Arcing Fault Detection in Underground Distribution Networks -
Feasibility Study
W. Charytoniuk, W.J. Lee, M.S. Chen
Energy Systems Research Center
The University of Texas at Arlington
Arlington, TX
Abstract: In some ckcumstanms, arcing faults on insulated low-
voltage conductors can sustain or reignite intermittently for several
or even several dozen minutes, generating large amount of heat and
gases. In underground secondaxy distribution cables in ducts, the
decomposition gases escape to the ends of the duct, typically man-
holes, where they can ignite fire or explode throwing out the man-
hole cover. Detection of arcing faults may be difficult using standard
overcurrent protections because some arcing faults generate rela-
tively low currents. To study the feasibility of detectmg arcing faults
in underground networks, Consolidated Edison’s personnel con-
ducted an experiment in one secondaq network by staging arcing
faults and collecting data at the fault location and several nearby
vaults. The data were analyzed to examine the feasibility of devel-
oping a detection algorithm. This paper presents some results of this
analysis in time, frequency and time-fiequency domains.
Keywords: Arcing Fault, Fault Detection, Underground Network,
SecondaryNetwork, Harmonic Analysis, Wavelet Decomposition
I. INTRODUCTION
Arcing faults occur in electric equipment because of insu-
lation failure. The electric arc is plasma with temperatures
varying between 2,000 and 25,000 K. It may cause consider-
able damage to the equipment if the fault is not detected and
cleared quickly. Detection of arcing faults may be difscult
using standard overcurrent protections because some arcing
faults generate relatively low currents.
Arcing faults on insulated conductors of 208/120 V are
usually considered selfextinguishing. Arc self-extinction is
due to a low voltage combined with post-arc column deioni-
zation by insulation decomposition gases. In some circum-
stances, however, these faults can sustain or reignite periodi-
cally for several or even several dozen minutes, generating
large amount of heat and gases [1-41. In underground secon-
dary distribution cables in ducts, the decomposition gases
escape to the ends of the duct, typically manholes, where they
can ignite fire or explode throwing out the manhole cover.
The mechanism of arcing faults on low-voltage cables in
ducts is described in 141. These faults usually start as a phase-
to-neutral fault or a phase to ground fault. In a wet, dirty
duct, an arcing fault can be initiated when conductive mois-
ture enters a region of damaged or deteriorated insulation
02000 IEEE
0-7803-5843-O/OO/$lO.OO
15
J. Cultrera, T. M e t o n e
ConsolidatedEdison Co. of New York
New York, NY
generating a weak discharge. This discharge quickly develops
into a full current arcing fault that releases a large amount of
heat in a limited space. The high temperature causes the
evaporation of the conducting material and the intense ther-
mal degradation of the cable insulation. The erosion of the
conductor and the blowing of insulation decomposition gases
create the conditions for arc self-extinction. Evaporation of
the conductor stops, but thermal degradation of the insulation
in the adjacent areas continues due to the high temperature in
the limited space of the duct. This causes the arc to reignite in
another spot by either surface discharge or by gas breakdown.
The fault becomes an interrupted arc with short arcing peri-
ods separated by longer dead times. In addition, damages to
the insulation of other phase conductors allow the arc to de-
velop into a phase-to-phase and, finally, a three-phase fault
with longer and more frequent subsequent arcing periods.
The interrupted character of arcing faults is an additional
factor impeding operation of the avercurrent devices protect-
ing underground cables.
There have been several methods developed for arcing fault
detection. They are based on examining Merent characteris-
tics of currents and voltages in time, frequency, and
time/frequency domains. The timedomain methods analyze
such characteristics as the ratio of zero and positive sequence
currents, half-cycle current asymmetry, and randomness of
arcing current behavior [5-71. In the frequency domain, the
harmonic contents of phase currents or some coefficients
measuring waveform distortion are monitored 18-12]. The
time/frequency methods analyze the transient behavior of
arcing faults in both time and frequency domain using wave-
let transforms [13,14]. Artificial neural networks were also
proposed to discriminate the arcing faults from the normal
currents 115,161. To increase sensitivity and eliminate false
tripping, comprehensive expert systems were implemented
that combine some of the above methods 117,181. In 1161, the
authors proposed an alternative approach to arcing fault de-
tection based on the analysis of acoustic, infra-red and radio
waves produced by arcing faults.
Most of the mentioned above methods have been developed
for primary distribution feeders and their applicability to fault
detection in low-voltage systems is unclear.
 Arcing faults are believed to be the cause of several man-
hole fires and explosions in the secondary distribution system
operated by Consolidated Edison in New York City. This
system has the form of an underground cable grid of
208/120V, often with multiple parallel branches. Such an
arrangement assures sufkicient networks' capacity and high
reliability required in highly populated areas, but it also cre-
ates some problems with network operation. One of those
problems is the underground network proneness to arcing
faults. Deterioration of aging cable insulation in conjunction
with unfavorable weather conditions, particularly melting
snow mixed with salt, can create in cable conduits an envi-
ronment in which arcing faults can be initiated. The networks
are usually heavily loaded, so arcing fault currents often are
not high enough to trigger traditional fault protection devices,
i.e., limiters protecting mains and network protectors.
Detection of arcing faults in low-voltage underground net-
works requires techniques that are more sophisticated. In
general, they consist in distinguishing between the two net-
domains:. time, frequency, and time-frequency (wavelet
transfOllll).
11. TIME DOMAIN ANALYSIS
The time domain analysis involved calculating effective
(rms) values of currents and voltages over a period of one or a
few cycles and comparing changes in those values during the
staged arcing faults against the normal conditions. Besides
recorded phase currents, the neutral current synthesized by
adding the instantaneous phase currents was also analyzed.
There were significant surges obsewed in the effective values
of the phase and neutral currents at the vaults during the
fault. The phase voltages at the vaults were much less af-
fected. Fig. 1 presents the effective values of the phase cur-
rents during one selected test. The staged arcing fault lasted
from around 10th to 60th s. It is evident that the fault gener-
Phase i(

