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A Simple Substation
Grounding Grid Analysis
Using Autogrid Pro
2012 Release
REVISION RECORD
Date
Version Number
Revision Level
January 2001
November 2002
10
June 2004
11
December 2006
13
January 2012
14
Page iv
SPECIAL NOTE
Due to the continuous evolution of the Autogrid Pro software, you may find that some
of the screens obtained using the present version of the Autogrid Pro package are
slightly different from those appearing in this manual. Furthermore, small differences
in the reported and plotted numerical values may exist due to continuous
enhancements of the computation algorithms.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1-1
1.1 OBJECTIVE ............................................................................................................................................... 1-1
1.2 GROUNDING PROBLEM .......................................................................................................................... 1-2
1.3 COMPUTER MODELLING TOOL ............................................................................................................. 1-2
1.4 METHODOLOGY OF THE GROUNDING DESIGN .................................................................................. 1-2
1.5 ORGANIZATION OF THE MANUAL......................................................................................................... 1-3
1.6 SOFTWARE NOTE .................................................................................................................................... 1-4
1.7 FILE NAMING CONVENTIONS ................................................................................................................ 1-4
1.8 WORKING DIRECTORY ........................................................................................................................... 1-5
1.9 INPUT AND OUTPUT FILES USED IN TUTORIAL .................................................................................. 1-6
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DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM & DEFINITION OF THE SYSTEM DATA ................. 2-1
2.1 THE SUBSTATION GROUNDING SYSTEM ............................................................................................ 2-1
2.2 THE OVERHEAD TRANSMISSION LINE NETWORK ............................................................................. 2-2
2.3 THE SUBSTATION TERMINALS.............................................................................................................. 2-3
2.4 THE SOIL CHARACTERISTICS ............................................................................................................... 2-3
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PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS & USING AUTOGRID PRO ...................................................... 3-1
3.1 PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS ......................................................................................................................... 3-1
3.2 USING
3.2.1
3.2.2
3.2.3
3.2.4
3.2.5
3.2.6
3.2.7
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CREATING A PROJECT AND SCENARIO ....................................................................... 4-1
4.1 START-UP PROCEDURES ....................................................................................................................... 4-1
4.1.1 CREATING A NEW PROJECT ..................................................................................................... 4-4
4.1.2 OPENING AN EXISTING PROJECT ............................................................................................ 4-6
4.1.3 USING THE PROJECT ................................................................................................................. 4-6
4.1.4 FILES THAT ARE PART OF THE PROJECT ............................................................................... 4-7
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INITIAL GROUNDING GRID DESIGN ............................................................................... 6-1
6.1 DATA ENTRY ............................................................................................................................................ 6-1
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FAULT CURRENT DISTRIBUTION ANALYSIS ................................................................ 7-1
7.1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 7-1
7.2 PREPARATION OF THE INPUT DATA ................................................................................................... 7-2
7.2.1 DATA ENTRY ............................................................................................................................... 7-3
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PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF EAST CENTRAL SUBSTATION ............................ 8-1
8.1 SAFETY CRITERIA................................................................................................................................... 8-1
8.1.1 TOUCH VOLTAGES .................................................................................................................... 8-2
8.1.2 STEP VOLTAGES ........................................................................................................................ 8-2
8.1.3 GPR MAGNITUDE ....................................................................................................................... 8-3
8.1.4 GPR DIFFERENTIALS ................................................................................................................. 8-3
8.1.5 DETERMINING SAFE TOUCH AND STEP VOLTAGE LEVELS ................................................ 8-3
8.1.6 A SIMPLER WAY TO SPECIFY THE LOCATION OF OBSERVATION POINTS ....................... 8-5
8.2 PLOTS AND REPORTS ........................................................................................................................... 8-5
8.2.1 SELECTING PLOTS AND REPORTS ......................................................................................... 8-5
8.2.2 CUSTOMIZING PLOTS ................................................................................................................ 8-8
8.2.3 CARRYING OUT THE COMPUTATIONS AND PRODUCING THE PLOTS AND
REPORTS .................................................................................................................................... 8-9
8.3 ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS .............................................................................................................. 8-10
8.3.1 USING THE GRAREP UTILITY ................................................................................................. 8-10
8.3.2 GENERAL INFORMATION REPORTS ...................................................................................... 8-11
8.3.3 SOIL RESISTIVITY ANALYSIS .................................................................................................. 8-13
8.3.4 GROUND GRID PERFORMANCE AND SAFETY ANALYSIS .................................................. 8-15
8.3.5 COMPUTATION OF FAULT CURRENT DISTRIBUTION ......................................................... 8-21
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REINFORCING THE GROUNDING SYSTEM ................................................................... 9-1
9.1 EXPONENTIAL GRID DESIGN ................................................................................................................ 9-1
9.1.1 CREATING THE EXPONENTIAL GRID SCENARIO ................................................................... 9-1
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USING GRSERVER .......................................................................................................... 10-1
10.1
10.2
10.3
10.4
10.5
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CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................. 11-1
Page ix
Chapter 1. Introduction
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 OBJECTIVE
This How To Engineering Guide shows you how to carry out a typical substation grounding
design using the AutoGrid Pro software package. The AutoGrid Pro package combines the
computational power of the engineering modules RESAP, MALT and FCDIST of the CDEGS
software package with a simple, largely automated interface. The result is an-easy-to use, yet
powerful, grounding analysis program. A step-by-step approach is used to illustrate how to use the
program to input your data, carry out the computation and explore the computation results.
Please note that you may press the F1 key
at any time to display context-sensitive
on-line help pertinent to the topic to
which you have given focus with your
mouse. You may also access the complete
Page 1-1
Chapter 1. Introduction
A soil resistivity analysis module to determine the soil structure from soil resistivity
measurements.
A fault current distribution analysis module to compute the fraction of the fault current that is
discharged in the grounding grid.
A grounding module that computes the response of the grounding grid to the fault current.
A safety analysis module that computes the touch and step potentials above the grid and
compares them to safety limits deduced from the relevant standards.
The results are presented in graphical and tabular form; several detailed reports are available.
Page 1-2
Chapter 1. Introduction
Step 1 The first step of the study is aimed at determining a soil model that is equivalent to the real
earth structure. This is done using the soil resistivity analysis module, RESAP. Any of
several soil type models can be selected by the design engineer as an approximation to the
real soil (uniform, two-layer, multilayer, etc.).
Step 2 Based on experience and on the substation ground bonding requirements, a preliminary
grounding system configuration is developed and a simulation is carried out (initial design).
Step 3 The configuration and characteristics of the transmission lines connecting this substation to
adjacent substations are defined. This allows the program to determine what fraction of the
total fault current actually flows into the grounding grid of the studied substation.
Step 4 The calculated results are analyzed and various computation plots and printout reports are
examined to determine if all design requirements are met. In particular, the safe touch and
step voltage thresholds are determined, based on the applicable standards and regulations,
and are compared to the computed values.
Step 5 If not all design requirements are met or if all these requirements are exceeded by a
considerable margin, suggesting possible significant savings, design modifications to the
grounding system or to the transmission line network are made and the design analysis is
restarted. This normally involves carrying out Step 2, then Steps 4 and 5.
Step 6 If seasonal soil resistivity variations must be taken into account, then the entire analysis is
repeated for every realistic soil scenario and the worst-case scenario is used to develop the
final design.
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 9 presents the design of the reinforced grounding system. It describes how you can easily
repeat the computations from Chapters 6 and 7 to meet the safety criteria (Step 5).
Chapter 10 shows how to use the GRServer program to examine the computation results of AutoGrid
Pro in greater detail.
In Chapter 11, the conclusions of the study are summarized. Step 6 is not considered in this manual.
