Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences EPSRC Project Proposals 2025/26 - Combined Experimental and Modelling Approach towards the Prediction of CaCO3 Growth on Subsea Infrastructure

Eligibility: UK Only

Funding: EPSRC Doctoral Landscape CASE Competition Award in collaboration with DeepWater EU Ltd, providing full academic fees, together with a tax-free maintenance grant at the standard UKRI rate of £20,780 per year and an additional top-up of £4,000 per year for 3.5 years.

Lead Supervisor’s full name & email address

Professor Richard Barker: r.j.barker@leeds.ac.uk

Co-supervisor’s full name & email address

Professor Harvey Thompson: h.m.thompson@leeds.ac.uk
Dr. Joshua Owen: j.j.owen@leeds.ac.uk
Dr. Greg de Boer: g.n.deboer@leeds.ac.uk  

Project summary

Cathodic protection of subsea infrastructure, such as wind turbines and CO2 pipeline transportation networks, involves the application of a voltage/current to protect the outer structure from corrosion by seawater. The imposed current/voltage typically results in calcium carbonate (limescale) deposition on the outside of these structures. The resulting mineral deposit can have considerable benefits, acting as a diffusion barrier to electrochemically active species, and blocking active sites on the steel surface, mitigating the rate of further external corrosion. As such, this deposition process has significant implications on the design requirements and optimisation of cathodic protection systems. As a consequence, understanding the deposition rate and the extent of protection provided by the mineral layer is imperative.

This PhD project, in collaboration with Deepwater Corrosion Services will develop a numerical predictive model of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) deposition on subsea infrastructure. The predictive model will be supported by advanced experimental techniques (quartz crystal microbalance and electrochemical methods), and address limitations of current models through integration of growth rate-property-structure relationships, with a view to generate models which can be validated by real-world data.

Ultimately, the developed model will enable optimisation of cathodic (corrosion) protection systems for subsea infrastructure, thereby substantially reducing operational costs, whilst ensuring safe and efficient operation.

You must be able to start by no later than 1^st October 2025.

Please state your entry requirements plus any necessary or desired background

A first class or an upper second class British Bachelors Honours degree (or equivalent) in an appropriate discipline.

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