Simulation of Secondary Arc on 400-kV

Transmission System Consisting of Overhead Line

Section and Power Cable Section
Andrzej Mackow
Mustafa Kizilcay
University Siegen
Chair of Electrical Power System
Siegen, Germany
andrzej.mackow@uni-siegen.de, kizilcay@uni-siegen.de

Abstract— This paper deals with the computation of secondary
arc in different 400-kV transmission systems that differ from
each other in their configuration. Two technologies overhead line
(OHL) and power cable are implemented worldwide to transfer
energy for longs distances at extreme high voltage (EHV) level.
Long EHV lines are generally compensated by shunt reactor.
Their connection to the line, compensation level and localization
are factors that could influence fault transients of the system. The
representation of the secondary arc should be realistic to
determine correctly the auto-reclosure performance. The
secondary arc is modelled in the digital transients program
EMTP/ATP. The dynamic behaviour of the arc is determined on
the basis of energy balance in the arc column. Simulations with
real transmission lines are very useful to understand the arcing
phenomenon in particular when line consists of overhead line,
cable section and shunt reactors.
line fault; autoreclosure; secondary arc; mixed line; EMTP
I. INTRODUCTION
Since it is possible to use cables even at the extreme high
voltage (EHV) levels, cable sections play incessant relevant
role in power system. Therefore these power cable sections
should be considered in fault simulations in power systems.
Their interaction with other components of electrical system
should be investigated. Furthermore their implementation in
power system involves usage of shunt reactors that could also
interact with other power system components. The shunt
reactor has the function of compensating capacitive charging
current of lines that appears in low load periods [1]. When the
shunt reactor is connected to the line-side, the line and the
shunt reactor are always energized and deenergized together.
Transmission System Operator decides where the shunt reactor
should be installed and what should be the degree of
compensation.
Single Phase to Ground (SLG) is the most common fault in
power transmission systems. Single phase auto-reclosing
(SPAR) is used at EHV level to eliminate arcing faults and
improve system stability. SLG can be caused by lightning
strokes and are mainly temporary. Secondary arc appears
firstly when the circuit breakers at both end of the line open the
corresponding phase to isolate the fault. Primary arc with much
higher current amplitude is effective till single phase tripping
of the faulty phase. Other two phases are still energized.
Capacitive and inductive coupling between the faulted line and
the healthy phases feed the secondary arc further with energy.
The secondary arc extinguishes usually itself, but its life time
may influence the operation of the system. If the secondary arc
does not extinguish, the single-phase reclosing is endangered.
Of course disconnected phase could be reclosed firstly, when
secondary arc disappeared. However the dead time (switched-
off time of faulty phase) is limited by dynamic stability
constrains. For EHV line his limit is less than 1.5…2 seconds.
As the arc current becomes zero, the coupling causes a
recovery voltage across the arc path. If the rate of rise of
recovery voltage is too great, it reignites the arc.
The characteristic of the secondary arc depends on many
factors like wind, ionized surrounding air and electro-dynamic
force. When transmission lines are compensated by shunt
reactors, the secondary arc extinction can be affected. Other
important factor that has influence on the secondary arc is the
line configuration. Connected line-side inductances of shunt
reactors form with the parallel connected capacitances between
line phases a resonant circuit. This parallel resonant circuit
causes oscillations of the recovery voltage. This phenomenon
was observed and briefly described in [2].
As mentioned before new electrical grids will be more
complex. Even along a short route it may be necessary to
switch a few times from OHL to cable sections and vice versa.
Usage of cable sections determines installing of shunt reactors.
This paper investigates the SPAR phenomenon caused by a
SLG on a line with hybrid cable/OHL sections in a 400-kV
transmission system regarding secondary arc excitation
referring to the interaction between OHL, cable and shunt
reactor. The duration of secondary arc in different line
configurations is brought into focus. In the studied transmission
system the cable section is underground. All computations are
executed with the EMTP/ATP software [3].