1.7
It is important to know which input and output files are created by the CDEGS software. All CDEGS
input and output files have the following naming convention:
XY_JobID.Fnn
where XY is a two-letter abbreviation corresponding to the name of the program which created the
file or which will read the file as input. The JobID consists of string of characters and numbers that
is used to label all the files produced during a given CDEGS run. This helps identify the
corresponding input, computation, results and plot files. The nn are two digits used in the extension
to indicate the type of file.
The abbreviations used for the various CDEGS modules are as follows:
Application
RESAP
MALT
MALZ
TRALIN
SPLITS
SESTLC
SESShield
GRSPLITS-3D
Abbreviation
RS
MT
MZ
TR
SP
TC
LS
SP
Application
FCDIST
HIFREQ
FFTSES
SICL*
CSIRPS*
SESEnviroPlus
SESShield-3D
ROWCAD
Abbreviation
FC
HI
FT
SC
CS
TR
SD
RC
The SICL module is used internally by the Input Toolbox data entry interface. The CSIRPS
module is used internally by the Output Toolbox and GRServer graphics and report
generating interface.
The following four types of files are often used and discussed when a user requests technical support
for the software:
Page 1-4
Chapter 1. Introduction
.F05
Command input file (for engineering applications programs). This is a text file that can
be opened by any text editor (WordPad or Notepad) and can be modified manually by
experienced users.
.F09
Computation results file (for engineering applications programs). This is a text file that
can be opened by any text editor (WordPad or Notepad).
.F21
Computation database file (for engineering applications programs). This is a binary file
that can only be loaded by the CDEGS software for reports and graphics display.
.F33
Computation database file (for engineering applications programs MALZ and HIFREQ
only). This is a binary file that stores the current distribution to recover.
For further details on CDEGS file naming conventions and JobID, please consult CDEGS Help
under Help | Contents | File Naming Conventions.
1.8
WORKING DIRECTORY
A Working Directory is a directory where all input and output files are created. In this tutorial, we
recommend the following Working Directory:
Page 1-5
Chapter 1. Introduction
You may prefer to use a different working directory. Either way, you should take note of the full
path of your working directory before running AutoGridPro, as you will need this information to
follow this tutorial.
Examples\Official\HowTo\AutoGrid Pro
Note that the files found in project directory should be copied directly into the working directory.
Page 1-6
CHAPTER 2
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM &
DEFINITION OF THE SYSTEM DATA
(6
.8
23
k
ile
so V
r1
1
km
The system being modeled is located in an isolated area (i.e., not in an urban area and not close to
any pipelines), where there are no
major
geological
disturbances
(ocean, rivers, valleys, hills, etc.). It
consists of the following three major
Newhaven components (see Figure 2.1):
Terminal
(Rg= 0.3 A)
230 kV
Greenbay
Terminal
(Rg = 0.2 A)
2. An overhead transmission
line network;
East Central
Substation
(Re to be computed)
3. Various
substations
(terminals) from which power is fed
to the transmission line network.
230 kV
Hudson
Terminal
(Rg= 0.3 A)
Figure 2.1
1. The
substation
and
associated grounding system of the
substation under study;
Page 2-1
100 m
60 m
(0,0,0.5)
Figure 2.2
Note that more complex grid shapes can easily be created: conductors may be modeled in any 3dimensional orientations.
Figure 2.3
Page 2-2
Figure 2.4
In this study, we assume that the highest fault current discharged into the earth by the East Central
Substation grid occurs for a 230 kV single-phase-to-ground fault at East Central Substation on Phase
B2 of Circuit 2 1 . Let us suppose that short-circuit calculations carried out by the power utility
provide the following fault current contributions from Phase B2 of each terminal substation for a
fault at East Central:
Greenbay:
1226 - j 5013 A
Hudson:
722 - j 6453 A
Newhaven:
745 - j 5679 A
Note that it is usually conservative to model a fault occurring on the phase furthest from the static wires, since this
results in the lowest current pulled away from the substation grounding grid by means of magnetic field induction
between the faulted phase and the static wires. Other scenarios can of course be investigated with the software.
Page 2-3
Depth of
Current
Probes2
Depth of
Potential
Probes2
Apparent
Resistance
(V/I)
(meters)
(meters)
(ohms)
0.3
1
2
5
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
152.300
48.160
6.120
3.340
7
10
0.15
0.15
0.05
0.05
1.760
1.110
15
25
35
50
65
90
120
150
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.6
0.6
0.6
1
1
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.692
0.441
0.320
0.218
0.156
0.106
0.079
0.064
Table 2-1
These values are used to determine soil resistivities close to the surface with better accuracy. Knowing these values is
therefore important only for the first few pin spacings. At larger spacings, as a practical matter, the current probes should
be driven deeper in order to increase the strength of the signal measured between two potential probes.
Page 2-4
CHAPTER 3
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS & USING
AUTOGRID PRO
In this chapter, we will briefly describe the highlights and major functions of the program. A more
detailed description of the programs capabilities will be given in the chapters that follow. The online help provides further detailed descriptions about each module.
Soil resistivities: specify the measured resistivities or the soil layer resistivities and thicknesses
directly (if they are already known).
The grounding grid: use a grid creation wizard, import a preliminary design from a DXF file
created by a CAD package, or else draw the grid directly using the graphical tools of SESCAD
or combine these three methods.
Fault currents: directly specify the component of the fault current injected into the earth by the
grounding grid or let the program compute it based on the network specification. Use the
transmission line databases to quickly describe the network for this calculation.
Safety-related data: specify at what locations earth potentials (and therefore touch and step
voltages) should be computed or let the program decide automatically.
Desired reports and plots: select which reports and plots the program should generate, from an
extensive, predefined list.
Once the data has been entered, simply click Process and let the program do the rest. The program
will compute everything that is necessary, produce the requested reports and plots and display them.
AutoGrid Pro computes only what is needed. Changing the network configuration, for instance, can
affect the fault current component injected into the earth by the grounding grid and therefore the
safety-related quantities. Only these quantities will be recomputed before producing the output. On
the other hand, adding conductors to the grid can affect the grids impedance, the fault current
component injected into the earth and the earth potentials, in addition to the safety-related quantities.
All of these quantities are therefore recomputed before producing the output in such a case.
Page 3-1
3.2.1
To start the program, simply double-click the AutoGrid Pro icon in your SES Software Program
Group. See Chapter 4 for illustrations of this and the following steps. You will be presented with the
following screen. Users of other software from SES may recognize this screen, which is similar to
the SESCAD program interface. In fact, AutoGrid Pro inherits most of the functionality of SESCAD.
Do not worry if you are not familiar with the SESCAD program, however: this manual does not
assume any prior knowledge of SESCAD.
Figure 3.1 The Main Screen of Autogrid Pro and Some Auxiliary Screens.
The AutoGrid Pro screen also displays a Project toolbox, floating on the right-hand side of the
screen, which is not available in SESCAD. The Project menu item at the top of the screen also gives
access to this new functionality of AutoGrid Pro. (Note: this section will show how to use the
Project menu item to control the application; the same functionality is available most of the time,
from the Project Toolbox.)
The main screen is used to create, modify and view the grounding grid and acts as a controller for
the program. Several other screens are available, coordinated by the AutoGrid Pro Project Toolbox.
Page 3-2
3.2.2
The design of new grounding systems or the enhancement of existing ones is often an iterative
process in which the design is modified and refined until the goals of the design engineer are
attained. In AutoGrid Pro, these alternative designs are known as Scenarios. A scenario in AutoGrid
Pro contains all of the input data necessary to specify a design, as well as the corresponding
computation results, plots and reports. A Project in AutoGrid Pro is simply a collection of related
scenarios.
Before anything can be done with AutoGrid Pro, a project must be created (or an existing one must
be opened).
