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ABSTRACT:
Substation grounding grid design requires a simple, but accurate tool to compute the parameters that guarantees
safety of personnel during earth faults. In this article, a Graphical User Interface (GUI) with an interactive
computer program using MATLAB 7.10 version has been developed. The developed tool allows the
computations of the total grid conductor length required for the earth grid to meet the step and touch potential
criterion for safety. The interactive method versatility has allowed configuring the grid according to the
availability of land space and value of the native soil resistivity. Calculations of minimum cross sectional Area
of grounding conductors are presented. Simple Optimization technique using iterative search are applied to
optimal design of grounding grid (conductors and rods as well) to satisfy tolerable safe touch and step voltages.
Inequality constraints of ground potential rise (GPR), ground resistance (Rg), step voltage (Estep) and touch
voltage (Etouch), are based on latest edition of ANSI/IEEE Std. 80-2000.
The viability of results of developed tool are compared with world-wide software’s like ETAP and CYMGRD
and showed to be reliable, friendly user interface, easy and practical tool for calculations of Ground grid design.
All approved shapes (Square, Rectangle, Triangle, L and T shapes) based on IEEE 80 guidelines and procedures
are implemented and tested. Executable versions may be obtained after generating C/C++ plus header files code
from MATLAB codes to run standalone.
Keywords: Grounding Grid, Step and Touch Potentials, IEEE Std. 80.
1. INTRODUCTION
Substation grounding design considerations are important to ensure the safety of personnel and the public, to
minimize hazard from transferred potential, to protect equipment insulation, to provide a discharge path for
lightning strikes, and to provide a low-resistance path to ground [1]. A good grounding system provides a low
resistance to remote earth in order to minimize the ground potential rise (GPR). For most transmission and other
large substations, the ground resistance is usually about 1 Ω or less. In smaller distribution substations, the
usually acceptable range is from 1 Ω to 5 Ω, depending on the local conditions. Many commercial tools are
available in the market to help in design of Grounding grid like ETAP [2] and CYMGND [3].
The help of Genetic Algorithm optimization of the network [4] was studied but the number conductors and
earth have already been fixed and the purpose of minimizing voltage contact, but not compared with the values
of tolerance. Optimizing the relationship between the earth systems during consecutive meshes is considered
and presented in [5]. But the only optimization variable, the total length of network Conductors earth.
ANSI/IEEE Std.80 has been widely revised for more than ten years and is generally followed as a standard for
the grounding systems. In this work, a GUI computer program has been developed. The calculations of the step
voltage, touch voltage, GPR, and grounding resistance, are based on ANSI/IEEE Std. 80 - 2000. Very simple
approach of iterative search to plan the optimal grounding grid, which includes number of unilateral mesh and
depth of the grounding grid conductors were studied and investigated. The results of proposed GGD (Grounding
Grid Design) tool compared and verified with the results of ETAP and CYMGND as well.
0.157
= 1000 + 6 × ×
(2)
0.09 1 −
=1− (3)
2ℎ + 0.09
Where, CS = reduction factor, ρS = resistivity of crushed rock, Ω.m, tS = fault-clearing time, Sec, hS = the
thickness of the high resistivity surface layer material, m, and ρ = the resistivity of the earth below the
high resistivity surface material, Ω.m.
The actual step voltage (ES) should be less than the maximum allowable step voltage (Estep).
The allowable touch voltage for people weighing 50 or 70 kg, respectively, is defined as follows: (refer to Eq.
(4) and Eq. (5))
0.116
= 1000 + 1.5 × ×
(4)
0.157
= 1000 + 1.5 × ×
(5)
The actual touch voltage, mesh voltage, or transferred voltage should be less than the maximum allowable
touch voltage, Etouch, to ensure safety. Generally, Touch voltages represent a much more serious hazard than
step voltage; these are the usual basis for design. Fig. 1 shows the GUI window for performing the above
procedures based on IEEE 80 -2000.
Fig. 1. sample of interface of module for Calculating Tolerable step and touch voltages.
197.4
K =
T K +T (8)
. ln
α .ρ K +T
A
d mm = 2. (9)
Π
Where, IF = maximum rms current in kA (include for future growth), Kc = conductor Material constant, Amm2 =
conductor cross section, mm2, Tm = maximum allowable temperature, °C, Ta = ambient temperature, °C,
Tr = reference temperature for material constants, °C, α0 = thermal coefficient of resistivity at 0 °C , 1/°C,
α r = thermal coefficient of resistivity at reference temperature Tr, 1/°C, ρr = resistivity of the ground
conductor at reference temperature Tr, μΩ-cm, K0 = 1/ α0 or (1/ αr) – Tr , °C, tc = duration of current, Sec.
(between 0.25 to 3 seconds), TCAP = thermal capacity per unit volume, J/(cm3·°C), and dc = minimum
diameter of grid conductor cross-section (mm).
Fig. 2 is showing sample of user interface developed to calculate the size of earth wires. Several types of
conductors are fed as database to this module with relevant KF. Moreover, for non-available materials, user has
facility to feed the relevant material constants manually.
1 1 1
R =ρ + 1+ (10)
Lt √20A 20
1+h
A
Where, h = the depth of the grid in m, Lt = LC+LR the total buried length of conductors in m includes all land
rods to meter, A = Total area enclosed by grounding grid in m2, and ρ = Soil resistivity in Ω.m.
Schwarz [7] used the following equation Eq. (11) to combine the resistance of the grid, rods, and mutual ground
resistance to calculate the total system resistance, Rg.