978-1-4673-3059-6/13/$31.00 ©2013 IEEE

 II. SYSTEM MODELLING
A. Simulation Model
Both 400-kV transmission lines connect substation A and
substation C. It is possible to switch the lines at the substation
B, too. It’s assumed that the energy can be transmitted in one
direction, from substation A to substation C. At the transition
point between substations B and C one system of the overhead
line (3 four-bundle conductors for 3 phases) is substituted by
the suitable cable system (with 6 single-core cables, one phase
needs 2 cables). Remaining part of the transmission system is
simplified in the substation A and C by a Thevenin equivalent
consisting of the voltage source and short- circuit impedance of
the positive- and zero-sequence systems.
TABLE I. INVESTIGATED LINE CONFIGURATIONS
Line
Compensation OHL Cable
Configuration
1 without 210 km -
2 without 200 km 10 km
2x120 Mvar shunt
3 reactors in each 200 km 10 km
system
The simulation studies were performed using EMTP-ATP
software version 5.7p5 [3]. Three system configurations have
been studied as shown in Table 1. They differ from each other
by structure and equipment. In the first configuration OHL
makes up the whole length of line. In second and third
configuration one section consists of underground cables and
takes around 5 % of total line length. Remaining 200 km
section is realized as OHL. However chosen technology plays
important role at this voltage level and can influence on system
behaviour significantly. The 10 km long cable section from line
configurations 2 and 3 is located between substations B and C
(20 km far away from substation B). The distance between
substations A and B amounts to 110 km.
B. Cable Model
The three-phase cable is laid in the flat formation 1.5 m
below the surface. The circuit consists of six single-core cables
of type 2X(Fl)2Y 1x2500 RMS/400 230/400 kV. Due to the
transportation limitation a cable section is allowed to be around
900 m of maximum length. 900 m long cable weights 36 t. The
cable sections are divided into main segments, each short as 1
km. The cross-bonding of the cable sheaths is considered in the
simulation model. Basic electrical parameters of the circuit are
compiled with the subroutine CABLE PARAMETERS [3]
based on the physical parameters and dimensions. Cross-
sectional layout of the cable section is shown in Fig. 2.
Figure 1. Line structure for all configurations, only one system presented
(configuration 1 without cable section)
Figure 2. Cable cross-line sections
C. Overheadline Model
Transmission towers were designed to carry two electrical
circuits. Both systems are modeled in this study but transient
computations are executed only for one system. Both systems
are identical and results are also valid for the second system.
The circuit consists of three four-bundle conductors Al/St
564/72. Four bundle conductors of each phase are replaced by
one equivalent conductor, which has the same electrical
features. Skin effect in OHL and earth is considered like in the
case of cable modelling.
For transient computations Constant-Parameter Distributed
Line model (CPDL) is used [3]. This model takes into
consideration travelling waves on lines during transient
operations. For both cables and OHL, implementation of the PI
model [3] is preferred in steady state computations.
D. Shunt Reactor
Reactive power produced by cable and overhead line should be
compensated in order to ensure that voltage does not increase
along a low loaded transmission line to unacceptable high
values and to reduce the loading of the line by charging current
[1]. The consumption of this inductive reactive power
generated by lines is achieved by using shunt reactors. Shunt
reactors are connected to lines usually at low load periods.
Under normal conditions reactive power is compensated by the
inductive-resistive loads and shunt reactors are normally
disconnected. In steady-state operation capacitive charging
current can raise voltages at the end of the line to critical
values. Long duration of the voltage endanger insulation of
system components. Shunt reactors are often installed at both
ends of the line.
As shunt reactors are connected directly to the line, they are
energized and deenergized together with line. Shunt reactor
modelling details are presented in [4], [5]. The typical model of
a shunt reactor consists of an inductor in series with resistor.
Despite that accuracy of this model is high; to evaluate some
other phenomena, it is necessary to have a more detailed
model. The aspects to be considered in modelling of a shunt
reactor are shunt reactor core saturation, core and winding
losses, and mutual inductance between the shunt reactor
phases. In this model the latter one is not considered.
Positive- and zero- sequence impedances of shunt reactors are
not equal depending on the core type. Shunt reactors in this
study are modelled as 3-leg core units. A simplified single-
phase equivalent circuit of the shunt reactor is given in Figure
3. The positive-sequence impedance takes into consideration of
the core saturation that has been represented according to a
voltage-current characteristic shown in Fig. 4. The zero-
sequence reactance is represented by a linear inductance. Shunt
reactor is connected directly to line.
Figure 3. Shunt reactor model
Figure 4. U-I characteristic of shunt reactor model
E. Secondary Arc Representation
The representation of arc is realized in EMTP/ATP with the
type-94 component. Type-94 component gives the user the
facility to define own electrical component in ATP via
MODELS language. Arc model from [2] serves as basis.
MODELS language is briefly described in [6]. Thevenin type
component represents the rest of the grid as a two-pole
interfacing the arc model. Voltage vth and resistance rth are
inputs for the arc model. These two inputs are passed at each
time step to the model and used to estimate the resulting arc
current. Fig. 5 shows the interaction of the arc with remaining
part of circuit.
The computation of secondary arc variables including
secondary arc current is performed in MODELS. Accurate
derivation was presented briefly in [2], [7]. The usage of type-
94 component enables simultaneous solution of the arc
equations together with the system of equations of the electric
network. The arc current iarc is calculated at each time step
according to the following equation
g ⋅ vth
iarc = (1)
1 + g ⋅ rth
Voltage vth and resistance rth are acquired from rest of
system as inputs. The instantaneous arc conductance is
computed by solving numerically a differential equation which
was described briefly in [2]. Differential equation system is
solved simultaneously in MODELS with COMBINE
ITERATE statement iteratively [6]. Variables in differential
equations depend on instantaneous arc length. The arc length
variation has to given by the user.
The secondary arc extinguishes when the arc voltage
reaches the level of recovery voltage [8]. Recovery voltage is
the voltage across the fault path at arc location.
Figure 5. Interaction between the electric circuit and the arc modell using
Type-94 component
III. TRANSIENT PHENOMENA DURING ENERGIZATION AND
DEENERGIZATION OF LINES
The analysis of the transmission line consisting of one OHL
and one cable section is based on computations of the steady-
state performance and of the electromagnetic transients, i. e.
switching and fault transients. Steady-state analysis is
associated with the reactive power compensation and the
voltage rise at the end of the unloaded line.
A. Line in Steady State
The results are shown in Table II. The line configuration
with cable section produces significantly more reactive power
than line with only OHL in no-load state. Furthermore voltages
at end of the line are higher by configuration with cable
section. Despite the fact that cable makes only 5% of line its
influence on steady state conditions of the line is significant. In
practice only part of produced reactive power is compensated
with shunt reactors. The remaining reactive power is absorbed
by rest of electrical system or consumed by line itself in higher
loading periods. Two shunt reactors are installed as close as
possible to the cable. First shunt reactor is installed in
substation B. On the other side of cable sections the substation
C is 90 km far away from cable end. Thus second shunt reactor
is installed directly at the transition point between cable and
OHL. One system is compensated by two 120-Mvar shunt
reactors connected to the line in mentioned before locations.
The same configuration (same shunt reactors and their
locations) is chosen for the second system.