To create a new project, select Project | New Project. You will be prompted for the location and
name of the project as well as for the name and location of the first scenario of this project. The new
project is created under the filename Project Name.agp and the scenario under the filename
Scenario Name.ags where Project Name and Scenario Name are the names provided for the
project and scenario, respectively. You may drag and drop existing directory to new project and
scenario file location text-boxes. (Note: Experienced CDEGS users may wonder what are the JobID
and Working Directory for the scenario. The answer is that the Scenario Name will be used as the
JobID and the selected location for the scenario will be used as working directory. While the concept
of JobID and Working Directory is no longer used in AutoGrid Pro, it may help to know that the
database and output files are still produced using the traditional conventions. For example, the
database file for Malt will be produced in the scenario directory under the name mt_Scenario
Name.f21.)
To open an existing project, select Project | Open Project. This will bring up a file browser that
allows you to select an existing project file (with extension AGP). You also can drag and drop
existing project directory to Project File Location or File Name text-boxes. Note that a demo project
(called Demo 1) is available in the folder SES Software\<Version>\Examples\Autogrid
Pro\Demo 1 (where <Version> is the version number of your SES Software) in your SES Software
Document Folder directory, e.g., C:\Users\Public\Documents. It is also available on your SES
SOFTWARE DVD: \Examples\Standard\Autogrid Pro\Demo 1.
Only a single project can be opened at a given time. Therefore, if you attempt to create a new project
or open an existing one while a project is currently open, you will be prompted to save changes to
this last project and the project will be closed before opening the new one.
To save a project, select Project | Save Project or Project | Save Project As. Note that a backup of
the original file is created under the name Backup of Project Name.agp.
Note that you can easily see the contents of the folder containing your project files and of several
other important folders by clicking on Browse to Project Folder on the main toolbar.
Page 3-3
3.2.3
When a project is open, you always have access to at least one scenario. The data in this scenario can
be edited in the following way.
To specify the soil structure or the soil resistivity measurement data, select Project | Define Soil
Characteristics. This brings up a dialog that allows you to define the structure of the soil
(number of layers, resistivities of the layers, etc) if it is known or to specify resistivity
measurement data and have the program deduce the soil structure.
To specify the grounding grid and (optionally) the location of the computation points, use the
functionality of the Edit and Tools menus of the main interface. The dialog obtained from
Advanced | Network Energizations and Buried Structures is also useful to specify the fault
current directly (or other forms of grid energization) and to create other structures besides the
main grounding grid.
To specify the circuit and fault current distribution data, use Project | Define Circuit
Characteristics. The data entered in the resulting screens will allow the program to determine
how much current should be injected in the main grounding grid as a result of the fault. You can
use the computed value of the main grounding grids resistance or a user specified resistance for
the impedance of the central site of the circuit.
To specify the safety criteria to be used when analyzing the grounding grid, select Project |
Define Safety Criteria. The safety screens allow you to enter the threshold values for safety
when analyzing touch and step voltages as well as some parameters defining the region around
the main grid that should be assessed for safety.
To define which reports and plots the program should produce, use Project | Report
Preferences. The resulting screen offers a wide variety of reports and plots that can be produced
whenever the scenario is processed, including safety reports, touch and step voltage plots, etc
To control the appearance of the plots, use Project | Graphics Preferences. This allows you to
specify colors, font types and size, etc that are used when plotting.
To save the scenario, select Project | Save Scenario. Note that a backup of the original file is
created under the name Backup of Scenario Name.ags. To save the scenario under a different
filename, choose Project | Save Scenario As and select an appropriate filename (with the AGS
extension). Note that this will automatically change the scenario name.
Page 3-4
3.2.4
Processing a Scenario
Once the data for a scenario is specified, the grounding safety analysis can begin. To do this,
simply select Project | Process. The program will compute all necessary quantities in the
background, prepare the requested plots and reports and display them. Depending on the input
data entered in the scenario, the processing may include the following steps:
Computation of the earth potentials and grid GPR at the fault site
3.2.5
Once the processing is complete, the results can be reviewed to determine if the design is
satisfactory. If not, the design can be modified and the above steps repeated. There are two ways to
modify the design: you can modify the existing scenario directly, in which case the original data is
lost, or you can create a new scenario and modify that one.
To create a new scenario, select Project | New Scenario. You will be prompted to provide a name
for the new scenario as well as (optionally) the name of an existing scenario to be used as a
reference. When a valid reference scenario is provided, the program creates a copy of that scenario
under the new name. This is convenient when you want to examine small design variations from one
scenario to the next.
You can also open one of the projects existing scenarios by choosing Project | Open Scenario. You
will be presented with a list of the scenarios that are presently in the project, from which you can
select the desired one.
Page 3-5
3.2.6
Closing a Project
To close a project, select Project | Close Project. This will close the current project, but not the
program itself. Closing the window containing the drawing of the main grid is also interpreted by
AutoGrid Pro as a signal to close the project.
When the project is closed, you can still use AutoGrid Pro much as you would SESCAD, i.e., the
project functionality is disabled but everything else is available. Use Project | Open Project to open
another project.
The most recently used projects are listed at the end of the Project menu and in the Open Project
dialog, for quick access.
3.2.7
To quit the application and terminate the AutoGrid Pro session, use File | Exit. The program will
optionally prompt for those files that need saving before terminating.
Page 3-6
CHAPTER 4
CREATING A PROJECT AND SCENARIO
In this chapter, we will describe in detail how to get started by creating a new project which contains
a first scenario.
Click here
In the SES Software <Version> group folder, where <Version> is the version number of the
software, you should see the icons representing Autogrid Pro, AutoGroundDesign, CDEGS,
Right-of-Way, SESEnviroPlus, SESShield-3D and SESTLC software packages, as well as four
folders. The Documentation folder contains help documents for various utilities and software
packages. The Program Folders provides shortcuts to programs, installation and projects folders.
The System folder allows you to conveniently set up security keys. Various utilities can be found in
the Tools folder. The main function of each software package and utility is described hereafter.
SOFTWARE PACKAGES
Autogrid Pro provides a simple, integrated environment for carrying out detailed grounding
studies. This package combines the computational powers of the engineering programs RESAP,
MALT and FCDIST with a simple, largely automated interface.
AutoGroundDesign offers powerful and intelligent functions that help electrical engineers
design safe grounding installations quickly and efficiently. The time devoted to design a safe and
also cost-effective grounding grid is minimized by the use of automation techniques and
Page 4-1
Page 4-2
Page 4-3
4.1.1
Page 4-5
4.1.2
Click on the Existing tab to browse for an existing project file. Navigate to the AGP Tutorial folder
under your Project folder, then double-click the file AGP Tutorial.agp. This will load the project.
4.1.3
The buttons on the Project Toolbox are now active for you to enter data. The AutoGrid Pro project
toolbox acts as a quick launch pad for the other data entry screens of the application.
Project: allows you to open new or existing projects and scenarios: analogous to the File | Open
and File | New commands in Microsoft Applications.
Reports: Allows you to select which reports and plots you wish to generate.
Wizard: Loads the AutoGrid Pro Wizard that guides you through a typical session (not yet
available).
Grid: Enter grid data that you have not specified graphically.
Circuit: Specify the power lines connected to the substation if you wish to have the program
calculate the split of fault current between the grounding grid and earth return conductors such as
Page 4-6
GRServer: Start the GRServer program (an advanced graphics processor program) to display
graphically the results of a scenario in greater detail.
Process: Initiate the computations, which end with the production of all requested plots and
reports.
4.1.4
When you create a new project, several files and folders are automatically created on your hard disk.
The folders and files created in the previous sections can be viewed in the following Windows
Explorer screen.
