2011 IEEE GCC Conference and Exhibition (GCC), February 19-22, 2011, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
MITIGATION OF MAGNETIC FIELDS NEAR TRANSMISSION
LINES USING A PASSIVE LOOP CONDUCTOR
Redy Mardiana and Majid Poshtan
Department of Electrical Engineering, The Petroleum Institute
PO Box 2533, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
ABSTRACT
This paper presents a concept to reduce the magnetic field
generated from ac overhead transmission lines. The
mitigation of magnetic field is performed by using a
passive loop conductor. The method is applied to a flat
transmission line configuration which is used frequently
in extra high-voltage system. The effect of width and
height of passive loop conductor on the reduction of
magnetic field intensity is further investigated. Numerical
results of magnetic field mitigation and further discussion
are provided.
Index Terms — Magnetic Fields, Passive Loop,
Transmission Line, Magnetic Field Mitigation.
1. INTRODUCTION
Power transmission utilities are challenged by the need to
expand transmission system capacity to meet growing
energy demands. The acquisition of new transmission
right-of-way (ROW) is very difficult and expensive due to
land use public concerns and, more recently, the
biological effects of ELF (extremely low frequency)
magnetic fields from power facilities [1]. As a
consequence, the transmission systems must increase their
capability and minimize land use while attenuating
electromagnetic fields at ROW edge [2]. Some concepts,
such as modified transmission tower configurations, are
very effective in reducing magnetic fields but are suitable
only for new or completely rebuilt lines. This approach is
expensive and needs power shut-down of existing lines.
A magnetic field mitigation concept is presented in
this paper. The mitigation concept can be applied without
requiring any modification to an existing transmission
line. Installation of this concept also can be achieved
without de-energizing the existing circuits. Moreover, the
concept can also be adopted for new transmission line
construction. The mitigation of magnetic field is
performed by using overhead passive loop conductor
paralleling the existing transmission line between the line
and the ROW edge. While the concept of passive loop
conductors to mitigate magnetic fields has been
978-1-61284-119-9/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE
established [2-5], the concept described here includes the
investigation of the effect of width and height of passive
loop conductor on the reduction of magnetic field. In this
study, a transmission line with a flat conductor
configuration is considered. The magnetic field density
above the ground along lateral distance is calculated.
Application of the passive loop concept to other
configurations (e.g. delta, vertical) may provide relative
performance different from that shown for the flat
configuration [2], but investigation of such applications is
not performed in this initial study.
2. MITIGATION OF MAGNETIC FIELDS
2.1. Review of Magnetic Field Calculation
At power frequency, the magnetic-field calculation can be
regarded as a quasi-static problem, thus, the magnetic
field can be solved by static techniques. Dealing with ac
overhead transmission lines, the following assumptions
are commonly made:
1. Electrical resistivity of the soil is assumed as infinite.
2. The effect of phase current unbalance is neglected.
3. Currents induced inconductive elements within the
soil or close to line are ignored.
4. The effect of harmonic currents is neglected.
5. Phase conductors and shield wires are straight,
horizontal, and infinitely long.
If the above assumptions hold, the Ampere’s law is
equivalent to the Biot-Savart law [6]. So the Biot-Savart
law can be used to determine the magnetic field at an
arbitrary observer position. As shown in Fig. 1, the
magnetic field flux density B at observer point (xj, yj)
produced by an infinite straight conductor is expressed by
P0 I i
Bij aI (1)
2S rij
where I is the conductor current, P 0 is the magnetic
permeability of free space, r is the distance from ith phase
conductor to the jth point, and aI is a unit vector. In case
of three phase line, the total unmitigated magnetic field is
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the vectorial sum of the magnetic field vectors produced 2.2. Magnetic Field Reduction Concept
by each phase at the observer point,
A pasive loop conductor is installed beneath the outside
ª ( x  x j )a y  ( yi  y j )ax º phases of the transmission lines as shown in Fig. 2. A
P0 n
Bij ¦ Ii « i
2S i 1 «¬ ( xi  x j ) 2  ( yi  y j ) 2 »¼
» (2) horizontal passive loop is considered in this study. The
two auxiliary conductors (M1 and M2) form a loop and
ª ( yi  y j ) º are located at (xm1, ym1) and (xm2, ym2) beneath the phase
P0 n
Bx ¦
2S i 1
 Ii « 2» (3) conductors. Here, the formula to estimate an induced
«¬ ( xi  x j )  ( yi  y j ) »¼
2
current to a passive loop is derived based on the well-
known Faraday’s law. The voltage induction to the loop is
P0 n ª ( xi  x j ) º
By ¦ Ii «
2S i 1 «¬ ( xi  x j )  ( yi  y j ) »¼
2 2 » (4) obtained using the formula given by