work states, normal and faulty. In the normal state, the cur-
rents in the network are only due to the served customer load,
and in the faulty state, the currents are driven by both the
customer load and the arcing fault. An arcing fault detection
method will require monitoring currents and voltages at net-
work transformers and some network nodes in searching for
the signature of an arcing fault. To make the detection algo-
rithm reliable, these currents and voltages must be sampled at
a sufficiently high rate, at least several samples per cycle. 550: o, Pb io ,b Id0 1;o 1o
:
Transferring such huge amount of data through the existing Time (s)
telecommunication channels is prohibitive. A viable altema- Phase b
tive is to process data locally, at network transformers and 900

some nodes, and only transmit some information to the con- 850
i i I l i I I
trol center after detecting an arcing fault. Currently, such data 800
processing is possible at network transformers, which are
750
equipped with microprocessor-based network protectors. De-
tection of arcing faults in network nodes would require an 6 700

installation of additional devices capable of recording and 650

processing instantaneous currents and voltages. 600

To study the feasibility of detecting arcing faults in under-
ground networks, Consolidated Edison's personnel conducted 554 2b 4b io
Time
,b
(5)
,io 1:o ,a0

an experiment in one secondary network. The experiment

consisted in staging arcing faults and collecting data at the
fault location and several nearby vaults. The tests were con-
ducted during the normal operation of the network with nor-
mal customer loads present at those vaults. The data included
phase voltages and currents recorded at a sample rate of
20,000 samples per second. The data collected were analyzed
to examine the possibility of developing a detection algo-
rithm. The remainder of this paper presents some results of
this analysis.
The objective of data analysis was to identify the arcing
fault signature, i.e., a set of characteristics that clearly deter- Time (s)
mine the presence of an arcing fault in the monitored currents
Fig. 1. Phase currents (rms)during a staged arcingfault
and voltages in the network. The data were analyzed in three

16
 800 ................................................................................................................

