I.J.EngineeringandManufacturing,2017,6,27-42PublishedOnlineNovember2017inMECS()DOI:10.5815/ijem.2017.06.03Availableonlineat*,O.O.Ajidea,C.G.MonyeibaDepartmentofMechanicalEngineering,UniversityofIbadan,Ibadan,NigeriabDepartmentofElectronicandElectricalEngineering,UniversityofLeeds,Leeds,UKReceived:25February2017;Accepted:28March2017;Published:08November2017AbstractThekeyaimofthisassessmentistocharacterizetherateofcorrosionofburiedNickelplatedandnon-platedAISI1015steelpipesusingaModifiedArtificialNeuralNetworkonMatlabandtakingtheoilandgasareaofNigeriaasacasestudy.Ten(10)metalspecimenswereused.Five(5)werenickelelectroplatedspecimensburieddifferentlyin5plasticcontainerscontaining5differentsoilsampleswiththeother5non-platedspecimensalsoburiedintothesame5soilsamplesbutdifferentplasticcontainers.Incarryingouttheexperiment,thedatathatwascollectedfor25consecutivedaysweregroupedintosetsofinputandoutputdata.Thiswasrequiredsoastoappropriatelyfeedthemodellingtool(ArtificialNeuralNetwork).Theinputdatawere;temperatureofthesoilsample,temperatureoftheimmediatesurroundings,andpHofthesoilsamplewhiletheoutputdatawasweightloss.Conclusively,ModifiedArtificialNeuralNetworkrelationshipsbetweenthevariedselectedinputparametersthataffectscorrosionrate(soilsampletemperature,immediateenvironmenttemperatureandpHvalue)andtheoutputparameter(CorrosionPenetrationRate)werederived.Also,soilsampletemperatureandtheimmediatesurroundingtemperaturecombinedconditionshadthestrongesteffectoncorrosionpenetrationratewhiletheimmediatesurroundingtemperatureandthepHvaluecombinedconditionshadtheweakesteffectoncorrosionpenetrationrate.IndexTerms:Corrosion,ModifiedArtificialNeuralNetwork,AISI1015SteelPipe,NickelPlated,weightloss.©2017PublishedbyMECSPublisher.Selectionand/orpeerreviewunderresponsibilityoftheResearchAssociationofModernEducationandComputerScience.1.IntroductionOparaoduetal.,2014definedcorrosionasthedeteriorationofmetalorothermaterialsbroughtaboutby*Correspondingauthor.Tel.:+2348032351185E-mailaddress:bolajiaoladipo@gmail.com28CorrosionAssessmentofsomeBuriedMetalPipesusingNeuralNetworkAlgorithmchemical,mechanicalandbiologicalactionbysoilenvironment.Itmaybecausedbychemicalreactionswithcarbonicacid,sulphuricacidoroxygenorbyelectrochemicalmetaliontransport.Thisdefinitionofcorrosionsubmitsthatbyvirtueofexposureofmetalstotheenvironment,corrosionisinevitableknowingfullywellthatexposedIronmaterialsanditspopularalloy,Steelsuffersthemost.Emami,2011concludesthattheannualcostofcorrosionworldwideisover3%oftheworld’sGDP.Evenwiththisdrawback,carbonsteelshavebeenonawideapplicationthroughouttheworld.Therearehundredsofthousandsofkilometresofpipelinesinvarioussectorsofindustrywhichincludemanyuncoatedpipelinesinchemicalmanufacturingplants,interstatenaturalgastransmissionlines,andoffshoreoil-and-gasproductionpipelines[Emami,2011].AccordingtoOyewole,2011,thehighdemandforoilandgasisstillontheincreaseandpipesmostlymadeofcarbonsteelarerecognizedasthesafestandmostefficientwayoftransportingthisproduct.Withthisfact,corrosionstillremainsamajorprobleminthetransportationofoilandgasfromwheretheyareproducedtowheretheyareneededofwhich,pipelinesburiedbeneaththeeartharemorepronetoexternaldegradationsincetheconditionforcorrosiontohaveeffectsonthemarealwayspresent.TheseconditionsarethepresenceofchemicalsubstancessuchasChloride,Oxygen(O2),carbondioxide(CO2)hydrogensulphide(H2S),water.MicrobiologicalbacteriacouldalsocauseseverecorrosionproblemsdependingonthepHvalues,temperature,pressure,materialsflowrateandflowprofileofthesystem[Oyewole,2011].Theconsequencesofthisunwarrantednaturalphenomenonrangefromfinanciallossescausingplantshutdown,lostproduction,productloss,productcontamination,fireaccidentstolossofcustomerconfidenceandenvironmentaldegradation.Ekottetal.,2012researchedonexternalcathodicprotectionandcontroloftheamountofH2SintheburiedsteeloilpipelinesinNigerDeltatoalleviatetheeffectofexternalcorrosionbutthiswasnotabletoeffectivelytackletheeffectofexternalcorrosiononthesepipes,hencetheneedtorevisethisunworthychallenge.Totacklethiseminentsetback,electroplatingiswidelyemployedtocoatametalwithathinlayerofanothermetal.Ofthevariouselectrodepositingmetals,nickelisoneofthemostoftenemployedtoincreasethecorrosionresistanceorelectricalconductivityoftheunderlyingsubstrate[Sadiku-Agboolaetal.,2012].SomeoftheAISI1015steelpipesampleswereNickelplated,tobecrossedassessedwiththenon-platedpipesofthesamematerials.Ofcourse,afterpreparingtheelectroplatedspecimens,thereisusuallyaneedtodeviceamethodtocharacterizetheeffectivenessoftheelectroplating.Mostresearchersnowadaysfindmodellingasausefultooltothisend.Emami,2011describesoneofthemodellingtoolsasameanstosolvingreal-worldphenomena,investigateimportantquestionsabouttheobservedworld,explainreal-worldphenomena,testideasandmakepredictionsabouttherealworld.Therealworldrefersto;engineering,physics,physiology,ecology,wildlifeman