V  jZI (8)
where n is the total number of current-carrying
conductors, a x and a y are the unit vector in x- and y- where V is the voltage induction, Z the angular frequency,
and I the magnetic flux perpendicular to the plane where
directions, respectively. It is assumed that the phase
the loop conductor exists. The amount of flux penetration
current are pure sinusodal waveforms and they can be
caused by the sinusoidally varying current in each phase
represented by
is given by [2]
I1 I max cos(Zt ) x2
I2 I max cos(Zt  120) (5) I ". ³ Bn dx
I3 I max cos(Zt  120). x1
(9)
P I" n ( x  xi ) 2  ( ym 2  yi ) 2
 0 ¦ ln m 2
Then, the total magnetic flux density vector is 4S i 1 ( xm1  xi ) 2  ( ym1  yi ) 2

B Bx ax  By a y . (6) where, Bn is the flux density component perpendicular to

the plane of the loop conductor, " is the length of
The standard technique for the measurement of transmission line, I is the phase current, and P0 is the
magnetic fields is to measure the energy of resultant field. relative permeability in air. The voltage induction to the
The energy of resultant field is commonly defined in term loop is obtained by the formula below
of rms (root-mean-square) value of magnetic field. The
j (TI 90 )
rms of resultant field of single frequency fields is the sum Ve jTV jZIe . (10)
of the of the rms values from each axis as expressed by
Induced voltage in the mitigating loop drives the
Brms Bx ( rms )  By ( rms ) . (7) mitigating current Imit through the impedance Z of the
passive loop. The induced current Imit on the loop
conductor for multiple-phase current is expressed as
This approach, however, requires separate consideration
when the fields of the higher harmonics exist.
V j (TV TZ )
I mit e jTmit e . (11)
Z

Here, Tv and Tmit are the phases of the voltage induction,

and the induced current, respectively. This induced
current Imit creates a mitigating magnetic flux density Bm
at all points of right-of-way,

Bm Bmx a x  Bmy a y (12)

ª ( ym1  y j ) º
« »
I mit P0 « ( xm1  x j )  ( ym1  y j ) »
2 2

Bmx (13)
2S « ( ym 2  y j ) »
Figure 1. Illustration of magnetic field vector. « »
«¬ ( xm 2  x j )  ( ym 2  y j ) »¼
2 2

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 unmitigated magnetic field (B), mitigating magnetic field
ª ( xm1  x j ) º (Bm), and mitigated magnetic field (Bt) for the width of 10
« » m. The peak of magnetic field density without installation
 I mit P0 « ( xm1  x j )  ( ym1  y j ) »
2 2
of passive loop (unmitigated field) is 10.34 µT. This
Bmy . (14)
2S « ( xm 2  x j ) » magnetic field is independent on the length of passive
« » loop. When a passive loop is installed 10 m above the
«¬ ( xm 2  x j )  ( ym 2  y j ) »¼
2 2
ground, the peak of magnetic field density is reduced by
1.209 µT and becomes 9.373 µT.
The mitigated magnetic field Bt(xj, yj) at each point of the
right-of-way is vectorial sum of the local original
(unmitigated) magnetic field B(xj, yj) and of the local
auxiliary (mitigating) magnetic field Bm(xj, yj).

