4.

Fault Analysis:

Under normal conditions, a power system operates under balanced conditions with all equipments carrying normal load currents and the bus voltages within the prescribed limits. This condition can be disrupted due to a fault in the system. A fault in a circuit is a failure that interferes with the normal ow of current. A short circuit fault occurs when the insulation of the system fails resulting in low impedance path either between phases or phase(s) to ground. This causes excessively high currents to ow in the circuit, requiring the operation of protective equipments to prevent damage to equipment. The short circuit faults can be classied as: Symmetrical faults Unsymmetrical faults

4.6

Symmetrical faults:

f to the A three phase symmetrical fault is caused by application of three equal fault impedances Z f = 0 the fault is called a solid or a bolted fault. These faults three phases, as shown in Fig. 4.39. If Z can be of two types: (a) line to line to line to ground fault (LLLG fault) or (b) line to line to line fault (LLL fault). Since the three phases are equally aected, the system remains balanced. That is why, this fault is called a symmetrical or a balanced fault and the fault analysis is done on per phase basis. The behaviour of LLLG fault and LLL fault is identical due to the balanced nature f = 0, this is usually the of the fault. This is a very severe fault that can occur in a system and if Z most severe fault that can occur in a system. Fortunately, such faults occur infrequently and only about 5% of the system faults are three phase faults.

Figure 4.39: Symmetrical Fault

146

4.7

Unsymmetrical faults:

Faults in which the balanced state of the network is disturbed are called unsymmetrical or unbalanced faults. The most common type of unbalanced fault in a system is a single line to ground fault (LG fault). Almost 60 to 75% of faults in a system are LG faults. The other types of unbalanced faults are line to line faults (LL faults) and double line to ground faults (LLG faults). About 15 to 25% faults are LLG faults and 5 to 15% are LL faults. These faults are shown in Fig. 4.40.

Figure 4.40: Unsymmetrical Fault Majority of the faults occur on transmission lines as they are exposed to external elements. Lightening strokes may cause line insulators to ashover, high velocity winds may cause tower failure, ice loading and wind may result in mechanical failure of line or insulator and tree branches may cause short circuit. Much less common are the faults on cables, circuit breakers, generators, motors and transformers. Fault analysis is necessary for selecting proper circuit breaker rating and for relay settings and coordination.The symmetrical faults are analysed on per phase basis while the unsymmetrical faults BUS matrix is very usefull for short are analyzed using symmetrical components. Further, the Z circuit studies .

4.8

Symmetrical or Balanced three phase fault analysis:

In this type of faults all three phases are simultaneously short circuited. Since the network remains balanced, it is analyzed on per phase basis. The other two phases carry identical currents but with a phase shift of 120 . A fault in the network is simulated by connecting impedances in the network at the fault location. The faulted network is then solved using Thevenins equivalent network as seen from the fault point. The bus impedance matrix is convenient to use for fault studies as its diagonal elements are the Thevenins impedance of the network as seen from dierent buses. Prior to the occurrence of fault, the system is assumed to be in a balanced steady state and hence per phase network model is used. The generators are represented by a constant voltage source behind a suitable reactance which may be sub-transient, transient or normal d-axis reactance. The transmission lines are represented by their -models with all impedances referred to a common base. A typical bus 147

Figure 4.41: Fault at kth bus of a power system of an n- bus power system network is shown in Fig. 4.41. Further, a balanced three phase fault, f is assumed to occur at k th bus as shown in the gure. A pre-fault through a fault impedance Z load ow provides the information about the pre-fault bus voltage. 1 (0) . . . Vk (0) . . . Vn (0) T p.u. The fault BUS (0) be the prefault bus voltage vector = V Let V f will cause a change in the voltage of all the buses V BUS at k th bus through an impedance Z due to the ow of heavy currents through the transmission lines. This change can be calculated by k (0) at k th bus and short circuiting all other voltage sources. The sources and applying a voltage V i loads are replaced by their equivalent impedances. This is shown in Fig. 4.42. In Fig. 4.42, Z

BUS ] Figure 4.42: Network representation for calculating [V k are the equivalent load impedances as bus i and k respectively, z and Z ik is the impedance of line
148

f is the fault impedance, between ith and k th buses. x di is the appropriate generator reactance, Z k (F ) is the fault current and V k (0) is the prefault voltage at k th bus. From the superposition I theorem, the bus voltages due to a fault can be obtained as the sum of prefault bus voltages and the change in bus voltages due to fault,i.e., BUS (F) = V BUS (0) + V BUS V
where, (4.64)

1 (F ) . . . V i (F ) . . . V n (F ) BUS (F) = Vector of bus voltages during fault = V V 1 (0) . . . V i (0) . . . V n (0) BUS (0) = Vector of pre-fault bus voltages = V V
T

1 . . . V k . . . V n BUS = Vector of change in bus voltages due to fault= V V

Also the bus injected current [ IBUS ] can be expressed as,

BUS V BUS IBUS = Y BUS ] is the bus voltage vector and [Y BUS ] is the bus admittance matrix. where, [V

(4.65)

With all the bus currents, except of the faulted bus k , equal to zero, the node equation for the network of Fig. 4.42 can be written as

0 Y 1 1k Y 1n 11 Y V Ik (F ) = Y Y Y V kk kn k k1 nk Y nn 0 Yn1 Y Vn

(4.66)

k (F ) is leaving the bus it is taken as a negative current entering the bus. As the fault current I Hence, BUS V BUS (4.67) IBUS (F) = Y BUS ] can be calculated as: [V BUS = Y BUS V
1

BUS IBUS (F) = Z IBUS (F)

(4.68)

