UPEC 2011 46th International Universities' Power Engineering Conference 5-8th September 2011 Soest Germany

Insulator String Flashover Modeling with the aid of

an ATPDraw Object
Zacharias G. Datsios1, Pantelis N. Mikropoulos2 and Thomas E. Tsovilis3,
High Voltage Laboratory, School of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 541 24, Greece
1
zdatsios@auth.gr, 2pnm@eng.auth.gr, 3tsovilis@ee.auth.gr

Abstract- Accurate modeling of line insulation flashover is

very important in evaluating the fast-front surges arising at
overhead transmission lines and impinging on the connected
substations. A new ATPDraw object, called ISF, has been
developed with the aid of which insulator string flashover is
modeled on the basis of several flashover models from literature.
The ISF object was employed in ATP-EMTP simulations of a
150 kV GIS substation. The computed backflashover surges
impinging on the substation vary considerably among the
insulator string flashover models employed in simulations. The
ISF object is a useful tool within the ATP-EMTP environment
for insulation co-ordination studies. The effects of insulator
string flashover modeling on backflashover surges arising at
overhead transmission lines and impinging on the connected
substations can be easily quantified.
Index Terms-- ATP-EMTP, ATPDraw, GIS substation,
insulation coordination, insulator string flashover, lightning
surges, overhead transmission lines.

I.

INTRODUCTION

Lightning is a major cause of transmission system outages

resulting in power interruptions, thus, also, in economic
losses. Overvoltages due to lightning strokes to shield wires
or phase conductors of transmission lines may exceed the line
insulation strength resulting in flashover. Modeling of
transmission line insulator string flashover is very important
for insulation coordination studies of overhead transmission
lines and of the connected substations. It allows for the
accurate computation of the fast-front surges arising at
transmission lines and impinging on substations due to either
backflashover or shielding failure of the lines. According to
[1], flashover of transmission line insulator strings can be
modeled by using either volt-time curves [2], [3] or the
integration method [4]-[6] or by employing leader
development models [1], [7]-[10].
In this study, a new ATPDraw [11] object is presented with
the aid of which the flashover of a transmission line insulator
string can be represented on the basis of several insulator
string flashover models reported in literature. The new object,
called ISF, has been developed by using MODELS language
[12], [13]. The ISF object has been applied to simulate the
flashover of a typical insulator string of the 150 kV lines of
the Hellenic transmission system and to evaluate the
computed backflashover surges impinging on a connected
GIS substation with respect to the flashover model adopted; a
preliminary account of this has been given in [14]. The

computed overvoltages vary notably among insulator string

flashover models employed in simulations; this variation has
been easily quantified with the aid of the new ATPDraw
object.
II. INSULATOR STRING FLASHOVER MODELS
According to [15], transmission line insulator strings are
represented in simulations by voltage-dependent flashover
switches in parallel with capacitors which simulate the
coupling effects of conductors to the tower. Line insulator
string flashover can be modeled by employing either volttime curves [2], [3] or the integration method [4]-[6] or by
employing leader development models [1], [7]-[10].
Based on the volt-time characteristics of line insulation,
flashover occurs when the potential difference across the
insulator strings becomes equal to or higher than the
flashover strength under standard lightning impulse voltages,
VFO (kV); the latter is estimated as a function of insulator
string length as [2], [3]
VFO

 400  710 tc0.75  D

(1)

where D (m) is the insulator string length and tc (s) is the

time to flashover.
According to the integration method [4]-[6], flashover
process of line insulation begins after a minimum voltage, U0,
has been exceeded and depends on the magnitude of the
applied voltage and on the time during which the voltage is
applied. The general expression of the integration method is

DE

U t   U 0

dt

(2)

where DE (kVks) is the disruptive effect of the surge, U(t)

(kV) is the applied voltage, U0 (kV) is the minimum voltage,
t0 (s) is the instant when the applied voltage exceeds U0,
t (s) is the elapsed time after the lightning stroke and k is a
constant. Flashover occurs when the integral becomes equal
to or higher than the critical disruptive effect, DE*, which is a
characteristic of the insulation configuration under study. The
critical disruptive effect DE*, the minimum voltage U0 and
the constant k are determined based on experimental results
under standard impulses so as to provide the best fit between
the experimental and computed voltage-time characteristics.