RcR − R (11)
R =
Rc + R − 2R
Where, Rc = ground resistance of grid conductors in Ω, Rr = ground resistance of all ground rods in Ω, and Rm =
mutual ground resistance between the group of grid conductors, Rc, and group of ground rods, Rr in Ω.
Formulas to calculate RC, Rr and Rm are shown in Eq. (12), Eq. (13) and Eq. (14) respectively.
0.366ρ L L
R = log + log + 0.34 (12)
L d 4h
0.366ρ 3L
R = log (13)
L d
0.73ρ 2L
R = log (14)
L L
Where, ρ = Soil resistivity in Ω.m, Lc = Length of Conductor in m, Lr = Length of rods in m, Lt = Total length
of Ground Rods and conductors in m, dc = Dia. of conductor in m, dr = Diameter of rod in m, and h =
Depth of burial of conductor in m.
Fig. 2. sample of interface of module for Calculating Earth wire cross sectional area
Generally, the combined ground resistance of the grid and the rod bed will be lower than the ground
resistance of either component alone, but still higher than that of a parallel combination. the equivalent electrical
resistance (Rg) of the system must be low enough to assure that fault currents dissipate mainly through the
grounding grid into the earth, while maximum potential difference between close points into the earth’s surface
must be kept under certain tolerances (step, touch, and mesh voltages).
consisting of equal size meshes, it is the meshes at the corner of the grid that will have the highest mesh
potential. However, the touch potential is defined as the potential difference between a person’s outstretched
hand, touching an earthed structure, and his foot. A person’s maximum reach is normally assumed to be 1 m. As
per ANSI/IEEE Std. 80, the formulas of maximum step voltage and maximum mesh/touch voltage are shown as
Eq. (18) and Eq. (19) respectively.
ρ. K . K . I
E = (18)
L
ρ. K . K . I
E = (19)
L
Where, Ki = correction factor for the grid geometry = 0.644 + 0.148n , Ks = spacing factor for the step voltage,
Km = spacing factor for the mesh voltage, n = geometric factor composed of the grid, Ls = Effective
length of Lc + LR for step voltage, m, Lm = Effective length of Lc + LR for mesh voltage, m.
For further formulas for calculating spacing and geometrical factors, you may refer to [1] for further details.
Fig. 3. sample of interface of module for ground grid dimensioning and calculations of Rg, GPR, and calculated maximum step and mesh
voltages
current is 6.814 kA, X/R (Local) = 16.2, Conductor material Copper hard-drawn and Ambient
temperature = 40 Celsius.
Total Length of
Reference Rg GPR (V) Em (Cal.) in V Es (Cal.) in V
conductors (m)
IEEE – 80 2000 2.780 5,304.00 1002.1 Not Calculated 1540
CYMGRD 2.675 5,106.61 986.02 611.22 1540
ETAP 2.780 5301.1 985.50 610.9 1540
Proposed GGD 2.77569 5297.71 1001.93 609.921 1540
It is obvious from table1 and 2, the proposed GGD tool are soundly calculated the required parameters with
good accuracy.
With running the optimization module to satisfy the tolerable touch and step voltages (50 kg) for the above case,
without adding any grounding rod, hereunder the obtained results and shown in below Fig. 4:
Nx = Ny = 20 (i.e. total length of conductors = 2800 m).
Rg = 2.65881 Ω, GPR = 5074.63 V,
Em (Cal.) = 610.619 V < Etouch50 (Tolerable) = 621.042 V Safe,
Es (Cal.) = 629.927 V < Estep50 (Tolerable) = 1992.020 V Safe.
As, you may note with the optimization feature, the user can satisfy the design easily to relax the requirements
of tolerable safe limits of step and touch voltages with Dx and Dy equal 3.68 m (square) ∈ [2.5, 22.5 m] as shown
in Fig. 4. Moreover, the Example of L-shape, Page 139 (IEEE 80 -2000) was verified and numerical results
compared with the outcome of proposed GGD tool and prove sound results.
4. CONCLUSIONS
In this work, an interactive computer program using MATLAB is developed and presented that allows the
computations of the total grid conductor length including rods required for the design of substation grounding
grid. The interactive method versatility has allowed configuring the grid according to the availability of land
space with approved standard shapes of IEEE std. 80 - 2000 with the feature of optimization. The outcome of
calculations proves the excellent accuracy of proposed GGD tool with comprehensive reporting. The accuracy
and reliability of the developed GGD tool was validated using several test systems, and the results obtained
were evaluated against the famous ETAP and CYMGD software’s which are impressive and computationally
efficient.
REFERENCES
[1] ANSI/IEEE Std. 80 (2000). IEEE Guide for Safety in AC Substation Grounding, IEEE Society, New York.
[2] http://www.etap.com.
[3] http://www.cyme.com.
[4] F. Neri (2004): A New Evolutionary Method for Designing Grounding Grids by Touch Voltage Control, Industrial Electronics. IEEE
International Symposium, Vol. 2, pp. 1501-1505.
[5] M.C. Costa, et al (2003): Optimization of Grounding Grids by Response Surfaces and Genetic Algorithms, IEEE Trans. On Magn.,
Vol. 39, No. 3, pp. 1301-1304.
[6] Sverak, J. G (1984): Simplified analysis of electrical gradients above a ground grid. Part I—How good is the present IEEE method?,
IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems, vol. PAS-103, no. 1, pp. 7–25.
[7] Schwarz, S. J (1954): Analytical expression for resistance of grounding systems, AIEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems.
vol. 73, no. 13, part III-B, pp. 1011–1016.
[8] http://www.mathworks.com.