOY.

through user defined function (UDF, which is built in
FLUENT software for complex calculation) (Figure 4). The
results are shown in Figure 8.
After K tarns, O2 is obtained, the corrosion rate at different
points on the hull surface can be calculated according to
Eq. (13) as shown in Figure 9.
It can be seen from Eqs. (17) and (18) that the corrosion
rate depends on C cell, O2 and dcell. With the increase of flow
rate, the concentration of oxygen increases, but the differ-
ence is not great. But the change of dcell, the comprehensive
effect is that the corrosion rate tends to accelerate with the
increase of flow rate. For example, when the inlet speed
reaches 0.7 m s−1, the corrosion rate is twice more than that
of 0.3 m s−1.
The distribution of corrosion rate provides an impor-
tant reference for the future corrosion protection of ship
 Y. Liu and H. Liu: Prediction of corrosion rates of a ship under the flow accelerated corrosion mechanism 451

Figure 6: The influence of velocity on

pressure.

Figure 7: Oxygen distribution on hull surface with the velocity of (a) 0.3 m s−1, (b) 0.5 m s−1, and (c) 0.7 m s−1 at the inlet.

Figure 8: Distribution of mass transfer coefficient with velocity of (a) 0.3 m s−1, (b) 0.5 m s−1, and (c) 0.7 m s−1 at the inlet.

hull. For example, when ICCP method is adopted, the The disadvantage of this model is that (1) it is only
arrangement of auxiliary anodes should focus on the suitable for diffusion controlled electrochemical reactions.
middle and rear of hull bottom and the side. For steel hull, it is reasonable to assume that the speed of
452 Y. Liu and H. Liu: Prediction of corrosion rates of a ship under the flow accelerated corrosion mechanism
Figure 9: Contour map of corrosion rate with inlet velocity: (a) 0.3 m s−1, (b) 0.5 m s−1, and (c) 0.7 m s−1.
electrons is very fast when iron ions are reduced. However,
if we change to other materials with slower electron gain-
ing speed, the electrochemical reaction may belong to
mixed control or even controlled by electron gaining step;
(2) in addition, the effect of surface oxide layer is not
considered in this model.
4 Conclusions
The following conclusions can be summarized:
(1) There is an uneven distribution of fluid pressure on the
hull surface, which affects the accumulation of oxygen.
The concentration of oxygen is higher at positions with
lower pressure.
(2) The flow field causes inhomogeneous mass transfer
coefficient of oxygen at different positions on the hull
surface and inhomogeneous distribution of corrosion
rate on the hull surface. The corrosion rate is higher on
the middle and rear of the bottom and sideboard and is
lower at other regions.
(3) With the increase of flow rate, the oxygen concentration
increases little, on the contrary the corrosion rate in-
creases greatly, which is due to the thinning of bound-
ary layer and the increament of diffusion gradient.
Author contributions: All the authors have accepted
responsibility for the entire content of this submitted
manuscript and approved submission.
Research funding: This work was supported by NSFC
Funding (51371062).
Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare to have
no conflicts of interest regarding this article.
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