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UPEC 2011 46th International Universities' Power Engineering Conference 5-8th September 2011 Soest Germany

Leader development models [1], [7]-[10] are based on the

physical breakdown process of long air gaps which consists
of three phases: corona inception, streamer propagation and
leader propagation. Thus, the time to flashover, tc, is
determined by the expression

tc

ti  ts  tl

(3)

where ti is the corona inception time commonly assumed

equal to zero, ts is the streamer propagation time and tl is the
leader propagation time.
When the average gradient in the gap becomes equal to a
critical value, E0, the streamers are considered to bridge the
gap and the streamer propagation phase is completed.
Subsequently, the leader starts propagating and flashover
occurs when the leader bridges the gap. However, if the
average electric field strength in the unbridged part of the gap
becomes lower than the critical value E0 the leader stops
developing and flashover does not occur. Several expressions,
derived from experimental investigations, have been
proposed yielding leader velocity as a function of the applied
voltage and length of the unbridged part of the gap. Such
expressions referring to insulator strings [1], [8] and rod-rod
gaps [7], [9], [10], are given in Table I.

the critical electric field strength E0 used in leader

development models of CIGRE [1], Pigini et al. [8] and
Motoyama [9], [10] and finally the critical disruptive effect
DE, minimum voltage U0 and constant K used in the
integration method [4]-[6]. The user also selects the insulator
string flashover model to be used in simulations, by assigning
a value to the parameter model selection MS, ranging from
1 to 6 as provided, together with the description of the input
parameters, in the help viewer window of the object. Values
for the input parameters required to use the leader
development models (Table I) can be estimated from
Appendix A.
The ISF object was applied to simulate the flashover of a
typical insulator string of the 150 kV lines of the Hellenic
transmission system with standard lightning impulse
withstand voltage level of 750 kV and length of 1.86 m.

III. ISF OBJECT

A new ATPDraw [11] object, called Insulator String
Flashover (ISF), has been developed by using MODELS
language [12], [13] within the ATP-EMTP [16] environment.
The ISF object implements the insulator string flashover
models detailed above by incorporating a MODEL that
controls a TACS Type 13 switch.
Fig. 1 shows the ATPDraw dialog box of the ISF object;
the user enters the input data, namely values for the insulator
string/gap length (D), the constants K1 and K2 used in
Shindo and Suzuki leader development model [7], the
constant K3 used in CIGRE leader development model [1],

Fig. 1. ATPDraw input dialog box of the developed ISF object.

TABLE I
LEADER DEVELOPMENT MODELS

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UPEC 2011 46th International Universities' Power Engineering Conference 5-8th September 2011 Soest Germany

Fig. 2 shows the volt-time curves under standard lightning

impulse voltages obtained by employing several insulator
string flashover models. It is obvious that the voltage-time
characteristic of the insulator string varies considerably
among flashover models. This, influencing the flashover
voltage and time, may affect considerably the computed
backflashover surges arising at the overhead transmission
lines, thus also impinging on the connected substations. The
latter is demonstrated in what follows.

Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of the evaluated 150 kV GIS substation.

Fig. 4. Tower of typical 150 kV double circuit overhead lines of the Hellenic
transmission system and lightning stroke location considered in simulations.
Fig. 2. Volt-time characteristics of a 150 kV insulator string under standard
lightning impulse voltages (1.2/50 s) according to several insulator string
flashover models; standard lightning impulse withstand voltage level 750 kV,
insulator string length 1.86 m.

IV. APPLICATION OF THE ISF OBJECT FOR THE EVALUATION

OF BACKFLASHOVER SURGES IMPINGING ON SUBSTATIONS
The ISF object was employed in ATP-EMTP [16]
simulations for the evaluation of the backflashover surges
impinging on a 150 kV GIS substation, with configuration
shown in Fig. 3. Simulations were performed for the
following worst case scenario: negative lightning is assumed
to strike to the top of the first tower (Fig. 4) close to the
substation, at the time instant of positive power-frequency
voltage peak of the upper phase of the overhead transmission
line.
Lightning stroke was represented by a current source
producing a current with an amplitude of 200 kA and a
waveshape 8/77.5 s with front upwardly concave and
maximum steepness calculated according to [1]. The last
section of the incoming overhead transmission line, 1.75 km
in length, was represented by a sequence of J.Marti
frequency-dependent models, considering the line span (350
m) and tower geometry (Fig. 4). Towers were modeled as
vertical
lossless
single-phase
frequency-independent
distributed parameter lines with a surge impedance of 167
calculated according to [3], [17]. Towers were terminated by
a constant grounding resistance of 10 [18]. Transmission
line insulator strings, with standard lightning impulse
withstand voltage level of 750 kV and length of 1.86 m, were
represented by the ISF object. The underground XLPE power
cables were represented by the Bergeron model with

parameters calculated at 500 kHz. Surge arresters were

represented by the Pinceti and Giannettoni frequencydependent model [19] as shown in Fig. 5, with parameters
calculated based on the surge arrester characteristics given in
Table II. GIS bays were represented as lossless stub lines
with a surge impedance of 75 [15]. The step-up transformer
was represented by a capacitance pi-circuit together with a
BCTRAN model. Cable connections and the surge arrester
lead lengths shorter than 3 m were modeled by a lumped
parameter inductance of 1 H/m [15].
Finally, simulations were performed with and without
surge arresters operating at the line-cable junction so as to
evaluate the protection offered against impinging surges with
respect to the basic insulation level, BIL, of the GIS system
(750 kV), considering also a safety factor of 1.15 [20].

