Laboratory scale physical models have been designed to simulate the actual conditions of buried pipelines. API X52 steel pipelines have been set up with two coal tar enamel thicknesses (300m (11.81mils) 600m (23.62 mils)) under standard cathodic protection condition (-850mV vs Cu/CuSO4). Three different soil conditions (soil A B and NS4 solution) have been selected to quantify the damage evolution mechanisms. AC based technology has been used to monitor and characterize the damage and interfacial steel/coating mechanisms in real time. With the physical model results Transmission Line Modeling (TLM) has been used to quantify the damage evolution based on steel dissolution and coating performance. Different damage evolution stages for the coating/steel system are identified during this study. The parameters calculated through transmission line modeling can differentiate the damage and performance of the coating/metal interface.