Indian Journal of Science and Technology, Vol 7(S7), 127135, November 2014

ISSN (Print) : 0974-6846

ISSN (Online) : 0974-5645

Analysis of Water Trees and Characterization

Techniques in Xlpe Cables
S. Priya1* and A. Mubashira Anjum2
Department of EEE-Marine, Amet Univeristy, India; priya_gdv@yahoo.co.in, mubashiraanjum@gmail.com

Abstract
The full form of XLPE is cross linked polyethylene. It has become the universally preferred insulation for power cables, both
for distribution and transmission system applications. This type of insulation system provides cost efficiency in operations
as well as lower environmental and maintenance requirements when compared to older conventional methods.In this
paper, to understand the insulation recovery phenomenon of water-tree cables when an applied voltage is removed, the
insulation recovery mechanism of the water tree cable is analyzed. Depending on the geometric size by micro observations
of water-tree slices, a water tree model is constructed for electric field simulation, which includes a series of water-filled
micro voids and interconnected channels. According to analysis of the electric field force and the mechanical properties
of water tree region, the force generated by the elastic deformation of the molecular chains results in the shrinking of the
channels. The breakdown strength of impulse voltage of all cables decreased during aging; the cable with the least ac voltage breakdown also has the lowest impulse voltage breakdown. Today XLPE is rapidly becoming the preferred insulation
system for even the highest transmission voltages. This preference is due to the high reliability, low dielectric losses, and
low environmental impact that can be achieved with XLPE. In recent developments in cable production, materials and
material handling techniques have together resulted in greater improvement in electrical performance.

Keywords: Adiabatic Short Circuit Current, Ageing, Cable Insulation, Insulation, Quality, Testing, Water Trees, XLPE

Cable

1. Introduction
Electrical insulation materials are employed over the
metallic conductors of underground cables at all voltage
ratings. Polymeric materials are employed as the insulation, but the nature of the polymer may vary with the
voltage class. Cross linked polyethylene XLPE cables are
the most popular medium voltage underground cables.
The full form of XLPE is cross linked polyethylene.
Polyethylene cables possess a linear molecular structure
and molecules of polyethylene not chemically bonded
as shown in Figure 1. The molecules are easily deformed
at high temperature, while XLPE molecules bonded in a
three dimensional network as shown in Figure 2, have
strong resistance to deformation even at high temperature.
XLPE cables are produced from polyethylene under
high pressure with organic peroxides as additives.

*Author for correspondence

The application of pressure and heat is used to effect the

cross linking. This causes the individual molecular chains
to link with one another which in turn causes the material
to change from a t hermoplastic to an elastic material.
However, they are less resistant to partial discharges
PD in comparison with the other insulating materials.
This causes a high risk of failure in application of the
XLPE cable. Therefore it is very important to have a reliable monitoring system to detect the occurrence of any
partial discharge in a very sensitive form. However since
the nature of partial discharges in XLPE cables is of a
streamer type1 which corresponds to a very high frequency
content, the discharges are attenuated significantly. This is
especially when the cable has a considerable length and is
equipped with semiconducting layers, and is also slightly
damped due to specific loading conditions. Since paper
insulation was used first in the power industry, and was

Analysis of Water Trees and Characterization Techniques in Xlpe Cables

Figure 1. Molecular structure of polyethylene.

Figure 2. Molecular structure of XLPE .

later replaced in low and medium voltage applications, any

comparison of properties usually employs the paper-fluid
system as the standard2,3.

Figure 3. Evolution of the highest AC cable voltage.

2. Cable Structure and Materials

2.1 Structure
The underground power cables structure found to be
deceptively simple. However, each and every component
has a significant purpose and must be selected carefully
to assure that the composite cable structure will perform
accurately in service. Insulation materials used in MV
power cables have long included the mature technology
of fluid-impregnated Kraft paper. They have been successfully used for over decades. Today, extruded cross
linked polymer insulations are the standard for all voltages (Figure 3).
The structure of polycab 3 core HT XLPE cables and
MV cables are shown in Figure 4 and 5. The smooth interface between the conductor and the insulation is provided
by the conductor shield. If there is no conductor shield,
electric field lines will be concentrated, creating high stress
points at the conductor/insulation interface. Conductive
shields are semi conductive, such that they are neither an
insulator nor a conductor. Semiconducting materials are
based on carbon black that is dispersed inward a polymer
matrix4,5.