Fig. 5.
Frequency-dependent surge arrester model [19]; parameters
calculated based on the surge arrester characteristics given in Table II.
TABLE II
SURGE ARRESTER CHARACTERISTICS

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UPEC 2011 46th International Universities' Power Engineering Conference 5-8th September 2011 Soest Germany

The overvoltages across the 150 kV transmission line

insulator string for several insulator string flashover models
are shown in Fig. 6; there is a pronounced effect of model
selection on both flashover time and voltage of line
insulation. Fig. 7(a) shows the computed overvoltages arising
at the 150 kV GIS entrance, associated with the insulator
string flashover models used in the ISF object, without surge
arresters operating at the line-cable junction. The computed
overvoltage varies notably in terms of both peak and
waveshape, among flashover models. However, it is obvious
from Fig. 7(b) that this is less pronounced when surge
arresters are operating at the line-cable junction.
The computed peak overvoltages arising at the entrance of
the 150 kV GIS substation vary up to 17% among insulator
string flashover models, especially when surge arresters are
not installed at the substation entrance (Fig. 8). However, all
models agree that surge arresters should be installed at the
substation entrance so as to reduce the arising overvoltages to
values lower than BIL/1.15. These findings are in accordance
with common practice [21], and consistent to IEC [20]
suggestion for the installation of surge arresters at the linecable junction when substations are connected through
underground cables to the transmission system.

Fig. 6. Overvoltage across 150 kV transmission line insulator string.

Fig. 8. Computed peak overvoltages at the entrance of the 150 kV GIS

substation due to backflashover of the incoming line, with and without surge
arresters operating at the line-cable junction; dashed line depicts the safety
margin of BIL/1.15.

V. CONCLUSIONS
A new ATPDraw object, called ISF, has been developed by
using MODELS language. The ISF object represents the
flashover of overhead transmission line insulator strings by
implementing several flashover models reported in literature.
The ISF object enables the easy quantification of the effects
of insulator string flashover models on the fast-front surges
arising at overhead transmission lines and impinging on the
connected substations.
The ISF object was employed in ATP-EMTP simulations
of a 150 kV GIS substation. The computed backflashover
surges impinging on the substation vary significantly in terms
of both amplitude and waveshape among the selected
insulator string flashover models; such variation, which also
depends on substation layout, may affect the selection of the
required protection measures and standard insulation level of
the substation equipment.
The ISF object is a useful tool within the ATP-EMTP
environment for utilities in assessing the fast-front surges
arising at overhead transmission lines and impinging on the
connected substations, as well as in selecting the necessary
protection measures. It can also be used for educational
purposes and is available at http://www.eng.auth.gr/hvl/.
APPENDIX A
The input parameters required for the leader development
models implemented in the ISF ATPDraw object are given as
follows:
I. Shindo and Suzuki [7]
TABLE 1
CONSTANTS k1 AND k2 [7]

Fig. 7. Overvoltage at the entrance of the 150 kV GIS substation due to

backflashover of the incoming line; dashed line depicts the safety margin of
BIL/1.15, (a) and (b) without and with surge arresters operating at the linecable junction, respectively.

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UPEC 2011 46th International Universities' Power Engineering Conference 5-8th September 2011 Soest Germany

II. CIGRE [1]

TABLE 2
CONSTANT k3 AND PARAMETER E0; ADAPTED FROM [1]

IV. Motoyama [9]

E0 = 750 kV/m.
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]

III. Pigini et al. [8]

TABLE 3
GAP FACTORS; ADAPTED FROM [8]

[4]
[5]
[6]

[7]
[8]

[9]
[10]

[11]
Fig. A. Rod-plane configuration. Average gradient at U50 as a function of the
gap clearance; adapted from [8].

[12]
[13]
[14]

[15]
[16]
[17]
[18]
[19]
[20]
[21]
Fig. B. Other configurations. Average gradient in the gap at U50 as a function
of the gap factor. Gradients given in p.u. of the values relevant to rod-plane
with the same gap length; adapted from [8].

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