The file AGP Tutorial.agp is a project file for the AGP Tutorial project. It contains the information
regarding all the scenarios defined under this project. Under the scenario subfolder Initial Design,
you will find a file Initial Design.ags, and two other files MT_Initial Design.F05 and FC_Initial
Design.F05. These files were created the moment the scenario Initial Design was created. The file
Initial Design.ags stores the data for the Scenario Initial Design. For those who have used CDEGS
software before, you may recognize that the two files MT_Initial Design.F05 and FC_Initial
Design.F05 are the input files for the MALT and FCDIST programs, respectively.
With a project and scenario defined, we are now ready to enter soil resistivity data (Chapter 5),
define the initial design of the grounding grid (Chapter 6), prepare the fault current data (Chapter 7),
evaluate the performance of the initial grid design (Chapter 8), and make final refinements to the
design.
Page 4-7
CHAPTER 5
SOIL RESISTIVITY DATA ENTRY
5.1 A HORIZONTAL TWO-LAYER SOIL MODEL
The data values listed in Table 2-1 at the end of Chapter 2 were entered as input to the soil resistivity
analysis module of the AutoGrid Pro package. This consists of the following information:
Apparent Resistance (V/I): The apparent resistance measured at each probe spacing.
Current Probe Depth: The depth to which the current injection electrodes were driven
into the earth. This value influences the interpretation of soil resistivities at short
electrode spacings. It is an optional field data.
Potential Probe Depth: The depth to which the potential probes were driven into the
earth. This value also influences the interpretation of soil resistivities at short electrode
spacings. It is an optional field data.
The soil resistivity interpretation module RESAP is used to determine equivalent horizontally
layered soils based on the site measurements. Although RESAP is capable of producing multilayered soil models, it is preferable to try to fit the measured results to the simplest soil structure
(i.e., a two-layer model), at least initially. This minimizes the time required for the computations.
When a two-layer soil model is selected, the computation results lead to an equivalent two-layer soil
structure such as the one shown in Table 5-1. The RMS Error computed by RESAP (see Section
8.3.3) provides a quantitative indication of the agreement between the measurements and the
proposed soil model. The grounding system resistance computed by the grounding module MALT
(see Sections Chapter 6 and 8.3.4) is also shown. Note that the resistance shown here was computed
for the initial design of the grounding system of the East Central Substation.
Layer
Top
Bottom
Table 5-1
Resistivity
(-m)
297.08
65.85
Thickness
(Meters)
0.67
Page 5-1
Page 5-3
Page 5-4
CHAPTER 6
INITIAL GROUNDING GRID DESIGN
In this chapter, we will show how to create a detailed computer model of a grounding system.
The determination of the grounding grid performance is carried out by the MALT engineering
program, which computes the grounding grid resistance, ground potential rise, earth potentials, and
thereby touch and step voltages. In fact, you can model several distinct grounding systems at the
same time, each energized with a different current or voltage: MALT will determine how they all
influence one another, allowing you to determine transferred potentials, touch voltages and step
voltages at any location. Each grounding grid (or electrode) consists of a group of cylindrical
conductors with any orientations and positions, although they must all be buried. All conductors you
identify as belonging to given grounding grid are automatically interconnected for you (by means of
invisible cables) and all conductors are assumed to have negligible longitudinal impedance - a fair
assumption for typical substation. As a rule of thumb, a computed ground resistance less than 0.5
indicates a possible need for modeling by other software which does account for conductor
impedance, such as SES MALZ software module.
At least one electrode (called MAIN) must be defined. It is normally used to model the main
grounding grid of the system under study (most studies only do examine a single grid). Other
electrodes (called RETURN Ground and BURIED Structures) can be defined; although they can
be used in many different ways, they are typically used to model a return electrode that collects all
the current injected in the main, (e.g., when simulating a ground impedance field test) and passive
buried structures (such as pipes or floating fences not connected to the main substation grid) which
are within the zone of influence of the main grounding grid.
In this tutorial, we will only need to define a MAIN electrode. It will be used to model the main
grounding grid at East Central Substation. For the initial design, a 100 m by 60 m grid will be
studied.
Page 6-1
Page 6-2
Page 6-3
Conductor Subdivision
As with many computer models of physical systems, the theory behind the MALT
program requires a discrete representation of a continuous phenomenon, namely the
distribution of the current discharged to earth by the grids conductors. The assumption
made by the program is that every conductor segment discharges current uniformly along
its length. In order for this to represent reality accurately, the conductor segments must
be small enough.
There are several ways to generate conductor segments from the specified grid
conductors. First, the program automatically breaks all conductors at every conductor
intersection. This is called the node subdivision process. Usually, this is already enough
to guarantee accurate results, so that further intervention is unnecessary. A second,
simple way to generate the conductor segments is to enter the total number of segments
to be generated by the program in the Desired Number of Segments field of the
Grounding System Energization screen. If the total number of segments obtained after
the node subdivision is smaller than the desired number of segments, the program will
break the longer conductors into two equal length pieces, until the desired number of
segments is reached. Another way is to proceed as above, by specifying explicitly the
number of segments desired for each conductor individually. This method gives a very
fine control over the segmentation process.
Note also that it is often a good idea to do two sets of computations, the second one using
a larger number of segments (but otherwise identical to the first). The results should not
change by more than a few percent. This verifies explicitly if the number of segments
used in the computations is adequate.
To examine the touch and step voltages in and around the substation, the earth potentials should be
computed at observation points covering an area extending about 3 meters outside the substation. As
will be shown in the next section, you can let the program determine the location of suitable
observation points. On the other hand, for finer control you can also specify the observation points
explicitly. This is what we will do here.
Page 6-4
Once the profiles are created, they are superposed on top of the grid already defined, which provides
a convenient way to check the positions of the observation points with respect to the grid. You can
also turn off the display of the observation points by unchecking the Profiles options in the View
menu.
Page 6-5
At this point, you have completed the data entry for the grid specification.
Page 6-6
CHAPTER 7
FAULT CURRENT DISTRIBUTION ANALYSIS
7.1 INTRODUCTION
The touch and step voltages associated with the grounding network are directly proportional to the
magnitude of the fault current component discharged into the soil by the grounding network1. It is
therefore important to determine how much of the fault current returns to remote sources or external
grounding via the shield wires and neutral wires of the transmission lines and distribution lines
connected to the substation under study, in this case, East Central Substation. In other words, the
current discharged into the East Central Substation grounding system is smaller than the maximum
available fault current, because a portion of the fault current returns via the shield wires and neutral
wires of the power lines connected to the East Central Substation and local transformer contributions
are disregarded. In order to be able to determine the actual fault current split, a model of the
overhead transmission line network (and, when present, distribution neutrals and associated
grounding) must be built. Before this, however, it is necessary to calculate transmission and
distribution line parameters such as self and mutual inductive impedances, at representative
locations.
This work is described in the present chapter. In this study, we assume a single-phase-to-ground
fault. The engineering module FCDIST is used to compute the fault current distribution. For more
complicated fault scenarios, the engineering modules TRALIN and SPLITS of the CDEGS package
can be combined to complete the task: in this case, the line parameters are computed using the
TRALIN module, then the resulting parameters are used by the SPLITS module to compute the fault
current distribution. The How To Engineering Guide entitled Analysis of AC Interference
Between Transmission Lines and Pipelines gives a detailed example on how to use TRALIN and
SPLITS to compute the fault current distribution.
As mentioned in Chapter 2, we assume that the highest fault current discharged by the East Central
grounding grid occurs for a 230 kV single-phase-to-ground fault at the East Central Substation on
Phase B2 of Circuit 2. Note that if autotransformers are involved it becomes particularly important to
examine the currents flowing into the substation in all phases of all circuits (at all voltage levels) for
the 230 kV fault in order to correctly assess the situation.
Strictly speaking, circulating currents flowing in grounding grid conductors from the fault location to local transformer
ground connections and to static and neutral wire ground connections also contribute to touch voltages, particularly in
large grounding grid in low resistivity soils. For typical substation applications, however, this component is relatively
small.