TABLE II. STEADY STATE RESULTS

Produced by Line
Line Voltage at End in
Reactive Power under
Configuration Substation C (p.u)
no-load state (Mvar)
1 177 1.03

2 395 1.08

3 153 1.03 Figure 7. Arc voltage of configuration 1 with OHL

It is observed that secondary arc in configuration 1 with

B. Secondary Arc in a 400-kV Transmission Line
During a SLG short circuit secondary arc between line and
overhead line tower can occur. The influence of partial
replacement of an OHL by cable sections and line-side
connected shunt reactors on arcing time of the secondary arcs
are investigated in several papers [2], [9], [10]. Both cable and
OHL are represented by CPDL model. The arc model (type-94
element) which was developed in MODELS simulation
language is connected to the fault phase at transition point
between overhead line and cable. The type-94 element is
grounded by a 0.1 Ω resistance. Following arc parameters have
been used for the simulation. These variables are inserted into
the differential equation system from [2].
u´0 = 0.9 kV/m, τ0 = 1 ms
r´0 = 22 mΩ/m, α = −0.5
OHL line alone extinguishes after 1.35 s (Fig. 6). Duration
time of secondary arc at a line with cable section (configuration
2) is shorter and secondary arc extinguishes after 0.9 s (Fig. 8).
The same operation was repeated for different fault locations
along the line. In all investigated cases secondary arc
extinguishes faster for line configuration with cable section.
When secondary arc current decreases with time, secondary arc
voltage increases. The secondary arc does not extinguish
before arc voltage reaches level of recovery voltage.
Waveforms of arc voltages for both configurations are shown
in Fig. 7 and 9. For configuration with only OHL recovery
voltage is reached later as for configuration with cable section.
In line with cable section arc voltage attains faster recovery
voltage and secondary arc can extinguish.