Magnetic field density (µT)

Y

-10.575 m 10.575 m

EW EW

14.25 m
- 15 m 15 m

Lateral distance (m)

10 m
-15 m 15 m
Figure 3. Magnetic field density versus lateral distance from
centre line. The width of passive loop is 10 m.
M1 M2
10 m

Figure 2. Geometrical dimension of transmission line

Percentage reduction

configuration. EW is earth wire, while M1 and M2 are

auxilary conductors that form a passive loop.

3. CALCULATION RESULTS

The study is divided into two catagories; (a) the effect of

widht (or the distance between conductors M1 and M2) of
a passive loop on the magnetic field reduction, and (b) the
effect of height of a passive loop on the magnetic field
reduction. The horizontal passive loop is considered. The
calculation of magnetic field is applied to a flat
transmission line configuration which has geometrical
dimension as shown in Fig. 2. It is assumed that each
phase line carries 1500 Ampere of balanced currents. The
magnetic field distribution is calculated at tower level and
1 meter above the ground level. The resistance of loop
conductor is R = 0.051 ohm/km and geometric mean
radius Ds = 0.0142 m.
3.1. Effect of Width of Passive Loop on Magnetic
Field Reduction
The height of passive loop conductor is constant at 10 m
above ground level, while the width of passive loop
varies. The width varies from 10 m to 40 m with the
increment of 10 m. As for example, Fig. 3 shows the
Lateral distance (m)
Figure 4. Comparison of the percentage reduction for the
height of passive loop of 10 m.
Fig. 4 shows the comparison of percentage reduction
for different width of passive loop. When the loop
becomes wider, the induced voltage increases and, hence,
the current flowing on the loop also increases. This would
result in the increase of mitigating magnetic field and,
consequently, the percentage reduction becomes larger. It
is interesting to note that when the width of passive loop
is enlarged from 40 m to 50 m, the mitigated magnetic
field is almost the same. This can be understood that
when the passive loop becomes wider, the impedance of
passive loop becomes larger, meanwhile the mitigating
magnetic flux to the passive loop is relatively unchanged.

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Therefore, the induced current on the passive loop is
almost unchanged. This result provides important
information that there is a certain width of passive loop
that gives maximum reduction to the unmitigated
magnetic field density. In other words, there is a certain
width of passive loop that gives a lowest mitigated
magnetic field density. In this example, this width is
between 40 m and 50 m.
3.2. Effect of Height of Passive Loop on Magnetic
Field Reduction
The width of passive loop conductor is constant at 30 m,
while the height of passive loop above ground level
varies. Fig. 5 shows the magnetic field profiles of the
unmitigated magnetic field (B), induced magnetic field
(Bm) and mitigated magnetic field (Bt) for the height of 15
m. The peak of magnetic field density without installation
of the passive loop (unmitigated field) is 10.34 µT. The
peak of mitigating magnetic field density is 3.092 µT and
peak of mitigated magnetic field is 7.641 µT.
Magnetic field density (µT)
Lateral distance (m)
Figure 5. Magnetic field density versus lateral distance from
centre line. The height of passive loop is 15 m.
Percentage reduction
Lateral distance (m)
Figure 6. Comparison of the percentage reduction for the
width of passive loop of 30 m.
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Fig. 6 shows the comparison of the percentage
reduction for different heights of the passive loop. It is
worth noting that when the passive loop is installed above
the phase lines (i.e., at 25 m and 30 m), the magnetic field
reduction becomes smaller because the distance from the
passive loop conductor to the point being observed is
larger. Also, the highest reduction is located beyond the
centre line along the lateral distance. Note that the current
flowing on the passive loop at the height of 15 m has the
same amplitude as the current at the height of 25 m due to
the same amount of induced current.
4. CONCLUSION
The concept to reduce the magnetic field generated
from overhead transmission lines has been presented. The
mitigation of magnetic field has been performed by means
of a passive loop conductor. From the simulation results,
the conclusion can be drawn as follows:
1. The magnetic field reduction is affected by the width
and height of passive loop conductor.
2. When the loop becomes wider, the magnetic field
reduction becomes larger. However, there is a certain
width of passive loop that gives maximum reduction
to the unmitigated magnetic field density.
3. The higher the passive loop the lower the percentage
reduction.
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