Page 7-1
The impedance of the grounding grid under study. In the program, this grounding grid is
referred to as the Central Site.
The fault current sources: these are called Terminals in the program. The data to be specified
includes the magnitude and phase angle of the contribution of each terminal to the fault
current, as well as the impedance of the grounding grid at each terminal.
The electrical characteristics of the transmission lines connecting the Terminals to the
Central Site. This normally includes the geometrical configuration of the faulted phase
conductors and of the shield wires as well as the type of shield wires used; alternatively, the
line impedances can be specified explicitly. In addition, representative ground resistances of
the transmission, and distribution line towers and poles must be specified, in order to take
credit for the full benefit provided by these.
The model allows only a single-phase wire per power line; therefore, only the faulted phase and the
neutral conductors (or shield wires) are represented; the other phases are ignored. You may,
however, include an approximate of the contributions of the other phases by specifying the vector
sum of the currents flowing in the three phases of the circuit of interest as the current flowing in the
faulted phase. The average height and lateral position of the conductor bundle associated with the
faulted phase are specified in terms of their Cartesian coordinates. The positions of up to two static
or neutral wires per power line are specified in a similar manner. A concentric neutral can be
modeled instead of simple static or neutral conductors: this shield is modeled as a bundle of small
conductors arranged to form a cylinder resembling the concentric neutral.
The following input data can be extracted from the description of the circuit in Section 2.2.
Central Site
Name: East Central
Ground Impedance: To be supplied automatically by the grounding module each time the grounding
system is modified and upon its initial creation.
Terminals
Static Wires: 7 No. 8 Alumoweld
Page 7-2
Tower Ground
Resistance ()
Name
Fault Current
Contribution
(Amps)
Ground
Impedance ()
Greenbay
1226 j 5013
0.2
330
64
10
Hudson
722 j 6453
0.3
330
25
28
Newhaven
745 j 5679
0.3
330
33
28
Table 7-1
Number of
Spans
In this study, the static wires are located symmetrically with respect to the center line of the tower, at
a height of 35 m (115 feet) and at a distance of 7.3 m from the center of a tower (see Figure 2.3).
You will note that the primary purpose of the fault current analysis is to determine how much of the
fault current flows into the grounding system of the substation under study (i.e., the Central Station)
during a fault at that location and how much does not, because of alternate ground return paths
provided by static and neutral wires. The analysis will also determine the magnitude of the current
that returns to each power source, through the earth, via the terminal grounds and determine the
influence of the mutual impedances between the phase and static/neutral wires. This latter effect
manifests itself as a trapped current in the static/neutral wires. The computation results provide the
self-impedances of the static/neutral wires as well as the mutual impedances between the phase and
static/neutral wires for each power line modeled.
In this chapter, we will show how to set up the computer model of the transmission system
connected to East Central Substation
7.2.1
Data Entry
On the Project toolbar, click on the Circuit button. This will bring the Network Fault Current
Distribution window. As for the other parts of this tutorial, you can manually enter the data
associated with this tutorial by following the steps described in this section; or, if you do not wish to
do so, you can import all the data by proceeding as follows.
Importing Data
In the Network Fault Current Distribution screen, click on the Import button. Select the File
Name \Files For Import\FC_Initial Design.F05, then click OK. The data described in the
remainder of this chapter will be loaded and you will not have to enter it.
Page 7-3
Page 7-5
This completes the data specification for Terminal Greenbay. Click OK to return to the Network
Fault Current Distribution screen.
Since the other two terminals are very similar to the first, the simplest way to enter the
corresponding data is to create a copy of Terminal Greenbay and modify the copy to account for the
differences between the terminals. To do this, click on Copy, enter Hudson under Copy Terminal
Page 7-6
Page 7-7
This concludes the data entry session for the Fault Current Analysis module. Click on OK to save
your changes.
Page 7-8
CHAPTER 8
PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF EAST
CENTRAL SUBSTATION
Now that we have specified an initial design for our grounding grid and that we have entered the
data defining the soil structure and the characteristics of the circuit connected to the main grounding
grid, we are ready to evaluate if our proposed design is safe and adequate.
In this chapter, we will demonstrate how to carry out the computations and how to extract the
computation results. The first step consists in determining suitable safety criteria to evaluate the
performance of the grounding grid. Then, we will show how to select a few representative reports
and graphics among those offered by the program, and how to generate those reports and graphics.
These reports and graphics will then be analyzed in order to determine at what locations, if any,
mitigative measures are required.
Page 8-1
8.1.1
Touch Voltages
The first safety criterion used for the evaluation of the grounding system performance is the touch
voltage limit. The touch voltage is usually defined as the difference in potential between a point on
the earths surface, where a person is standing, and an exposed metallic structure (present or future)
within reach of that person. Since all metallic structure within a substation should be bonded to the
grounding grid, touch voltages are calculated by computing the difference in potential between the
grounding grid and earth surface points.
ANSI/IEEE Standard 80-2000 (North America) and IEC 479-1 (Europe) provide methodologies for
determining maximum acceptable touch and step voltages, based on the minimum current required
to induce ventricular fibrillation in a human subject. The touch and step voltage limits are a function
of shock duration (i.e., fault clearing time), system characteristics (for short fault clearing times),
body weight, and foot contact resistance (which depends on the electrical resistivity of the material,
such as crushed rock or soil, on which the person is standing, its thickness, and the subsurface soil
resistivity). The table below shows how the touch voltage limit computed in accordance with
ANSI/IEEE Standard 80 varies as a function of earth surface covering material, for a 0.3 s fault
clearing time, a system X/R ratio of 20, and a 50 kg body weight.
Surface Layer
Type
Resistivity (-m)
Native Soil
15 cm Crushed Rock
297
286
3000
933
The crushed rock surface layer installed on the surface of the East Central Substation is 15 cm (6)
thick and has an estimated resistivity (when wet) of 3000 -m. The maximum total clearing time of
the backup relays and circuit breakers in this example is 0.3 s. The crushed rock surface layer
overlies a soil with a resistivity of 297 -m (as will be determined in Section 8.3.3). Resistivity
varies as a function of the type of rock, the size of the stones, the moisture content and the degree of
contamination (e.g., filling of the voids between stones by finer lower resistivity material). The
above table and similar ones can be produced using the Safety module, as explained in Section 8.1.5.
8.1.2
Step Voltages
A similar table can be compiled for step voltages, defined as the difference in potential between two
points spaced 1 m (3.28 ft) apart at the earths surface.
Surface Layer
Type
Native Soil
15 cm Crushed Rock
Resistivity ( -m)
297
558
3000
3147
Inside a substation and within 1 m (3.28 ft) outside the perimeter fence, step voltages are usually
lower than touch voltages; furthermore, the maximum acceptable values are higher than for touch
Page 8-2
8.1.3
GPR Magnitude
Sometimes, the absolute magnitude of the GPR of the grid can be a concern. This is particularly the
case for the rating of equipment installed to isolate telecommunications lines from equipment inside
the substation. The program allows you to specify a maximum value for the GPR of the grid; a
warning is issued when the maximum GPR exceeds this value.
8.1.4
GPR Differentials
Significant potential differences between distant parts of the grounding system can give rise to local
touch voltages or equipment stress voltages when low voltage insulated conductors connect
equipment at two such locations. Appropriate protection must be in place at such locations, rated for
the GPR differentials that can arise. The GPR differentials are not going to be a concern in this study
since the grounding grid is small. If the grid is extensive or if there are buried metallic structures
connected to the grounding system, the GPR differentials should be examined. This can be done, for
instance, using the MALZ or HIFREQ Engineering Modules of the CDEGS package.
