TRANSMISSION LINE INDUCTANCE /GMR/GMD The calculation of line inductance, GMR and GMD is made simpler by establishing the

definition of flux linkage. A flux linkage is one closed loop of current around the magnetic flux induced by that current. Another way of stating the concept is current links flux, flux does not link current. This illustrated below:

Flux enclosed by current loop

One closed current loop, one flux linkage

This may seem trivial but it gets mis-stated in the textbooks. It is fundamental to the definition of inductance since Faradays law relates the voltage around a closed loop to the changing current/magnetic flux in the loop. Developing the volt-ampere relationship is the whole point of calculating inductance. This leads to the most imortant simplification for transmission line inductance calculations: inductance is only a function of flux defined by an area within a linking current. Flux outside of the link is not included in the calculation.

The starting point for calculating the flux external to a conductor of radius r with current I at a distance of r+D from center is:

Henrys/meter SINGLE PHASE TWO WIRE INDUCTANCE The line to line inductance of a single phase out and back loop with a center to center separation of D and conductor radius r is calculated by adding only the flux external to each line that is contained within the current loop(link). (The flux internal to each conductor that is associated with the self inductance is added as a separate component).

Distance D for line 1 flux

Line 1. Current I out of page. Radius = r.

Line 2. Current I into page. Radius = r. Distance D for line 2 flux

The total flux linked by current I is the sum of the two line contributions. Since there is only one current loop (linkage), the flux equal to the flux linkage . The total flux linkage is is numerically

Dividing flux (linkage) by current I, the line to line inductance is

Adding the conductor self-inductance gives the total (loop) inductance

CALCULATING GMR Calculating GMR means finding the radius of single conductor that produces the equivalent inductive flux as the bundle of conductors when carrying the total current of the bundle. This calculation can be simplified with the approximation that the net linked flux contribution in the bundle due to return current in other phases is negligible. This approximation is valid when the phase to phase separation is much greater than the distance between conductors in the bundle. With this aproximation the diagram below shows the net flux in a two conductor bundle is zero. The magnetic fields are the circular arrows and flux density is straight arrows and dotted line. Between the conductor centers, the flux density is conductors is additive. symmetric and

subtractive. Between the centers and outside radii the flux from both

The flux density is depicted as a linear function to simplify the illustration but due to symmetry the result is not changed. Along the line from to the integral of flux density is:

B+

line a

net flux density B

line b

B-

current out of page for both lines

Net per phase internal flux is zero

External flux here can be linked by a return current flow.

For this calculation, the center to center distance is still D and radius is r. Half the total bundle current , I/2, flows in each conductor. The procedure involves adding the flux contribution from both conductors along the centerline at a radial distance r + from the conductor centerpoint. The r internal flux is taken into account by using 0.778r adjustment factor.

( (I/2) K for

not drawn to scale ) + (I/2) K IK )

(error less than 5%). of the two conductor

This means that the flux equivalent at radius r + of :

bundle is a single line carrying current I having an effective radius (GMR)

r+

The flux equivalent idea is extended to multiple conductors of equal radius r and carrying equal fractions of the total current I . This illustrated for four conductors below and flux equivalent at r + from reference position:

Reference radius r

Line 1

LineL Line 2

The total flux at

is the sum of flux from each conductor using reference D1,D2,D3 Again, the net internal flux + ) GMR = + )

radius as a center point with (I/4) K ( IK( +

along the radii of 1,2,3 through reference radius is zero.

For the square bundle geometry the effective radius or GMR is

The GMR of the 4-conductor bundle above is independent of the reference radius position because the bundle is symmetric. If the bundle were not symmetric, the GMR would depend on the choice of reference radius. This effect would be negligible if the distance between phases is much greater than the conductor spacing within a bundle. If the distance between phases is not large compared to bundle spacing, an average GMR for the bundle would have to be used in conjunction with an average phase to phase distance between conductors in the bundles (GMD) because there could now be linked flux within bundles. Note that was chosen large compared to bundle spacing to simplify the need only be greater than the GMR. .

formula for inductance. However,

The calculation of GMR is independent of

The GMR of a N conductor bundle is the average of log-natural center to center distances between N-1 conductors in the bundle and a chosen reference conductor in that bundle. For N conductors it is the Nth root of the product of those N-1 conductor distances and common radius r of the conductors.

CALCULATION OF 3-PHASE LINE INDUCTANCE The calculation of an average per-phase inductance for 3-phase lines is made simpler by observing that for 3-phase transmission, the current in each of the phases is flowing in the opposite direction to the two other phases 2 out of 6 or one third of the time.

A( ) B( ) C( )

1 0 7

This means that for each 1/3 of the cycle, we can reduce the inductance calculation to a two-wire system. We can then sum these 3 results and take the average (1/3) to get the per phase inductance for the 3-wire system. This procedure is shown below:

The shaded line represents current flowing opposite to white lines. Also, for these calculations the self-inductance is incorporated in an effective radius r. The average per phase inductance for each combination would be: Line 1 Line 2 Line 3

D12

D23

D13 Line 1 to 2&3 = (1/2) K (ln(D12/r) + ln(D13/r)) = K ln( /r)

D12

D23

D13 Line 3 to 2&1 = (1/2) K (ln(D23/r) + ln(D13/r)) = K ln( /r)

D12

D23

D13 Line 2 to 1&3 = (1/2) K (ln(D23/r) + ln(D12/r)) = K ln( /r)

The average (1/3) of these three combinations is: L = (1/3)(K)( = K ln( The factor +ln( /r) is the GMD for a 3-phase system. /r)+ln( /r))

This is the same result achieved in textbooks assuming transposition of the lines. This shows that the lines in effect are self-transposing because, for 1/3 of each cycle, the single conductor return flow occupies each of the three line positions. The GMD is the average of non-duplicate log-natural center to center distances between single conductor phases or phase bundles. For N conductors it would be the Nth root of the product of those N distances.