8.1 INTRODUCTION

As an old adage says, corrosion prevention must start at the blackboard, at the design stage. A good design at the blackboard is no more costly than a bad design, a bad design is always more expensive than a good design in reality. Technical design includes the aspects of design that directly bear on the proper technical functioning of the product attributes that describe how it works and how it is made. Design configuration has a critical role to play in the service life of components. The important point is that the designers must have an understanding and awareness of corrosion problems. Corrosion is, however, only one of the several parameters with which the designer is concerned and it may not be, however, important to a designer to give consideration to corrosion unless dictated by a requirement. In many instances, corrosion is incorporated in design of an equipment only after its premature failure. More often, more attention is paid to the selection of corrosion resistant materials for a specific environment, and a minimal consideration is given to design, which leads to equipment failure. For instance, even a material, like 90-10 copper-nickel may fail prematurely as a condenser tube material, if the flow velocity of salt water or seawater is not given a due consideration for a smooth flow in the tube design. This has been a common observation in desalination plants in the Gulf region. This chapter would highlight how corrosion could be prevented by adopting good design...