UNDERSTANDING FERRORESONANCE
Marta Val Escudero (1), Ivan Dudurych (2), Miles Redfern (3)
(1) ESB International, Ireland. (2) ESB National Grid, Ireland. (3) University of Bath, UK.
ABSTRACT
This paper presents a ferroresonant experience involving inductive Voltage Transformers (VTs) in a 400kV substation.
The origin of the phenomena, the conditions under it may become sustained and its effects on plant equipment are
discussed. A very comprehensive analysis is performed using time domain simulations with ATP. Simulation results
reproduced satisfactorily the ferroresonant events recorded during the field tests in the 400kV substation. A number of
mitigation options are discussed.
Keywords: Ferroresonance, Non-Linear Dynamics, Inductive Voltage Transformers, Circuit Breaker Grading
Capacitors, Power System Modelling, ATP/EMTP.
INTRODUCTION
The term ferroresonance can be found in technical
literature dating as far back as 1920 (P. Boucherot) [1]
referring to an oscillating phenomenon between a non-
linear inductance and a capacitor. Since then a large
number of papers have been published describing the
phenomenon, proposing analytical methods or reporting
experienced cases. Despite the extensive literature,
ferroresonance still remains widely unknown and is
feared by Power Systems Operators as it seems to occur
randomly, possibly resulting in the catastrophic
destruction of plant equipment. This general lack of
knowledge means that ferroresonance is normally
overlooked at the planning and design stages or, on the
contrary, held responsible for “inexplicable” equipment
failures.
For ferroresonance to occur, the following elements
must be present:
1. A non-linear inductance. This appears in a
transformer ferromagnetic core.
2. A capacitance. This can appear in the form of
voltage grading capacitors in HV circuit breakers,
conductor inter-phase capacitances, capacitance to
ground of cables and long lines, series capacitors or
shunt capacitor banks.
3. Low Losses. These are present in very lightly loaded
transformers combined with modern low losses
magnetic cores.
4. A voltage or current source.
In linear circuits, resonance occurs when the capacitive
reactance equals the inductive reactance at the circuit
source frequency, resulting in large currents and
voltages. Unlike linear resonance, ferroresonance is not
so easy to predict. Due to the non-linearity, several
steady state solutions may exist for a particular
excitation and range of circuit parameters.
Ferroresonant systems are very sensitive to initial
conditions: remanent flux in the magnetic cores,
switching instant, circuit losses and charge in the
capacitances are the key variables that determine the
steady state response. It is possible that a system
disturbance cause the circuit that was operating in a
normal steady-state condition to jump into another
stable operation point with very high currents and/or
voltages. Another significant characteristic of a
ferroresonant oscillation is the presence of highly
distorted voltage and current waveforms.
From an operational point of view, ferroresonant
oscillations can represent a hazard to the plant
equipment integrity. Large currents and/or voltages may
overheat the transformer primary winding and might,
eventually, cause insulation breakdown. The large
voltage oscillations (temporary or sustained) can also
cause severe stresses on the insulation of all the
equipment connected to the same circuit. Surge arresters
are the typical victims due to their low TOV
capabilities. Additionally, maloperation of protection
relays may also occur due to the highly distorted
waveforms measured by the instrument transformers.
The systems engineer’s challenge is to predict whether
ferroresonance can arise in a particular circuit and to
determine a good operational safety margin.
Ferroresonance can happen at any voltage level with the
appropriate combination of capacitance, non-linear
inductance and low losses. Studies and field experience
have shown that certain power system configurations
are more susceptible to ferroresonance than others. The
most frequent cases are listed below:
• Voltage Transformers energized through grading
capacitors of open circuit breakers.
• Voltage Transformers connected to an isolated or
resonant neutral system (distribution networks).
• Power Transformers energized in only one or two
phases.
• Lightly loaded Power Transformers connected to a
cable network with low short circuit power.
• Single phase switching (fuse blowing) in distribution
networks.
Depending on their frequency content, steady-state
ferroresonant oscillations are normally classified as:
1. Harmonic ferroresonance: periodic waveforms with
a frequency multiple of the power system frequency.
 2. Fundamental ferroresonance: periodic waveforms
with the same period as the power system.
3. Sub-harmonic ferroresonance: periodic waveforms
with a period multiple of the power system period.