2.2 XLPE Insulation

XLPE is a thermoset material produced by the
compounding of Low Density Polyethylene with a cross
linking agent such as dicumyl peroxide.The long-chain
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Figure 4. Typical construction of polycab 3 core HT XLPE

cable.

Figure 5. Typical construction of MV XLPE cable.

Polyethylene molecules crosslink during a curing process

to form a material that has electrical characteristics that
are more or less like thermoplastic PE, but with better
mechanical properties, particularly at high temperatures.

Indian Journal of Science and Technology

S. Priya and A. Mubashira Anjum

XLPE-insulated cables have a rated maximum conductor

temperature of 90C and an emergency rating of up to
140C.

3. Observations of Water Tree

2.3Characteristics and
Advantages of XLPE Cables

The excellent resistance to thermal deformation and the

excellent aging property of XLPE cable permit it to carry
large currents under normal (90C), emergency (130C)
or short circuit (250C) conditions.

Typical water trees grow relatively slowly over a period

of months or years are shown in Figure 6. As they grow,
the stress due to electrical effect can increase to the point
where an electrical tree is generated at the tip of the water
tree15,16-18. When the insulation is weakened, it cannot
withstand the applied voltage. At this point, electrical
trees grow rapidly. And also electrical fault occurs at the
water/electrical tree location. In order to reduce water
tree growth, the most widely adopted method is the uses
of specialized insulating materials are designed to limit
water tree growth. These insulation materials are called
WTR-XLPE. WTR-XLPE insulation materials, combined
with the use of clean semicon shields and eliminate the
use of cables with a polymeric insulation.

2.3.3 Ease of Installation

3.2 Growth and Existence of Water Trees

XLPE cable withstands smaller radius bending and is

lighter in weight, allowing for easy and reliable installation. Furthermore, the splicing and terminating methods
for XLPE cable are simpler in comparison with other
kinds of cables.

Under the applications of AC electric field and water, water

trees have dendritic patterns which grow in hydrophobic
polymers. The other name of water trees is electrochemical trees4. Treeing in extruded dielectric cable insulation
is a type of electric deterioration that generally appeared
as tree-like path through the wall of insulation. This formation is radial to the cable axis and it is in line with the
electrical field. Insulations such as polyethylene, crosslinked polyethylene and ethylene propylene rubber cables
are considered as two distinct types namely water and
electrical trees7.
The growth of water trees consists of three steps as
shown in Figure 7. The First step deals about initiation

2.3.1 Excellent Electrical and Physical Properties

XLPE cable constitues the best cable for transmission and
distribution lines because of its excellent eletrical and
physical properties.

2.3.2 Capability of Carrying Large Currents

2.3.4Free from Height Limitation and

Maintenance
XLPE cables can be installed anywhere without special
consideration of the route profile (height limitations)
since it does not contain oil and thus is free from failures
due to oil migration in oil-filled cables.

3.1Water Tree Retardant XLPE (WTR

XLPE):

2.3.5 No Metallic Sheath Required

XLPE cable does not generally demand a metallic sheath.
Thus it is free from the failures peculiar to metallicsheathed cables, such as corrosion and fatigue.
The great advantage of XLPE as insulation for medium
and high voltage cables is their low dielectric loss. The
dielectric loss factor is about one decimal power lower
than that of paper insulated cables and about two decimal
powers lower than that of PVC-insulated cables. Since
the dielectric constants is also more amicable, the mutual
capacitance of XLPE cables is also lower, thus reducing the
charging currents and earth-leakage currents in networks
without the rigid star point earthing6.

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Figure 6. water trees growing from the inner (bottom) and

outer (top) semi conductive screens

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Analysis of Water Trees and Characterization Techniques in Xlpe Cables

of growth water trees, because insulation can be uneven.

Second step is growth of water tree under the presence
of moisture in ppm level, which causes electrical stress
in insulation. The third step indicates the bridging of
electrical tree in the insulation path. Figure 8 shows the
comparison graph between XLPE and TR XLPE cables
under test condition.

to scratching of the insulation. The possibility of vented

tree initiation is due to irregularity in the semiconducting
screen. It has bad contact with the insulation8,9.
To further observe the internal microscopic morphology of the water tree, the partial area of water tree is
magnified, and it is shown in Figure 11. These channels
have a length from several microns to tens of microns and

3.3. Bowtie Water Trees

Bowtie water trees are the permanent structures that grow
within the body of polymer insulation. They are generally limited in size. The term bowtie is derived from the
shape of the tree as shown in Figure 9.

