World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 42 2008
Design of Earthing System for New Substation
Project (Shwe Sar Yan) in Myanmar
Ei Ei Cho, and Marlar Thein Oo
Abstract—This paper presents the design of earthing system for
230 kV substation and simulation for calculation of required
parameters. In substation, earthing system is essential not only to
provide the protection of people working or walking in the vicinity of
earthed facilities and equipments against the danger of electric shock
but also to maintain the proper function of the electrical system. By
using proper conductor and electrode side, earthing system may be
able to lightning effects. This paper is to provide information
pertinent to safe earthing practices in AC substation design and to
establish the safe limits of potential differences under normal and
fault conditions.
Standard equations are used in the design of earthing system to get
desired parameters such as touch and step voltage criteria for safety,
earth resistance, grid resistance, maximum grid current, minimum
conductor size and electrode size, maximum fault current level and
resistivity of soil. By selection the proper horizontal conductor size,
vertical electrode size and soil resistivity, the best choice of the
project for safety is performed. This paper mentions the calculation
of the desired parameters which are simulated by MATLAB program.
Some simulated results are evaluated. The goal of this paper is to be a
safe earthing system for substations.
Keywords—Safe earthing system, AC substation, MATLAB
program.
I. INTRODUCTION
T HIS paper is concerned with earthing practices and design
for outdoor AC substation include distribution,
transmission substations for power frequency in the range of
50 Hz. The intent of this paper is to provide information
pertinent to safe earthing practices in AC substation design.
DC substation and the effect of lightning surges are not
covered by this paper. With paper caution, the method
described in here is also applicable to indoor portion of such
substation. And the design procedure is presented in here.
The specific purpose of this paper is:
1) To review substation earthing practices with
references to safety
2) As a basic for design, to establish the safe limits of
step, touch, mesh voltage etc, potential difference
under fault conditions between points that can bee
contacted by human body
3) To provide a procedure for the design of practical
earthing system.
Authors are with Mandalay Technological University, Myanmar (e-mails:
eieicho2006@ gmail.com, marlartheinoo@gmail.com).
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This paper briefly discusses the field tests required to
evaluate soil resistivity. The procedures for measuring the
resistance of the installed earthing system and the continuity of
the grid conductor are described in here. It covers some of the
practical aspects of earthing in more detail. The goal of this
paper is to design earthing grid to safety, to evaluate and to
simulate grid conductor size, vertical electrode size, criteria
permissible potential difference, grid resistance, maximum
grid current, grid potential size and required facts for design
procedure by a computer program. Although there are two
methods namely Trench Method and Conductor Flowing
Method for grid construction, the second are in used in here.
II. EARTHING SYSTEM FOR SUBSTATION
An effective substation earthing system typically consists of
earth rods, connecting cables from the buried earthing grid to
metallic parts of structures and equipment, connections to
earthed system neutrals, and the earth surface insulating
covering material. Current flowing into the earthing grid from
lightning arrester operation, impulse or switching surge
flashover of insulators, and line to ground fault current from
the bus or connected transmission lines all cause potential
differences between earthed points in the substation. Without a
properly designed earthing system, large potential differences
can exist between different points within the substation itself.
Under normal circumstances, it is the current constitutes the
main threat to personal.
An effective earthing system has the following objectives:
1) Ensure such a degree of human safety that a person
working or walking in the vicinity of earthed facilities
is not expressed to the danger of a critical electric
shock. The touch and step voltage produced in a fault
condition have to be at safe values. A safe value is
one that will not produce enough current within a
body to cause ventricular fibrillation.
2) Provide means to carry and dissipate electric currents
into earth under normal and fault conditions without
exceeding any operation and equipment limits or
adversely affecting continuity of services.
3) Provide earthing for lightning impulses and the surges
occurring from the switching of substation equipment,
which reduces damage to equipment and cables.
4) Provide a low resistance for the protective relays to
see and clear ground faults, which improves
 World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 42 2008

protective equipment performance, particularly at

minimum fault.
tc × αr × ρr ×10 4
Acmils = 1973.52 I × TCAP (6)
 (T −T a) 
ln1 + m 
 (K 0 + Ta ) 