8.1.5
Page 8-4
8.1.6
As mentioned in the previous section, the main Safety screen also offers a simpler way to specify the
location of observation points for the computation of touch and step voltages. When the option
Automatic Generation of Observation Points is checked, the program will ignore any
observation points explicitly specified above the grid (as was done in Section 6.1) and will instead
automatically generate a rectangular surface covering the entire grid. This is shown in yellow in the
screen. The rectangular area extends beyond the region covered by the grids conductors by the
maximum of the amounts specified in Grid Border Offset for Touch Voltages and Grid Border
Offset for Step Voltages. By specifying 3 meters for the Grid Border Offset for Step Voltages,
we are guaranteed that the observation points will extend 3 meters outside the area of the grid, as is
desired. The spacing between the observation points can be controlled from the Automatic
Observation Points Options screen obtained by clicking on Advanced.
Moreover, the program will restrict the analysis of the touch and step voltages to the area defined by
the corresponding border offset. This means that, for the data as defined in the above screen, the step
voltages will be analyzed up to 3 meters outside the grid while the touch voltages will be analyzed
up to the edge of the grid, generally located 1 m outside the fence line.
Another advantage of using this automatic mode for the specification of the location of observation
points is that the program will automatically adjust the location of the points and of the safety
analysis areas whenever the grid is modified.
8.2.1
Resistivity Comparison: A report that lists the comparison of measured vs. computed apparent
resistivities (click the Advanced button to see this option).
List of Materials: A bill of materials report listing the characteristics of the conductors in the
grid.
Soil Resistivity Measurement Interpretation: A report showing the soil model deduced from
the provided measurements.
Ground Grid Performance: A report showing the resistance and other characteristics of the
main grounding grid and other grounding structures.
Fault Current Distribution: A report showing the results of the fault current distribution
analysis.
Safety Assessment: A report showing the safety table generated in Section 8.3.4.
Other reports are available, such as an ampacity assessment report, and a report listing the
computed self and mutual impedances of the conductors in the circuit (click the Advanced button
to see the options). They will not be generated in this tutorial.
On the Graphics tab, plots of touch and step voltage are selected, as well as a plot of the computed
and measured soil resistivities (as obtained from the Soil Resistivity analysis) and plots of various
quantities obtained from the Fault Current Distribution analysis. Other plots are available: the
Page 8-6
8.2.2
Customizing Plots
Page 8-8
8.2.3
Select Project | Process (or click Process on the Project Toolbar) to start the computations and
create the requested plots and reports. The program will analyze the changes you have made to the
data to determine which computations should be carried out. The following confirmation screen will
appear. This screen shows which computations the program thinks it should perform. You can
override the programs decisions by explicitly selecting or deselecting the options. You can also use
this screen to restrict the production of plots and reports to a subset of those that were selected in the
Reports screen in the previous sections.
The computations begin once you click OK on this screen. A message screen details the progress of
the computations and shows any errors or warnings generated in the run.
You can cancel the run at any time by clicking Cancel on that screen or by choosing Project |
Cancel Processing. Once the computations are complete, the requested plots and reports are
produced and displayed in the GraRep utility, as illustrated in the next section. Copies of the plots
and reports are also stored in the Results folder that can be found in the Initial Design sub-folder
of your project folder. The following figure shows the content of this folder after the run. The files
with a rep extension are the report files and those with an EMF extension are the plot files. The
names of the report and plot files are pretty much self-explanatory. In case more details are desired,
the file Results_Initial Design.txt gives a short description of each file.
Page 8-9
The following section will examine each one of these files in greater detail.
8.3.1
Using
Utility
the
GraRep
Page 8-10
8.3.2
In GraRep, select the View Reports tab and scroll the window to the top (you can do this quickly by
first clicking in the window, then pressing Ctrl + Home.) The first report is a summary of the plot
and report selections for the run:
Page 8-11
Configuration Plots
Grounding System Configuration
---------------------------------------------------------------Types of plot selected
---------------------------------------------------------------Computation Plots
2D Spot
Configuration Plots
Top View
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Project Summary
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Case Description ............................ A simple substation grounding grid analysis using
AutoGrid Pro.
Run Identification ..........................
System of Units .............................
Radius Measured in ..........................
Frequency ...................................
Initial Design
Metric
Meters
60 Hz
Spacing S
(Meters)
Apparent
Resistance
R (Ohms)
Depth of
Depth of
Current
Potential
Probes Do
Probes Di
(Meters)
(Meters)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------R1
0.3
152.3
0.1
0.05
R2
1
48.16
0.1
0.05
R3
2
6.12
0.1
0.05
R4
5
3.34
0.1
0.05
R5
7
1.76
0.15
0.05
R6
10
1.11
0.15
0.05
R7
15
0.692
0.3
0.05
R8
25
0.441
0.3
0.05
R9
35
0.32
0.3
0.05
R10
50
0.218
0.6
0.1
R11
65
0.156
0.6
0.1
R12
90
0.106
0.6
0.1
R13
120
0.079
1
0.1
R14
150
0.064
1
0.1
Page 8-12
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Safety
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Determine Safety Limits for Touch and Step Voltages
Safety Threshold for Touch Voltages ......... 933.1 V
Safety Threshold for Step Voltages .......... 3146.7 V
Automatic Generation of Observation Points.
Grid Border Offset for Touch Voltages ....... 0 m
Grid Border Offset for Step Voltages ........ 3 m
---------------------------------------------------------------The computation results are written in the following reports:
---------------------------------------------------------------Soil Resistivity Measurement Interpretation
D:\Projects\AGP Tutorial\Initial Design\Results\Soil Structure.rep
Ground Grid Perfomance
D:\Projects\AGP Tutorial\Initial Design\Results\Ground Grid Performance.rep
Fault Current Distribution
D:\Projects\AGP Tutorial\Initial Design\Results\Fault Current.rep
Safety Assessment
D:\Projects\AGP Tutorial\Initial Design\Results\Safety.rep
Resistivity Comparison
D:\Projects\AGP Tutorial\Initial Design\Results\Resistivity Comparison.rep
List of Materials
D:\Projects\AGP Tutorial\Initial Design\Results\Bill of Materials.rep
8.3.3
The third report in GraRep summarizes the results of the soil resistivity analysis. This report shows
the computed soil structure and gives the RMS error between the computed and measured
resistivities. In our case, the soil is a two-layer soil: the top layer has a resistivity of 297 m and a
thickness of 0.67 m. The bottom layer has a resistivity of 66 m.
=========< R E S I S T I V I T Y
Page 8-13
Layer
Number
======
1
2
3
Reflection
Coefficient
(p.u.)
============
0.0
-1.0000
-0.63713
Resistivity
Contrast
Ratio
============
1.0
0.29708E-17
0.22165
**WARNING** MORE THAN ONE SOIL MODEL CAN PRODUCE SIMILAR APPARENT RESISTIVITY
MEASUREMENT CURVES. IF YOU USE THE DEFAULT STEEPEST-DESCENT METHOD,
THEN YOU WILL MOST OFTEN OBTAIN DECENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN MEASURED
VALUES AND THE COMPUTED CURVE, WITH A REALISTIC SOIL MODEL; HOWEVER,
THE FIT MAY OCCASIONALLY BE SUB-OPTIMAL. IN SUCH CASES, THE MARQUARDT
METHOD WILL USUALLY YIELD AN EXCELLENT FIT, BUT MAY SOMETIMES SUGGEST
EXTREME RESISTIVITY VALUES. NOTE THAT DIFFERENT SOIL MODELS WILL USUALLY
YIELD SIMILAR RESULTS FOR YOUR GROUNDING SYSTEM MODELS (I.E., GPR, TOUCH &
STEP VOLTAGES), PROVIDED THAT THE GROUNDING SYSTEM IS LOCATED CLOSE TO
THE EARTH SURFACE. IF IN DOUBT, CHECK YOUR RESULTS WITH BOTH SOIL MODELS.
