Study on the Application of Hamilton Method to Potential Problem in Cathodic Protection Fields

In this paper, the Hamilton method combined with the finite element method (FEM) is applied to the anticorrosion potential fields. When this method is applied to 3-dimensional potential field is surrounded by two horizontal bottoms and vertical side surfaces, the discretization of FEM mesh is made only on a bottom plane and an analytical solution is adopted to the other dimension. This method is simple in procedure and has high accuracy. The Hamilton canonical equation of general potential fields governed by Laplace equation is derived. By the weighted residual method, the variation for FEM is obtained. Based on the constitutive equation derived from FEM, the transfer matrix method is developed. Then the Hamilton-FEM-transfer matrix method proposed here is used to analyze the electropotential distribution in electro-chemical potential fields. Comparing the results calculated by this method with those by analytical method and boundary element method, the accuracy of this method is clarified. A practical harbour structure under cathodic protection is analyzed by this method and its practicability of this method is confirmed.