BUS ] is the bus impedance matrix = [Y BUS ]1 . where, [Z BUS ] from equation (4.68) in equation (4.64) one can write, Substituting the expression of [V BUS (F) = V BUS (0) + Z BUS (F) V IBus (F)
Expanding the above equation one can write, 149 (4.69)

 1 (0) Z V 1k Z 1n (0) 11 Z 1 (F ) V Vk (F ) = V + I ( F ) Z Z Z ( 0 ) k k1 kk kn k Vn (F ) V n (0) Zn1 Znk Znn 0

The bus voltage of kth bus can be expressed as:

(4.70)

k (F ) = V k (0) Z kk I k (F ) V
Also from Fig. 4.41

(4.71)

k (F ) = Z F I k (F ) V

(4.72)

f = 0 and hence, V k (F ) = 0. Thus the fault current I k (F ) for bolted fault can For a bolted fault Z be expressed using equation (4.71) as, k (F ) = Vk (0) I kk Z f , the fault current can be calculated as: For faulty with non-zero fault impedance Z k (F ) = Vk (0) I kk + Z f Z
(4.74) (4.73)

kk in equation (4.73) and equation (4.74) is the Thevenins impedance or openThe quantity Z circuit impedance of the network as seen from the faulted bus k. From equation (4.70), the bus voltage after fault for the unfaulted or healthy buses can be written as: i (F ) = V i (0) Z ik I k (F ) i = 1, 2, n, i k V k (F ) from equation (4.73) , V i (F ) can be expressed as: Substituting I i (F ) = V i (0) V ik Z k (0) V Zkk + Zf
(4.76) (4.75)

ij (F ) owing in the line connecting ith and j th bus can be calculated as The fault current I ij (F ) = Vi (F ) Vj (F ) I z ij
where z ij is the impedance of line connecting buses i and j. 150 (4.77)

4.9

Unsymmetrical or Unbalanced fault analysis:

For the analysis of unsymmetrical or unbalanced faults, symmetrical component method is used. The use of symmetrical components simplies the analysis procedure of unbalanced system and also helps in improving the understanding of the system behavior during fault conditions. A review of symmetrical components is presented next.

4.9.1

Symmetrical components:

Any unbalanced set of three phase voltage or current phasors can be replaced by three balanced sets of three phase voltage or current phasors. These three balanced set of voltage or current phasors a , I b , and I c be an arbitrary set of are called symmetrical components of voltages or currents. Let I three current phasors representing phase currents. Then using symmetrical components they can be expressed as:

I I I a I a0 a1 a2 b2 b0 + I I b1 + I b = I Ic Ic0 Ic1 Ic2 I

abc

(4.78)

Or,

= I2 I1 + I0 +

where,

a I b I c = I abc

T T

is the arbitrary set of three current phasors of phase currents.

is the set of zero sequence components.The magnitudes of the three zero c0 and they are co-phasors. b0 = I a0 = I sequence components are equal i.e. I

a0 I b0 I c0 I0 = I

a1 = a1 I b1 I c1 T is the set of positive sequence components, with I I1 = I b1 = I c1 . a1 = I b1 120 , and I c1 = I c1 120 , with I I a2 = a2 I b2 I c2 T is the set of negative sequence components, with I I2 = I b2 = I c2 a2 = I b2 c2 = I c2 120 ,with I 120 , and I I
The graphical representation of the sequence components is shown in Fig. 4.43.

a1 0 , I b1 = I a2 0 , I b2 = I

Let an operator a be dened such that a = 120 . Any phasor multiplied by a undergoes a counter clockwise rotation of 120 without any change in the magnitude. Further,

a = 1120
a2 = 1240 a3 = 1360 also 1 + a + a2 = 0

a1 = Ia1 1 I

where, 1 is the angle of phase a positive sequence current. 151

Figure 4.43: Representation of Symmetrical Components

b1 = a2 I a1 I c1 = aI a1 I
The phase sequence of the positive component set is abc. Similarly the negative sequence set can be written as:

a2 = Ia2 2 I
where, 2 is the angle of phase a negative sequence current.

b2 = aI a2 I c2 = a2 I a2 I
152

The phase sequence of the negative component set is acb. The zero-sequence component set can be written as:

a0 = I a0 0 = I b0 = I c0 I
where, 0 is the angle of phase a zero sequence current. Hence, equation (4.78) can be simplied as:

I a 1 1 1 I a0 2 I b = 1 a a Ia1 a2 Ic 1 a a2 I
It can also expressed in a compact form as:

(4.79)

I
where, I

abc

= A I

012 T

(4.80)

abc

a I b I c = set of phase quantities = I

T

012

a0 I a1 I a2 = set of sequence quantities = I

1 1 1 2 A = 1 a a is the symmetrical component transformation matrix. 2 1 a a The symmetrical components I 012 can be written in terms of phase quantities I I 1 1 1 1 1 = where, A 1 a a2 thus, 3 1 a2 a = A 012
1

abc

as: (4.81)

abc

a + I b + I c ] a0 = 1 [I I 3 a1 = 1 [I a + aI b + a2 I c ] I 3 a2 = 1 [I a + a2 I b + aI c ] I 3

(4.82)

To summarize:

For voltage:

abc

V = A
153

012

(4.83)

 V where, V
abc

= A 012

abc

(4.84)

is the set of phase voltages, and V

012

is the set of sequence voltages.

For current:

I I

abc

= A I
1

012

(4.85) (4.86)

= A 012

abc

where, I abc is the set of phase voltages, and I 012 is the set of sequence voltages. Before starting unbalanced fault analysis, it is necessary to learn about the sequence networks of dierent power system components, which we will discuss in the next lecture.

154