At the moment the fault occurs, substantial high current flows through the generator for first few

cycles and the fault current rapidly decays. The generator reactance experienced by the fault current during this period is called subtransient reactance. After the subtransient period is over, the fault current value decreases slowly for another comparatively longer period of time. The generator reactance experienced by the fault current during this period is called transient reactance. Finally the short circuit current becomes steady and generator reactance experienced by the steady fault current is called steady state reactance.
A generator's fault current is limited by 3 factors: 1. Sub- Transient Reactance Xd" 0 - 6 cycles 2. Transient Reactance Xd' 6 cycles - 5 seconds 3. Synchronous Reactance Xd - greater than 5 seconds

Generator fault current is normally discussed in terms of subtransient, transient, and synchronous currents and impedances. These terms refer to various time periods during the decay of the AC component of current. Attached Figure plots the envelope of the AC current for a typical machine. The subtransient current, reactance and related time constant defines the AC current component from the inception of the fault and the following cycle or two. This is the maximum available AC short-circuit current from the generator. Synchronous quantities define the final or steady-state current. The transient parameters define the interim current