EARTHING DESIGN

Earthing of either a system or equipment involves the provision of a connection to the general mass of
earth. The resistance to the flow of current to the mass earth should be less than that required to
operate safety mechanisms to isolate the electricity supply from a fault situation. Various factors affect
the resistance to earth and they include the size and the shape of the earth conductor, the resistivity of
the soil and the buried depth of the electrode.
1. Earth resistance calculation according to BS 7430
1.1 Plates
The approximate resistance to earth of a plate can be calculated from

Where,
- the resistivity of the soil in ohm metres (m)
A - the area of one face of the plate, in square metres (m
2
)

1.2 Rod electrode
The resistance of a rod electrode is calculated by,

)
Where,
- the resistivity of soil, in ohm metres (m)
L - the length of the electrode, in metres (m)
d - the diameter of the rod, in metres (m)

1.3 Parallel connection of aligned rods
The combined resistance of rod electrodes in parallel can be calculated from,

)
Where,

R resistance of one rod in isolation
S distance between adjacent rods
resistivity of the soil
factor given in table 1.3
n number of electrodes
Number of electrodes Factor
2 1
3 1.66
4 2.15
5 2.54
6 2.87
7 3.15
8 3.39
9 3.61
10 3.81

1.4 Electrodes arranged in a hollow square

)
Where,

R resistance of one rod in isolation
S distance between adjacent rods
resistivity of the soil
factor given in table 1.4
n number of electrodes
Number of electrodes along
each side of the square
Factor
2 2.71
3 4.51
4 5.48
5 6.14
6 6.63
7 7.03
8 7.36
9 7.65
10 7.9
12 8.32
14 8.67
16 8.96
18 9.22
20 9.4

Total number of electrodes around the square is 4(n-1)
1.5 Resistance of an electrode surrounded by an infill
The resistance of a vertical electrode surrounded by an infill of material such as bentonite or concrete,

) ]

Where,
L driven length of rod electrode
D diameter of infill
d diameter of electrode

- resistivity of infill material

- resistivity of the soil
2. Earth resistance calculation according to IEEE 80

2.1 Square grid without ground rods

Where,
H grid burial depth

- Total length of buried conductor

resistivity of the soil











D
a
2.2 Square grid with ground rods

Where,
H grid burial depth

- Total length of buried conductor and electrodes

resistivity of the soil

3. TASK
Finding the number of rods needed to maintain the mesh resistance to 15 when the soil resistivity
are,
500 m
400 m
300 m
150 m
100 m
30 m
When selecting the earthing system, following factors were considered.
Reducing the ground resistance as much as possible.
Cost
Ease of implementing

3.1 Resistivity = 30 m
Since the soil resistivity is low, the required ground resistance can be achieved with a single earth
electrode. It is cost effective than going for other methods.
Diameter of the electrode = 13mm
Length of the electrode = 3000mm
Then the ground resistance can be calculated as follows.



D
a

)


3.2 Resistivity = 100 m
When the soil resistivity is 100m, using a single earth electrode, the required ground resistance could
not be achieved. It was possible to reduce the ground impedance less than 15 by using a parallel
connection of aligned rods.



Spacing of rods 4m
Diameter of the rod - 13mm
Length of the rod - 3000mm
No of rods - 3
When the spacing of the rods is less compared to the length of the rod, it affects the ground resistance.
Therefore, the spacing of the rods had to be increased.
Ground resistance of a single rod can be calculated as follows.

)

Total resistance of the parallel rods can be obtained as below.

4m

3.3 Resistivity = 150m
Required ground resistance could be achieved using a parallel connection of aligned rods with an infill.



Infill material - concrete
Resistivity of the infill material - 30m
Diameter of the infill - 1m
Length of the rod - 3000mm
Diameter of the rod - 13mm

Hence, the resistance of a single rod with the infill can be obtained as below.

) ]

) ]

By using these rods in parallel, the resistance can be further reduced.
No of rods = 3
Spacing = 4m
Ground resistance can be obtained from the following equation.

)





4m 1m
3.4 Resistivity = 300m
Since the ground resistivity is high, additional measures should be taken to reduce the ground
resistance. Hence, a square grid without ground rods has to be used to reduce the ground resistance
less than 15 .






Here, the length of the square is 15m. The spacing should be 5m and the grid burial depth is 0.5m.
Thereby, ground resistance of 10.864 could be achieved.
Using the following equation, ground resistance can be calculated.

15m
5m

3.5 Resistivity = 400m
In this case it is not possible to reduce the ground resistance only with a square grid without ground
rods. Therefore, a square grid with ground rods has to be used.




Length of the square = 15m
Spacing = 5m
Grid burial depth = 0.5m
No of rods = 4
Diameter of a rod = 13mm
Height of a rod = 1200mm

3.6 Resistivity = 500m
Here also, we have to use a square grid with ground rods.








15m
5m
20m
5m

Length of the square = 20m
Spacing = 5m
Grid burial depth = 0.5m
No of rods = 8
Diameter of a rod = 13mm
Height of a rod = 1200mm

4. CONCLUSION
Finally, the given task was achieved using different earthing designs for different soils. Cost was the
main issue when designing and therefore the most cost effective method was used and the required
earth resistance could be gained.
Soil resistivity
(m)
Earthing design
Ground resistance
()
30 Single earth electrode 10.38
100 Parallel connection of aligned rods 13.73
150 Parallel connection of aligned rods with
an infill
11.384
300 Square grid without ground rods 10.864
400 Square grid with ground rods 14.357
500 Square grid with ground rods 13