4. Quasi-periodic ferroresonance: non-periodic
waveforms with a discontinuous frequency
spectrum.
5. Chaotic ferroresonance: non-periodic waveforms
with a continuous frequency spectrum.
FERRORESONANCE EXPERIENCED IN 400KV
SUBSTATION
Switching operations performed during the
commissioning of a new 400kV substation in Ireland
inadvertently drove two single-phase Voltage
Transformers (VTs) into a sustained ferroresonant state.
Figure 1 shows the single-line diagram of the line bay
involved in the incident. Of especial importance is the
VT location, in the bay side of the line disconnector
(DL).
400kV Busbar
DA CB P1 CT P2 DL
400kV
Line
VT
DEM DE
Figure 1 – 400kV Line Bay
Following a “live test” consisting on the energization of
the VT’s from busbars with DL open, the line VT’s
were de-energized by opening the line circuit breaker. A
ferroresonant circuit was formed upon opening the
circuit breaker with the busbar disconnector (DA)
closed and the line disconnector (DL) open. Far from
being de-energized, the VT’s remained fed via the
circuit breaker grading capacitors, which had been
previously overlooked. Sustained overvoltages of 2p.u.
were recorded in two phases. Additionally, very loud
noise was reported by local operators.
After this first ferroresonant experience, and in
accordance to VT manufacturer recommendations, a
damping resistor of 0.5 was connected across the open
delta tertiary windings. The purpose of the resistor was
to introduce enough losses in the circuit that should
damp out the ferroresonant oscillations. Further
switching operations were performed to assess its
effectiveness.
The first two tests performed with the damping resistors
resulted in some initial quasi-periodic oscillations that
died out in about six cycles (see Figure 2), evolving into
a “normal” steady state response with power frequency
voltages of 0.5pu. The third switching test, however,
produced a completely different response. Recorded
waveforms are included in Figure 3. It can be seen that
the resonant condition also initiated as a quasi-periodic
oscillation but, after near 300ms, it jumped into a
sustained ferroresonant state with voltages reaching
2p.u. in two phases. Depicted in Figure 4 is the
frequency spectrum of the recorded ferroresonant
waveforms which shows a predominant fundamental
frequency component and a number of decaying odd
harmonics (3, 5, 7 and 9). Such frequency spectrum is
typical of fundamental frequency ferroresonant modes.
A very unusual loud noise combined with high voltage
readings prompted the local operator to isolate the
400kV busbar within seconds, which terminated the
ferroresonant oscillation. This quick reaction prevented
the catastrophic failure of the VTs. It is evident that in
this instance the damping resistor (0.5 ) connected
across the tertiary windings failed to suppress the
ferroresonant oscillations. A negative experience with
open delta damping resistors was also reported in [3],
where resistance values as low as 0.1 failed to
suppress ferroresonance.
Similar ferroresonant incidents involving wound
Voltage Transformers and Circuit Breaker grading
capacitors in HV substations have been reported in [3]
to [9]. The described steady-state ferroresonant modes
were always of fundamental or sub-harmonic nature. A
very interesting case is described in [6] where chaotic
oscillations were observed for about 700ms before the
system jumped into a steady state, fundamental
frequency ferroresonant mode, with very similar
waveforms to those shown in Figure 3.
ANALYSIS OF FERRORESONANCE
EXPERIENCED IN 400KV SUBSTATION
The non-linear inductance of the VTs makes a rigorous
mathematical analysis of the phenomena very complex.
Due to limitations in numerical methods required to
solve non-linear differential equations and the
complexity of our three phase system we decided to use
time-domain simulations to study the ferroresonant
phenomena. This method, however, only gives us the
circuit response for a particular set of parameters or
initial conditions and it can not provide any indication
of the system behaviour under slightly different
conditions. In order to estimate the risk of
ferroresonance for a particular configuration with
confidence, a very large number of simulations will be
required. With the purpose of reducing the computation
burden, a preliminary simplified analysis was performed
as described below.