Where
I = rms value in kA
Amm2 = conductor sectional size in mm2
Tm = maximum allowable temperature in ˚C
Ta = ambient temperature for material constants in
˚C
α0 = thermal coefficient of resistivity at 0˚C
αr = thermal coefficient of resistivity at reference
temperature Tr
ρr = the resistivity of the ground conductor at
reference temperature Tr in uΩ/cm3
K0 = 1/α0 or 1/α0 - Tr
tc = time of current flow in sec
TCAP = thermal capacity factor

For grounding resistance, the following formula is used

  
Fig. 1 Earthing grid design   
Rg = ρ
 1
+
1
1 +
1
 (7)
For step voltage criteria the limit is L 20 A  20  
 t  1 + h 
Estep 50 = ( 1000 + 6C s(hs ,k)ρs )
0.116
(1)  A  
ts Where
0.157 ρ = soil resistivity
Estep 70 = ( 1000 + 6C s(hs ,k)ρs ) (2) Lt = total length of grid conductor
ts A = total area enclosed by earth grid
Where h = depth of earth grid conductor
Cs = 1 for no protective surface layer
ρs = the resistivity of the surface material in Ω-m For calculation of grid current, equation (8) is used
ts = duration of shock circuit in sec Ig = Sf x 3I0 (8)
Ig = maximum grid current
The touch voltage limit is 3I0 = symmetrical fault current in substation for
0.116 conductor sizing in A
Etouch50 = ( 1000 + 1.5Cs(hs ,k)ρs ) (3) Sf = current diversity factor
ts
Equation (9) is expressed for grid potential rise (GPR)
0.157
Etouch 70 = ( 1000 + 1.5Cs(hs ,k)ρs ) (4) GPR = IgRg (9)
ts
Formula for calculation of mesh and step voltage are
The minimum conductor size formula is mentioned below-
tc × αr × ρr ×10 4 ρK m K im I g
Em = (10)
TCAP Lg + 1.15Lr N r
Amm 2
=I× (5)
 (T −T a)  ρK i K is I g
ln1 + m  Es = (11)
 (K 0 + Ta )  Lg + 1.15Lr N r

Where

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 World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 42 2008

Em = mesh voltage at the center of corner mesh TABLE II

OUTPUT RESULT FOR GRID CONSTRUCTION DESIGN
Es = step voltage between point
Km = spacing factor for mesh voltage Symbol Quantity values

Ks = spacing factor of step voltage Ac Earth conductor size 103 mm2

d Earth electrode 16mm
Ki = correct factor for grid geometry diameter
Ig Max: grid current 1.957kA
Rg Ground resistance 0.838Ω
GPR Grid potential rise 1650V
Equation for Km is described below Km Spacing factor for 0.653
mesh voltage

1   D 2 (D + 2h)2 h  K ii  
Kim Correct factor for Em 3.838
8
ln + −  + ln  Ks Spacing factor for 0.342
2π   16hd 8 Dd 4d  Kh  π( 2nm − 1 )  Kis
step voltage
Correct factor for Es 3.752
Etouch Touch voltage 651.55V
criterior
(12) Estep Step voltage criterior 2135.2
Em Calculation mesh 201.177V
Spacing factor for step voltage equation is presented as this voltage
Es Calculation of step 103.546V
voltage
1 1 1 1 
Kis =  + + ( 1 − 0.5ns − 2 ) (13)
Lt
ρ
Total grid current
Soil resistivity
5972m
250 Ω
π  2h D + h D 