3.4 Vented Trees

The different form of water trees are vented and bow
trees. Along the axis of the electric stress, the vented tree
is growing from the insulating material boundaries to the
other side of the insulation. The origin of vented tree initiation shown in Figure 10 The initiation of treeing is due

Figure 9. Bowtie water tree.

Figure 7. Growth of water tree in XLPE insulation

Figure 10. Pattern of vented trees.

Figure 8. Example growth water trees in XLPE(test).

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Figure 11. The microscope observations of water tree

channels.

Indian Journal of Science and Technology

S. Priya and A. Mubashira Anjum

a width of several microns. In fact, the micro channels

near the tip and edge of the water tree body are easily
observable, but the internal channels of the water tree
body cannot be easily identified by a microscope.

i = Initial temperature (C)

f = final temperature (C)
t = duration of short circuit (s)
K = c onstant depending on the material of the
current carrying component (As/mm2),
for Copper = 226
for Aluminium = 148
for Steel = 78
for Lead = 42
= r eciprocal of temperature coefficient of resistance
of the current carrying component at 0C (K),
for Copper = 234.5
for Aluminium= 228
for Steel = 202
for Lead = 230

4. Cables Evaluated
4.1 Process of XLPE Cables
Although it has been verified that XLPE cables can be
applied with a conductor temperature of 130C for emergency overload conditions, it must be understood that
the erecting and laying conditions necessary to allow for
those temperatures must be accurately carried out and
controlled during installation in order to restrict thermo
mechanical problems10. To be realistic, emergency conditions should be confined to 110C at conductor with the
balance of 20C premeditated as a safety margin to cope
with some concerns in the laying conditions. Subsequent
to the constant use of XLPE for medium and high voltages
for many years in the past, it has extensive field test results
which evidently witness that XLPE insulated cables are of
excellent quality particularly in respect of:

partial discharges withstand ability

impulse test withstand ability
moisture resistance
overload current-tests under dielectric stress and
thermic cycles

4.2Calculation of Short-Circuit/Earth Fault

Current Carrying Capacity
Adiabatic method as per IEC 60949, IEC 60986 & IEC
61443.
1. Calculation of adiabatic short-circuit current

I = x IAD
1n
I AD = KS

(1)

qf + b
qi + b
t

(2)

Where,
IAD = short-circuit current calculated on an adiabatic
basis (A)
= factor to allow for heat loss into the adjacent
components. For adiabatic calculations = 1
S = nominal cross-sectional area (mm2)

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4.3 Characteristics of PD Propagation

XLPE is considered to be the material of choice due to
its ease of processing and handling, although paper / oil
systems have a much longer history of usage and much
more information on reliability exists.
The three major factors involved in shaping the
characteristic of partial discharge propagation in XLPE
cables are the length, the load condition and the structure
of conductive elements, insulating sections and semiconducting layers. The XLPE cable PD signals are mostly
of streamer type, and as recorded11,12 are very fast rising
impulse waves, containing high frequency components
up to 30 MHz13.
If I() is considered as Fourier transform of a point
current source located at a position x = l exciting the cable
of length L with the surge impedance of Z0(), terminated
in the two ends by impedances Z1 and Z2, respectively,
then the current and voltage responses at the terminals
are functions of the above parameters as well as the cable
propagation constant which is defined as:

() = () + j()

(3)

where, () is the frequency dependent attenuation

parameter, () the frequency dependent phase parameter. () = / in lossless, non-dispersive propagation
with matched impedances at the terminations and
is the propagation velocity. Because of the frequency
dependence characteristic, the attenuation is significant for PD signals, especially due to the presence of
the semiconducting layers. It is suggested that a 300 m
length of a typical cable is expected to have a bandwidth
of about 4 MHz1, while the main frequency component

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Analysis of Water Trees and Characterization Techniques in Xlpe Cables

of the streamer type PD signals is located between

20 and 30 MHz5. It is shown that the wave velocity for
PD signal is affected by the semiconducting layer and
even the water content of insulation after aging. The
semiconducting layers contribute significantly to the
PD signal attenuation, and without incorporation of
these semiconducting layers in modelling the computed
responses cannot be verified against the measured data.
While these attenuation effects obscure the detection
process in the classical online monitoring of the cable,
it can remarkably extend the life duration of the cable
insulation, ignoring other failure mechanisms which
can cause separation of grounded shield and its semiconducting layer.
The calibration signal14 which has very high resemblance to PD signal can be employed for measurements.