600 ............................................................................................................
?
; m ...........................................................................................................

5 m ..............................................................................................................
0 , . I-. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I O 2 4 0 8 10 12 14 10 18 I
Time (a)

......................................................................................

.............................................................................................................

f a .........................................................................................................

f m ......................................................................................

. .-. .-. . . I . , . . . . . . . . .
0
2 4 0 8 io 12 14 10 18

Harmmt Mmbsr
Fig. 2. Synthesized neutral current (rms) during a staged arcing fault
Fig. 3. Phase-current harmonics
ated spikes in the phase currents. However, similar spikes of
smaller magnitude appeared in the phase currents also during
the normal conditions, after the cable section with the staged 80, I

60 ..................
fault was disconnected. It turned out that those "normal"
....................................................................................................
transient events were usually balanced and did not show up in
the synthesized neutral current. The arcing fault generated
spikes were unbalanced and clearly visible in the neutral cur-
rent. This is illustrated in Fig. 2. It shows the neutral current
-20 ................
2 4
I-.

6
. .
0
...
..........................................................................................

. . .
10
. . . . . . . . .
12 14 16 18

40 .......................
along with its absolute increments for the same test. The
-60 ........................
other tests confirmed this observation. Hence, a surge in the
absolute increments in the effective values of the synthesized
neutral current is a good indicator of an arcing fault.

111. FREQUENCY DOMAIN ANALYSIS

60 ............................................................................................................
The frequency domain analysis was aimed at comparison ,o .................................................................................
of the harmonic contents of the phase and neutral currents ............................................................................................................
during an arcing fault and normal conditions. Harmonics
were calculated using Fast Fourier Transform. Fig. 3 and 4 2 4 6 0 10 12 14 16 18
E -20 .......................................................................................................
depict a snapshot of the harmonic contents of the phase and 40 ...........................................................................................
neutral currents during the mentioned above test. -68 .............................................................................
In addition to examining individual harmonics, a general
measure of the current waveform distortion, a distortion coef-
ficient, was also analyzed. The distortion coefficient is de-
fined as follows: Fig. 4. Neutral-current harmonics

where Ii denotes ith harmonic of a phase or neutral current.

Fig. 5 presents the distortion coefficient of the phase-a and
neutral currents calculated for the same test.

17
 Phase-a ~ m n l
0.45 The following were the most characteristic changes in the
0.4 harmonic content caused by arcing faults:
0.35
0 significant increase in the level of the second harmonic
g 0.3 in the neutral and phase currents, as illustrated in Fig. 6,
f 0.25 and
6 0.2 0 appearance of the dc component in the phase currents, as
I depicted in Fig. 7.
0.15

0.1

0.05
IV. TIME-FREQUENCY DOMAIN ANALYSIS
'0 20 ~-40 80 80
Time ( 8 )
1W 120 140 Time-frequency analysis is used to determine how the fie-
quency behavior of a signal changes over time. This analysis
Neutral current involves decomposing a signal into a set of components using
a wavelet transformation [19]. Each component represents, in
time domain, the presence of a transient waveform of certain
duration and the shape determined by the type of the wavelet
applied.
Wavelet decomposition is carried out by transforming an
original signal using a family of wavelets, each with the time
window ensuring the resolution appropriate for the frequency
(scale) it represents. Wavelets provide greater resolution in
time for higher frequency components of a signal and greater
Time (5)
resolution in fiequency for the low frequency components of a
signal. A wavelet itself is a transient signal that can be
Fig. 5. Distortioncoefficient loosely defined as a function that is oscillatory, has a zero
mean, and decays quickly to zero. Wavelets are used in pairs:
18, I I I I I 1 one to represent the high fiequencies corresponding to the
16 detail components of a signal and one for the signal's low
E
$14 frequencies or approximate components.
B The wavelet transformation is computed using the pyramid
-g
a
12
10 algorithm. The pyramid algorithm uses a series of linear fil-
m
2 8
ters¶ low- and high-pass to decompose the signal into two
Y