We have also requested a plot of the measured and computed resistivity values. This plot is the
second one displayed in the View Plots tab in GraRep (the first one shows the circuit, and was
produced earlier in Section 7.2.1). It shows a few measurement points that differ markedly from the
computed ones, a situation that explains the RMS error of 17% that was obtained in the run. Aside
from these discrepancies, the computed soil model fits the measured data quite well. This visual
check is important to evaluate the nature of the agreement between the measured data and the
computed soil model.
Report #4 provides a comparison of measured & computed apparent resistivities.
Comparison of Measured & Computed Apparent Resistivities
========================================================
POINT
=====
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
C1-C2 SPACING
(meters)
=============
0.900000
3.00000
6.00000
15.0000
21.0000
30.0000
45.0000
75.0000
105.000
150.000
195.000
270.000
360.000
450.000
APPARENT RESISTIVITY
MEASURED
COMPUTED
========
========
298.2
287.3
303.7
179.5
76.98
94.44
104.9
68.16
77.42
66.95
69.75
66.32
65.23
66.05
69.28
65.93
70.37
65.87
68.49
65.85
63.71
65.85
59.94
65.85
59.57
65.84
60.32
65.84
DISCREPANCY
Di (percent)
===========
3.67
40.91
22.69
35.05
13.52
4.91
1.26
4.83
6.40
3.86
3.35
9.85
10.54
9.14
=========
Average discrepancy:
12.14%
Page 8-14
8.3.4
th
The 5 report displayed in GraRep (the List of Materials report) gives some information about the
physical characteristics of the grid and its surrounding. This includes:
The quantity and size of grid conductors and rods that were used.
The number of interconnections in the grid at which bonding will be required.
The characteristics of the insulating layer (surface area, thickness, volume, resistivity)
****************************************************************
List of Materials
Creation Date/Time:
7 Jan 2012/13:23:26
****************************************************************
Interconnection / Bonding Nodes .......................
Extent of Grounding System ............................
Surface Layer Thickness ...............................
Volume of Insulating Layer ............................
Wet Resistivity of Insulating Surface Layer ...........
Page 8-15
63
6000 (Square Meters)
15 (Centimeters)
900 (Cubic meters)
3000 (Ohm-m)
60.000(Hertz)
20.000
15.000(cm)
10
NONE
500.00(ohm-m)
297.08(ohm-m)
IEEE Std.80-2000
IEEE Std.80-2000 (50kg)
IEEE Std.80-2000
0.0000 ohms
==============================================================================
Fault Clearing Time (sec) |
0.100
|
0.200
|
0.300
|
+----------------------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+
Decrement Factor
|
1.232 |
1.125 |
1.085 |
Fibrillation Current (amps)|
0.367 |
0.259 |
0.212 |
Body Resistance
(ohms)|
1000.00 |
1000.00 |
1000.00 |
==============================================================================
==========================================================================
|
Fault Clearing Time
|
|
Surface |-----------------+-----------------+-----------------| Foot |
Layer |
0.100 sec.
|
0.200 sec.
|
0.300 sec.
| Resist |
Resist |-----------------|-----------------|-----------------| ance |
ivity | Step | Touch | Step | Touch | Step | Touch | 1 Foot |
(ohm-m) |Voltage |Voltage |Voltage |Voltage |Voltage |Voltage | (ohms) |
|(Volts) |(Volts) |(Volts) |(Volts) |(Volts) |(Volts) |
|
==========================================================================
Page 8-16
1 / Year 2012
Run ID......................................:
System of Units ............................:
Earth Potential Calculations................:
Type of Electrodes Considered...............:
Soil Type Selected..........................:
SPLITS/FCDIST Scaling Factor................:
1
1
Initial Design
Metric
Single Electrode Case
Main Electrode ONLY
Multi-Layer Horizontal
9.3560
LAYER
No.
----1
2
3
TYPE
REFLECTION
COEFFICIENT
------ ------------Air
0.00000
Soil -0.999990
Soil -0.637132
RESISTIVITY
THICKNESS
(ohm-meter)
(METERS)
------------- ------------0.100000E+21
Infinite
297.081
0.674105
65.8477
Infinite
Page 8-17
1000.0
9.3560
9356.0
16
0.53773
amperes
amperes
ohms
110
9356.0
1240.0
amperes
meters
5031.0
volts
Page 8-18
This can be verified in the next plot, which shows the unsafe values of the touch voltages. In this
plot, any value of the touch voltages falling below the 933 Volts limit is left transparent; therefore all
colored areas are above the limit and should be considered unsafe. Most of the plot is colored for this
initial design: we will therefore have to reinforce the grid substantially to eliminate this problem.
Page 8-19
Page 8-20
8.3.5
The next report in GraReps View Reports tab summarizes the results of the fault current
distribution analysis. This report shows the computed value of the current injected into the East
Central substation grid (the Total Earth Current) as well as a wealth of information regarding the
various terminals of the circuit. Note that the computations used the computed value of the grids
Ground Resistance, namely 0.538 .
DATE OF RUN (Start)= DAY 7 / Month
STARTING TIME= 13:23:26:69
1 / Year 2012
0.53773
0.0000
ohms
ohms
1 : Greenbay
Number of Sections..............:
Ground Impedance................:
Source Current..................:
Neutral Connection Impedance....:
Span Length.....................:
64
0.20000
5160.7
0.0000
330.00
+j
0.0000
ohms
Amps / -76.257
degrees
+j
0.0000
ohms
m
Page 8-21
2 : Hudson
Number of Sections..............:
Ground Impedance................:
Source Current..................:
Neutral Connection Impedance....:
Span Length.....................:
1
Terminal No.
3 : NewHaven
25
0.30000
6493.3
0.0000
330.00
Number of Sections..............:
33
Ground Impedance................: 0.30000
Source Current..................:
5727.7
Neutral Connection Impedance....:
0.0000
Span Length.....................: 330.00
1
TERMINAL GROUND SYSTEM (Magn./Angle)
+j
0.0000
ohms
Amps / -83.616
degrees
+j
0.0000
ohms
m
+j
0.0000
ohms
Amps / -82.526
degrees
+j
0.0000
ohms
m
Term:
deg.
deg.
deg.
deg.
deg.
deg.
degrees
degrees
degrees
degrees
Page 8-22
The next plot shows the Shunt Current, i.e. the current flowing in every tower structure of the
transmission line. It confirms that most of the current is discharged close to the fault site: we see that
the values drop off quite abruptly and then increase again as the terminal station is approached.
This is also reflected in the following plot (Shunt Potential), which shows the GPR of the tower
structures along the transmission line.
Page 8-23
Page 8-24
CHAPTER 9
REINFORCING THE GROUNDING SYSTEM
The touch voltages obtained in Chapter 8 indicate that our initial design is quite far from providing a
safe ground grid design: touch voltages exceed the safe limit at most locations throughout the
substation. The highest values occur in the corner meshes of the grounding grid, which suggests that
there is a need to have more conductors towards the edge of the grounding system than towards the
central portion. This observation is consistent with analytical and experimental results. However, the
optimum or most efficient conductor compaction at the periphery of a grounding system depends on
many factors, particularly on earth structure characteristics. Moreover, practical considerations often
introduce additional constraints, which must be accounted for. In general, however, the following
crude rules of thumb can be used as a preliminary set of guidelines:
When the surface (shallow depth) soil resistivity is small compared to that of the deeper
layers (those which are not in contact with the grounding system), use grids with more
conductors at the edge than in the central area (exponentially-spaced conductors). The
degree of conductor clustering (compactness) at the periphery of the grid should increase
with an increase in the contrast between the surface and deep layer resistivities.