4.4 Characteristics of Breakdown

Electrical ageing is a gradual degradation process which
can influence the probability of breakdown, leading to
destructive breakdown of system. During ageing process,
several physicochemical properties may change. These
changes are likely to show effects on electrical properties
of XLPE cable insulation. Figure 12 shows the breakdown
strength of specimens at different ageing modes. The BD
performance of un-aged cables is superior to that of aged
cables on a whole. Moreover, the breakdown strength of
inner layer is superior to that of outer layer in un-aged
cables. As to cables in service for 22 years, the breakdown
strength along the radial direction is not significantly different. As to the 1-year laboratory accelerated aged cables,
the BD performance of the outer layer is dramatically
inferior to that of inner layer.

Voltage breakdown stresses obtained with one how

step duration, can be readily converted to breakdown
stresses obtained with 5 minute step duration using a
formula derived from the inverse power law

K = Ent

(4)

where, K= constant
E = constant voltage mess for cable breakdown in
time t
n = voltage endurance coefficient
t = time duration
Since the test is performed at different voltage stresses
for constant periods, except for the final step which may
be shorter, equation (2) can be expressed as:

K= (En + gnEn + + gn(z1)En)t + gnzEntb

(5)

where, E = voltage stress of first voltage step

z = number of voltage steps until breakdown
t = duration of each step
tb = time to breakdown during the last step
g= factor of voltage increase in each step
n = voltage endurance coefficient

5. Methodology
The following methodologies were used for characterization
of the samples.

5.1 Cable Setup Measurements

The circuit shown in Figure 13 is employed for the classical
partial discharge propagation measurements employing
two high frequency HF CTs which are clamped on the
sheath conductor at each end.

5.2 Dielectric Spectrometer

A Solartron 1255 Frequency Response Analyzer (FRA)
with CDI interface was used to measure real and complex

Figure 12. Breakdown strength of different XLPE

insulation specimen.

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Figure 13. Circuit for PD measurement of cable.

Indian Journal of Science and Technology

S. Priya and A. Mubashira Anjum

capacitance under computer control. The sample was

maintained at a constant temperature (+0.1C) in a fan
oven during the measurements. The excitation voltage was
1.00 V RMS. An air capacitor, of similar capacitance to the
cable, was used to establish the noise floor for these measurements. This is shown as a tan spectrum in Figure 14;
the instrument was not reliable in the filled area.

5.3Charging Discharge Current

Measurements
A bespoke power supply was also developed. This was
originally used with a model 6485 Keithley picoammeter
for measuring the conduction current. However, given
the limitation of the dielectric spectrometer, it was also
necessary to measure charging and discharging currents
to implement time domain dielectric spectroscopy at frequencies corresponding to the lowest dielectric losses.
After transformation into the frequency domain these
measurements resulted in calculations of the real and
imaginary capacitance up to frequencies of 100 Hz. The
response of the picoammeter was insufficiently rapid for
these measurements, and so a current-to voltage converter
was constructed using an electrometer-grade operational
amplifier, and the output of this was fed to a digitizing
oscilloscope.
The output of commercial high-voltage DC power
supplies may drift with time and may also contain
high-frequency ripple. Such ripple, especially in older
(analogue) supplies may be predominantly at the mains
power frequency; in more modern switch-mode supplies,
this may occur at higher frequencies, typically around
20 kHz. If the sample is considered to be equivalent to a
resistor, R, in parallel with a capacitor, C, then the current
flowing through the sample can be usefully calculated as
the sum of the components due to the steady-state applied

voltage, V, the voltage drift, dV/dt, and the RMS ripple

voltage, Vr. The components of current, after switching
transients have died away, are:

Conduction current: Ic = V/R

(6)

Current due to voltage drift: Id = C dV/dt

(7)

RMS current due to ripple voltage: Ir = 2fCVr

(8)

Even with the relatively high value of L/ ln( ro/ri)

calculated above, the resistance of the cable samples sometimes exceeded 1015 . For a 1 kV dc supply voltage, this
resulted in conduction currents to be measured of less than
1012 A. The capacitance of the cable sample was approximately 850 pF. For the current due to the voltage drift to
be less than the conduction current that was required to be
measured, C dV/dt had to be less than 1012 A. The basic
circuit used for charging discharging current measurements is shown in Figure 15. For time-domain dielectric
spectroscopy, the current from the cable, rather than being
fed into a picoammeter, was fed into two current-to-voltage
converters. One of these was set to a high gain but had a
lower bandwidth, the other had a lower gain but a higher
bandwidth. The voltage outputs from these were measured
by a digital oscilloscope connected to a PC. The lower-gain
higher- bandwidth converter measurements were used for
the initial discharge measurements in which the current is
dropping rapidly from a higher value typically in the first
few tens of milliseconds. The other converter was used to
capture the lower current measurements for the following
second or so of time. These time-domain measurements were
transformed to the frequency domain using a Fast Fourier
Transform (FFT) technique18. For lower frequency measurements the dielectric spectrometer was used for the dielectric
response and the picoammeter was used for conduction
current measurements.

