Objective To improve the corrosion resistance of galvanic anode cathodic protection for grounding grid in acidic soil, analyze key technologies of the application of galvanic anode cathodic protection method in acid soil and summarize measures for improving the protection effect. Methods The designed simulated expendable anode system was applied to widely investigate grounding resistance, protection potential and protection current of Q235 steel and galvanized steel with 3. 52 m2 grounding grid and 35. 2 mA protection current. Results Galvanized steel was well protected and the protective potential was lower than -0. 95 V. But the protection of Q235 steel was less effective, and the protective potential exceeded -750 mV with fluctuation of 210 mV sometimes. During the operation, the protective current could reach 30. 75 mA when the precipitation was high, and was reduced to 11. 89 mA when the precipitation was low, both of which were lower than the design values. Conclusion This was mainly due to high soil resistivity in the anode environment, more gravel resulted in less anode current. Second, poor soil water retention, resistance fluctuations, and unstable systems also decreased the protective effect. The salinity of acidic soil was greatly lost. The soil resistivity was high and disturbed by rainfall, so the work efficiency and stability were limited. Protection current was improved by measures such as reasonable increase of protection current, reduction of soil resistivity in the anode environment, and optimization of anode design process parameters.