Where These data described above table are obtained by using

D = spacing between adjacent grid conductor MATLAB program.
H = depth of burial grid conductor
D = diameter of grid conductor III. CALCULATION
STEP 1 Conduction design
For soil resistivity evaluation, below equation is used Minimum cross section area (Ac) = 95 mm2
ρ = 2πaR (14)
STEP 2 Touch and step voltage criterior
Where Etouch (70) 65.55 V
ρ = soil resistivity Estep (70) 2135.2 V
a = distance between earth spikes
STEP 3 Design of ground mesh
R = earth resistance measured with the Metraterr2 Na = Number of conductor in X-axis = 18 Nos
TABLE I Nb = Number of conductor in Y-axis = 19 Nos
CONSTANT VALUES FOR DESIGN CALCULATION
Lg = Mesh conductor length = 5132 m
Symbol Quantity Values Nr = Quantity of ground rod = 280 rods
Ta ambient temperature 35˚C D = Ground rod spacing =8m
Tm maximum allowable 1084 ˚C h = Depth of burial grid conductor = 0.6 m
temperature
Lt = Total length of conductor = 5972 m
Ts fault duration time 1 sec
temperature of 245 ˚C STEP 4 Substation grid resistance (Rg)
K0
thermal coefficient of Rg = 0.843 Ω
resistivity at 0˚C
αr thermal coefficient of 0.00378
resistivity at reference STEP 5 Grid current (Ig)
temperature Ig = 1.957 kA
ρr resistivity of each 4.397 uΩ/cm
conductor reference STEP 6 Grid potential rise (GPR)
temperature GPR = Ig x Rg
TCAP thermal capacity factor 3.8466 J/cm3/˚C
depth of burial grid 0.6 m GPR > Etouch
h
conductor STEP 7 Mesh and step voltage
h0 reference depth of grid 1m Kim for Em
ρs surface layer resistivity 3000 Ω-m Kis for Es
d diameter of grid 16 mm Km
conductor
Lr length of one earth rod 3m Ks

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 World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 42 2008

STEP 8 Check touch voltage and step voltage

Em < Etouch OK
Es < Estep OK

Fig. 1 Grounding Resistance with Different Values of Soil Resistivity

Fig. 2 Grid Potential Rise with Different Values of Soil Resistivity

Block Diagram of Design Procedure

These results are obtained by MATLAB program. These

figures prove that this earth grid design is safe for 230 kV
substation in the range of soil resistivities 100-350 Ωm.

Fig. 3 Grid Conductor Size with Different Values of Fault Current

(For Copper conductor)

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 World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 42 2008

REFERENCES
[1] Geri. A, “Behavior of grounding system excited by high impulse
current: the model and its validation,” IEEE Trans, Power Deliver,
1999.
[2] Gagg. G. F, Earth Resistances, New York, 1964.
[3] Tharpar. B and Gross. E. T. B, Ground Grid of High Voltage Stations.
1963.
[4] Tiri G. Sverak and Donald N. Laird, “IEEE Guide for Safety in AC
Substation Grounding,” 1986.

Fig. 4 Calculated Mesh Voltages with Different Values of Soil

Resistivity

Fig. 5 Calculated Step Voltages with Different Values of Soil

Resistivity

IV. CONCLUSION
This paper has focus on design of earthing system for
230kV AC substation but not DC substation. The results for
earthing system design are obtained by MATLAB program.
For earthing conductor and vertical earth electrode, copper
clad steel and aluminium clad steel are used. The step by step
approach to designing a substation earthing system is
presented . The exact fault current level is not described but
fault current is assumed 10 times of normal current. The
various kinds of conductor sizes for earth equipment are
mentioned in this paper. Construction of earthing grid drawing
is expressed in here.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author is grateful to her Excellency U Thaung,
Minister, Ministry of Science and Technology, Dr. Zaw Min
Aung, Rector of Mandalay Technological University, Dr. Myo
Myint Aung, Head of Electrical Power Engineering
Department, Dr. Salai Tluang Za Thang, Mandalay
Technological University, U Zaw Ye Myint, Project Manager
from Shwe Sar Yan Substation.

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