When the surface soil resistivity becomes larger than that of the deeper soil layers, the
clustering (compactness) ratio should decrease towards a uniform distribution of conductors
in the case where the contrast ratio is significant (5 or more) and the thickness of surface
layers is small compared to the size of the grounding system (1/5 or less).
Finally, when the surface soil resistivity is quite large compared to that of the deeper layers
and its thickness is small enough so that use of ground rods penetrating into the deeper layer
is efficient, a number of ground rods should be installed wherever possible to reduce the
GPR, touch and step voltages instead of using unequally spaced conductors.
Based on the soil model and the initial design, we will combine the first and the third methods in this
study. We will also increase the total number of conductors in the grid. The improvements will be
carried out in two steps: first, the grid itself will be modified to use a denser exponential design, then
some grounding rods will be added.
9.1.1
Page 9-1
9.1.2
9.1.3
At this point, your AutoGrid Pro screen should look as follows. The Active Scenario, that is, the
scenario that can presently be edited, is Exponential Grid. The other scenario (Initial Design) will no
longer be used in this tutorial and can be closed by closing the window containing the drawing of the
grid (the one that shows Scenario Initial Design in its title bar).
Page 9-2
The simplest way to modify the grid is to use the Edit | Edit Object command. To do this, the grid
should first be selected. To select the grid, click on any point on the grid; the grid should turn red to
confirm your selection. This operation will be easier to perform if you first turn off the display of the
observation profiles. To do this, uncheck the option View | Profiles.
Once the grid is selected, select Edit | Edit Object. The screen should appear in the following page.
This screen is very similar to the Create Object screen used in Section 6.1 and is used in the same
way. Make the following changes:
Parameter
Old Value
New Value
Nab
13
Nac
17
Compression Ratio
0.8
Page 9-3
We have increased the number of conductors substantially and defined a compression ratio different
than 1. This last option instructs the program to bunch the conductors located towards the edge of the
grid more closely together. The ratio of the distance between successive pairs of conductors
decreases by the factor entered in this field.
The resulting screen is shown in the following page. Click OK to confirm the changes. The modified
grid will be shown in the main drawing.
Since we know that the step voltages are safe already, we will turn off the production of the step
voltage plots. Select Project | Define Safety Criteria and uncheck the Step Voltages option under
Determine Safety For. Click OK in the Safety screen to return to the main screen. (If the safety
limits are not correct, they will be updated after computations.)
Page 9-4
Page 9-5
9.2.1
The Details
If you are entering the data manually, create a new scenario as was done in Section
9.1.1, using the name Exponential Grid With Rods for the scenario and using the
Exponential Grid scenario as a reference. If you are following the pre-made tutorial,
then simply open the existing Exponential Grid With Rods scenario as was done in
Section 9.1.2.
To add rods to the corners of the grid, select Options | Pointer Mode | Power Tool, or simply click
on the
button on the toolbar at the left of the main screen. This will load the Power Tool.
Make sure to select the Create Rod option. By default, the program will create 10 meter long rods
with a radius of 0.01 meters. We will keep these default settings, but will change the length from 10
m to 20 m.
Page 9-6
Page 9-7
On a final note, it is worthwhile mentioning that when redesigning an existing grounding system
(update, upgrade, etc.), you could import the actual system configuration from a DXF-compatible
Page 9-8
Page 9-9
CHAPTER 10
USING GRSERVER
This chapter shows how to use the GRServer program to examine the computation results of
AutoGrid Pro in greater detail. This program allows you to produce high-quality 2D and 3D plots of
the results, and to save those plots to disk or print them. It also allows you to manipulate the plots
(e.g., rotate, translate and scale them) for better viewing. While this program is somewhat more
difficult to use than the GraRep utility (which is used by default in AutoGrid Pro), the greater quality
of the graphics it generates may well be worth the extra effort.
This chapter is not an essential part of the tutorial, and can be skipped if you are not interested in
creating plots of higher quality.
Page 10-1
Page 10-2
Note that the maximum touch voltage displayed on the plot is about 1.92 kV, as opposed to 929 V
when plotted directly with AutoGrid Pro. The reason for this difference is that AutoGrid Pro restricts
the computation of the touch voltages to a region just covering the grid. This is explained in Section
8.1.6, where the Grid Border Offset for Touch Voltages is specified as 0. This information is not
transmitted to GrServer, which examines the touch voltages over the entire area covered by
observation points, namely up to 3 meters outside the grid.
You can restrict the analysis of the touch voltages to points that are located only above the grid using
the Zoom Polygon feature of GrServer. This feature allows you to restrict the display of computed
quantities (touch or step voltages) to points that lie inside a specified polygon. To restrict the
analysis to points located directly above the grid, the polygon should be a rectangle of the same size
as the grid (60 m by 100 m), with one corner at the origin of the coordinate system.
To specify this zoom polygon, first click on the More (>>) button in the Plot Options window to
open the Computations Setup screen, and select the Zoom & Report tab (on the left side of the
window). Enter the following numbers in the Search Zone Vertices Table:
No
1
2
3
4
X Pos
0
0
100
100
Y Pos
0
60
60
0
Z Pos
0
0
0
0
Finally, click Draw. The following plot should be produced. This plot agrees with the result
obtained previously with AutoGrid Pro (Section 9.2.1).
Page 10-3
Several aspects of the plot can be customized. For example, the plot can be easily rotated. To do that,
select Plot | Rotate | Free or click on the last button in the programs main toolbar, and select the
Free option. Then, drag the mouse (i.e., move the mouse while the mouse button is pressed) in the
plot area: a cube indicating the new position of the plot follows the movements of the mouse. Once
you release the mouse button, the plot is redrawn in the new position.
There are many other options to control the rotation of the plots. For instance, you can restrict the
rotation to be around one the axes of the coordinate system. You can also move the plot (Plot |
Move), scale it up and down (Plot | Scale) or zoom on any region of interest in the plot (Plot |
Zoom).
Other options are available to control the
appearance of the plots. These are regrouped in the
3D Advanced Plot Setup window. Click on the
Plots button in the Plot Options window to get to
that screen. You can control the color of certain plot
elements, whether or not the legend is displayed,
etc For example, the following figure shows what
happens when a Spot ceiling is requested by
selecting the Spot option under Ceiling Projection
Types.
Page 10-4
You can also print the current plot, or even print all open plots or only the selected plots. To print the
currently selected plots, use File | Print (or File | Print Selected Plots if more than one plot is
currently selected) and follow the instructions in the ensuing dialogs. To print all the plots, select
File | Print All Plots.
10.5 SUMMARY
This chapter has described briefly the main features of the GRServer plotting program. The
capabilities of the program were illustrated by producing 2D and 3D plots of the touch voltage above
the grounding grid studied in scenario Exponential Grid With Rods. The program could also be used
to generate the soil resistivity plots and the fault current analysis plots for that scenario (or any
AutoGrid Pro scenario).
Only a few of the programs options were explored. Consult GRServers on-line help for more
details on the options available in that program.
To exit the GRServer program, select File | Exit.
Page 10-6
CHAPTER 11
CONCLUSION
This concludes our concise step-by-step instructions on how to prepare, submit and examine results
for a simple grounding analysis problem using AutoGrid Pro. You can use File | Exit to quit the
program. Accept to save the changes when prompted to do so.
Only a few of the many features of the software have been used in this tutorial. You should try the
many other options available to familiarize yourself with the CDEGS software package. Your SES
Software DVD also contains a wealth of information stored under the PDF directory. There you will
find the Getting Started with SES Software Packages manual (\PDF\getstart.pdf) which contains
useful information on the CDEGS environment. You will also find other How ToEngineering
Guides, Annual Users Group Meeting Proceedings and much more. All Help documents are also
available online.
Page 11-1
Notes
NOTES