2 6
components: detail high frequency, and approximate low fie-
quency. The algorithm combines these filters with down-
1 4
sampling operation, i.e., at each iteration it discards every
z 2
0
other sample, halving the data each time.
0 20 40 60 60
T i m (s)
100 120 140 Time-frequency analysis was applied to detect the presence
of the transients added to the current by an arcing fault. These
Fig. 6. Ratio of the 2"6harmonic and fUndamenta1f i q e n c y ofthe phase-a cur- transients can be extracted in some detail component(s) of a
rent wavelet transformation. The ability of a wavelet transforma-
tion to detect a particular transient in a signal, in this case an
40 arcing fault in a phase or neutral current, depends on the type
E of the wavelet family, its order, and the level of decomposi-
E 30
5
20
tion, i.e., the number of detail components extracted. Differ-
ent wavelet families were applied to the test data in search for
! 10
the characteristic detail components introduced to the phase
I5
-
f -10
0 or neutral current by an arcing fault. The best results were
obtained using the fifth order Daubechies family of wavelets.
-20
Fig. 8 presents seven detail components (dl47) along with
0 the original signal (s) and the 7" approximate component
-30
o 20 40 BO eo io0 120 140 (a7) for a phase current during the normal and faulty condi-
Time ( 0 )
tions. A sampling rate of 100 samples per 3 cycles was used.
Fig. 7.Ratio of the DC component and fUndamentalfiequency ofthe phase-a The arcing fault s i g " l y increased the 6" detail compo-
current nent of the phase and neutral currents, as depicted in Fig. 9.

18
 Normal conditions Rlase current
150 I 1

100.
S
50-
-10
a7 -1%
%
O-
d7 = -50-
1
6 -100 .
d6

d5 -mo
t I
V
i.I
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35
5111 Tim (5)
d4 0
-5111
Mutral armnt
50 40
d3 -U
0

40
30.
m
d2 0
-m 20.
g
'10 E 10-
dl 0 0
-lO
100 200 300 400 Sm 500 700
Q 0-
Time (samples) -
-10 -
n

Faulty conditions
5 -20.
30 -

S
Time ( 5 )
a7
Fig. 9. The 6' detail componentof the wavelet decomposition with the 5'
order Daubechiesfamily of wavelets
d7

d6 V. CONCLUSIONS

d5 Deterioration of aging cable insulation in conjunction with

unfavorable weather conditions, particularly melting snow
d4 mixed with salt, can create in underground secondary net-
tm works an environment in which arcing faults can be initiated.
d3 0
-im These faults can reignite intermittently for several or even
m several dozen minutes, generating large amount of heat and
d2 -m gases and leading to manhole fires or explosions.
-40
m
0 Detection of arcing faults may be difllicult using standard
dl -m
1 M 2 0 0 Y D 4 0 0 ~ 5 0 0 m O
overcurrent protective devices because some arcing faults
Time (samples) generate relatively low currents. To study the feasibility of
detecting arcing faults in underground networks, Consoli-
Fig 8. Wavelet decomposition of a phase current using the Sm order Daubechies
f d y of wavelets and a level of decomposition of 7 dated Edison's personnel conducted an experiment in one
(100 samples / 3 cycles) secondary network by staging arcing faults and collecting
data at the fault location and several nearby vaults. The data
Although it is evident that wavelet decomposition allows were analyzed to examine the feasibility of developing a de-
extracting characteristic components added by an arcing fault tection algorithm.
from a phase or neutral current, this ability is strongly af- Several potential approaches to arcing fault detection were
fected by the choice of a wavelet family, decomposition level, considered:
sampling rate, and arcing fault behavior. In order to select 0 Analysis of voltages and currents in time domain. A
and set the parameters of a wavelet transformation, and es- surge in the absolute increments in the effective values of
tablish detection criteria that will assure robust performance, the synthesized neutral current was a most reliable indi-
further analysis of arcing faults as well as transients observed cator of an arcing fault.
during normal conditions is required.