5.4 Transformer Ratio Bridge

A transformer ratio bridge was constructed by adapting
a Wayne Kerr universal bridge B221, normally used for

Figure 14. Noise floor for Dielectric Spectrometer; the

instrument was not reliable in the grayed area.

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Figure 15. Charging discharging measurement.

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Analysis of Water Trees and Characterization Techniques in Xlpe Cables

a frequency of 104 rad/s (1592 Hz). A variable frequency

sinusoidal signal generator was used to supply the voltage
transformer and a tuned amplifier coupled to an oscilloscope was used as a detector. This is shown in Figure 16. If
the symmetrical tappings are chosen on the voltage transformer, then the standard impedance is adjusted until a null
is detected at which point the two impedances are identical.
Different tappings can extend the range of the instrument.
In practice the transformer core magnetically saturated
below the frequency for which it was designed so the only
the results at or above this frequency were used.

6. Discussions
6.1 Water Tree Model
Generally, an ellipsoid or half ellipsoid could be modeled as
a main body of water tree20,21. The water tree bodys model
is an ellipsoid with a major axis of 0.5 mm and a minor
axis of 0.2 mm in Figure 17a. The water tree body can be
considered a series of water-filled micro voids and interconnected channels. The connecting channels between
voids were found to be around >1 m in diameter at the
foot of a water tree, whereas the channels throughout the
rest of the tree are around 10100 nm in diameter19. The
length and width of the channel is usually different for
different models of water tree. The sizes of channels can
be also different in different parts of a water tree. The difference of channels size in different water tree models can
affect the magnitude of electric field intensity. However,
the difference has not significant effect on the variation
trend of tan. According to observed results, the water
filled micro voids can be several microns in radius, and
the channels are several to tens of microns in length and
several microns in width. A simplified water tree model
is constructed in Figure 17b. The water-filled voids are
connected by plenty of channels with a length of 10 m
and a width of 2 m to form the string of pearls.

Figure 16. Transformer ratio bridge.

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Figure 17. The water tree model in a cable for electric field
calculation.

The electrical parameters of the model are shown in

Table 1.
The relative dielectric constant in the water-tree
region is recorded as r1 (2.7r116), and the conductivity is recorded as 1 (110111107S/m)21. Because
the channels can have some conductive ions, conductivity
of channels should be between conductivity of the water
and conductivity of XLPE. Also, the relative dielectric constant should be between the water and XLPE.
Table 1. The electrical parameters of the model.
r

g(S/m)

Water filled voids

80

5.86 106

XLPE

2.3

1 1017

Channel open

16

1 107

Water tree Channel closed (State 1)

channels
Channel closed (State 2)

1 1010

2.7

1 1011

Channel closed (State 3)

2.3

1 1017

Semiconductor layer

100

2 103

Needle electrode

9.33 106

Indian Journal of Science and Technology

S. Priya and A. Mubashira Anjum

As a result, we assume different conductivity and relative

dielectric constants for the channels in Table 1. The relative dielectric constant in the XLPE insulation layer is
recorded as r2, and the conductivity is recorded as
2 (1101811016 S/m).

7. Conclusions
XLPE compounds have proven to be the most robust
solution for the manufacture of reliable HV & EHV cables.
The cable requirements depend both upon the electrical
stress and the volume of insulation. The increased requirements that come from higher stresses and smaller cables
may be accommodated by increased cable quality, particularly in terms of the cleanliness of the insulation. By
introduction of semiconducting layer as a sensitive internal
PD sensor, the essential task of HV cable life management
will be feasible by monitoring its insulation through PD
detection. So the system with XLPE insulation provides
more efficient in operation and maintenance requirements when compared to conventional paper insulation
systems. When water enters in high voltage cable the
water trees passes through the insulation by micro cracks
penetrate to the core. The growth of water trees disturbs
the electric field distribution in cable. The mechanism is
local degradation of material which becomes conductive
and changes the electric field distribution in the insulation. Cross linked polyethylene (XLPE) has become the
globally preferred insulation for power cables, both for
distribution and transmission system applications.

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