The initial arc length is assumed to be 3.5 m. First

investigated system is in 50% load state. The second parallel
system during the fault is in an error free state (also 50% load
state). SLG fault in phase A is initiated for all configurations of
the line. The primary arc is initiated at t = 0.1 s at transition
point between OHL and cable (20 km far away from substation
B). The pole of phase A of the circuit breaker in substation B
and C opens at t = 0.5 s in voltage zero point. Waveforms of
arc currents and arc voltages for first and second line
configurations are shown in Fig. 6-9.
Figure 8. Arc current of configuration 2 with cable section

Figure 6. Arc current of configuration 1 with OHL

Figure 9. Arc voltage of configuration 2 with cable section

 The line configuration with cable section requires a shunt
reactor to compensate produced in low load periods reactive
power. Degree of compensation and location of these shunt
reactors were already presented in previous chapter. The
influence of these line-side connected shunt reactors on
secondary arc is investigated. A SLG fault is simulated in the
same location as for previous cases (first transition point). Both
shunt reactors do not have neutral coils. Fig. 10, 11 show the
computed arc current and voltage.
Figure 10. Arc current of configuration 3 with cable and shunt reactor
Figure 11. Arc voltage for configuration 3 with cable and shunt reactor
It was observed that secondary arc in configuration with
cable section and shunt reactors extinguishes after 1,27 s.
Compared to the line configuration 2 without shunt reactor
(Fig. 8, 9) the recovery voltage oscillates causing longer
secondary arc duration. If the recovery voltage would be too
high, secondary arc could not extinguish and re-ignition of the
arc would be likely.
IV. CONCLUSION
The number of applications of hybrid lines consisting of
several OHL and cable sections at EHV level may rise in near
future. Usage of cable sections determines installing of shunt
reactors to compensate produced in low load periods reactive
power. Influence of cable sections in EHV line and connected
line- side shunt reactors was investigated. The secondary arc
life- time for different line configurations was brought into
focus.
Primary and secondary arc stages can be represented with
the arc model presented in this paper. The arc was modelled
using type-94 component in EMTP/ATP. This model enables
solution of differential equation system in subroutine
MODELS simultaneously with running computations in
EMTP/ATP. The behaviour of secondary arc is extreme
random. However the model used in this paper allows
investigating secondary arc in auto- reclosing studies.
For different line configurations secondary arc extinguishes
after different time intervals. The longest secondary arc life-
time was obtained for configuration with only OHL.
Substitution of short OHL section for cable section causes
much higher production of reactive power. This reactive power
must be compensated. Connected line-side shunt reactors in
configuration 3 with cable section can extend life- time of
secondary arc.
REFERENCES
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Fachbuchverlag Leipzig , 2003 (in German).
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Lines using EMTP/ATP, " KEUG International Workshop on ATP-
EMTP 2004
[3] Canadian/American EMTP User Group , ATP Rule Book, Portland;
revised and distributed by EEUG Assosciation 2006.
[4] Z. Gajic, B. Hillström, F. Mehic "HV Shunt Reactors. Secrets for
protection engineers , 2003 15th Western Protective Relaying
Conference, Spokane, USA
[5] L. Prikler, G. Ban, G. Banfai "EMTP Models for Simulation of Shunt
Reactor Switching Transients, " 1995 15th International Conference
on Power System Transients, Lisbon, Portugal
[6] L. Dube, users guige to MODELS in ATP, 1996
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Models Based on Identification of Arc Parameters from Staged Fault
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[8] H. J. Haubrich, Single-Phase Auto-Reclosing in EHV Systems,
CIGRE 1974
[9] IEEE Power System Relaying Committee Report, Single-Phase
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