19
0 Analysis of the above quantities in frequency domain. An
increased level of the second harmonic of the neutral and
phase currents, and appearance of the dc component in
the phase cunents were the most characteristic features
of arcing faults.
0 Applying a wavelet decomposition to extract detail com-
ponents characteristic to arcing faults. Effectiveness of
this approach is strongly affected by the choice of a
wavelet family, decomposition level, sampling rate, and
arcing fault behavior.
Based on the data analysis, it seems to be feasible to de-
velop an algorithm capable of detecting arcing faults by proc-
essing instantaneous values of currents at network protectors
and some network nodes. To satisfy the sensitivity and reli-
ability requirements, the algorithm should be based on the
combined arcing fault signature in time, frequency and time-
frequency domains. The implementation of the algorithm
must also consider the availability of local computational re-
sources.
VI. REFERENCES
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[3] T. Gammon, J. Matthew The Historical Evaluation of Arcing-Fault
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~.
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~.
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.
Wiktor Charytoniuk received a M.S. degree in electrical engineering fiom
Technical University of Bialystok (Poland) in 1984 and a Ph.D. degree in elec-
trical engineering ffom Warsaw University of Technology in 1991. He is cur-
rently Faculty Associate at the Energy Systems Research Center at The Univer-
sity of Texas at Arlington, prior to which he was employed at Technical Univer-
sity of Bialystok. Dr.Chaqtotiuk is a member of IEEE.
Wei-Jen Lee was bom in 1956. He received BS and MS degrees in Electri-
cal Engineering ffom the National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, in 1978
and 1980, respectively, and a PhD. degree in Electrical Engineering from the
University of Texas at Arliigton in 1985. Since then, he joined the University of
Texas at Arlimgton as a faculty member and is currently a professor of the Elec-
trical Engineering Department. He has been involved in research on power flow,
transient and dynamic stability, short circuit, relay coordination, and power
quality a d y s i s and improvement for electric utility companies. He is also in-
volved in research on the design of microcomputer-based measurement, control,
and protection equipment for electric power systems. He is a senior member of
IEEE and a Register Professional Engineer in the State of Texas.
MO-Shing Chen received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering hm the
National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan in 1954 and the M.S. and Ph.D.
degrees from the University of Texas at Austin in 1958 and 1962 respectively.
He is currently Professor of Electrical Engineering and Director of the Energy
Systems Research Center at the University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington,
Texas. He has served as a consultant to numerous companies and government
agencies. Dr.Chen is a member of Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, IEEE,
ASEE, Texas Society of Professional Engineers and the New York Academy of
Science. In 1976 he was the first recipient of the Edison Electric Institute’s
Power Engineering Educator Award. He is a Register Professional Engineer in
the state of Texas. Dr.Chen is an IEEE Fellow and has published more than 80
Joe Cultrera received his BS degree in Electrical Engineering &om City
College of New York in 1966. Since then, he has joint the Consolidated Edison
Company of New York,Inc. (ConEd) and has held several technical and engi-
neering positions. Presently, he is a senior engineer at the distribution department
of Con/Ed He has been involved in several projects regarding the security and
reliability of low voltage underground distribution networks.
Theodore Maf€etone (M77), was born in New York City on March 28,
1948. He received his Master of Science in Electrical Engineering fiom Poly-
technic University of New York in 1982. He has worked for the Consolidated
Edison Company of New York, Inc. since 1973 and has held several technical
and engineering positions, including five years as a relay protedion engineer.
Presently he is a Project Manager in the Research and Development department,
specializing in the field of Distribution Automation and Automatic Meter Read-
ing (Ah4R). Recent efforts include participation in the development of a substa-
AMR designs and extensive development work in a secondary automation sys-
tem in the underground distribution system. He is a member of the Institute of
Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) and a registered Professional Engi-
neer, licensed in the state ofNew York and New Jersey.