The 400kV line bay shown in Figure 1, having DA
closed and CB and DL open, was represented as the
single-phase circuit displayed in Figure 5, ignoring
inter-phase capacitances. In this diagram Cg is the
Circuit Breaker grading capacitance (600pF); CS is the
circuit phase-to-ground capacitance, including
conductors, VT, CT and CB stray capacitances (460pF);
R is an equivalent resistance representing the VT core
losses and it’s resistive load; and L is the non-linear
inductance of the VT. Applying Thevenin’s theorem
and ignoring losses, the previous circuit can be
represented as shown in Figure 6. The fundamental
 frequency steady-state solution of the circuit can be • Sub-harmonic ferroresonance (m = 1/2, 1/3, …) is
obtained by solving equation (1) with m=1, which more likely to occur as |E’+VC’| turns anticlockwise
graphical solution is depicted in Figure 7. and the non-linear saturation curve |VL| turns flatter.
r
r I The two curves can intercept for a wide range of
E = VL( m) (1)
capacitances and sub-harmonic frequencies. The
m 0C higher the circuit capacitance, the lower the frequency
VL( m) = m 0 (2) sustained ferroresonance can occur at.
For the system parameters under study, the circuit
presents up to three possible states at power frequency, With a piece-wise linear approximation of the VT’s
as shown in Figure 7. Points 1 and 3 represent stable magnetizing curve, a range of circuit capacitances can
solutions whereas “point 2” corresponds to a transient, lead to sustained ferroresonance at m-th sub-harmonic
instable solution. Instability of “point 2” can be frequency (m = 1/2, 1/3, …):
demonstrated by slightly increasing the current, which 1 1 (3)
< m <
2 2
will result in |E’+VC’| exceeding |VL| and, in turn, will 0 Llinear C 0 Lsaturated C
force the current to increase further. If, on the other
hand, the current is reduced, |VL| will be greater than 2.5
2.0
|E’+VC’|. The source will not be able to supply the 1.5
1.0
0.5
voltage deficit, forcing the current to drop further. 0.0 VR
-0.5
-1.0
It is interesting to note that this simple graphical -1.5
-2.0
-2.5
analysis can be used to reproduce with high accuracy 2.5
2.0
1.5
the two recorded responses during field tests: “point 1” 1.0
0.5
corresponds to the “normal response” recorded in 0.0
-0.5
VS
Figure 2 and “point 3” corresponds to the ferroresonant -1.0
-1.5
state recorded in Figure 3. It should be mentioned that -2.0
-2.5
2.5
the fundamental frequency component of recorded 2.0
1.5
1.0
ferroresonant voltages (as shown in Figure 4) is slightly 0.5
0.0
lower than the predicted value due to the simplifications -0.5 VT
-1.0
made in the analysis, in particular neglecting losses. -1.5
-2.0
-2.5
2.5
The previous graphical analysis can be extended to 2.0
1.5
1.0
study the possibility of sustained ferroresonance at 0.5
VN
0.0
different frequencies: -0.5
-1.0
• Harmonic ferroresonance (m = 2, 3, 4, …) is not likely -1.5
-2.0
to arise as the “m-th” harmonic produces a flatter -2.5
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750 800 850 900 950 1000 1050 1100 1150 1200

|E’+VC’| characteristic and a steeper non-linear Time (ms)

characteristic |VL|. The two curves will only intercept Figure 3 – Recorded voltages (p.u.) during the third
if unrealistically high m-harmonic e.m.f. is applied. switching operation
2.0
1.5 1.6
1.0
0.5 VR 1.4
0.0
-0.5 1.2
-1.0
-1.5 1.0
-2.0
2.0
1.5 0.8
1.0
0.5 0.6
0.0 VS
-0.5 0.4
-1.0
-1.5 0.2
-2.0
2.0
1.5 0.0
1.0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
0.5 Frequency (Hz)
0.0 VT
-0.5 Figure 4 – Frequency spectrum of recorded
-1.0
-1.5
-2.0
ferroresonant voltages
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5 VN
0.0
-0.5
Cg
-1.0
-1.5
-2.0 E CS R L
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750 800 850 900 950 1000 1050 1100 1150 1200
Time (ms)

Figure 2 – Recorded voltages (p.u.) during the first

switching operation
Figure 5 – Single-Phase ferroresonant circuit
 FIELD MEASUREMTS VS SIMULATION
RESULTS
C = C g + CS
Cg Simulation results of the switching operation leading to
E =E L sustained ferroresonance are shown in Figure 8, which
Cg + CS compare well with recorded waveforms shown in Figure
3. Shape and amplitude of the sustained ferroresonant
overvoltages are reproduced with very good accuracy.
Figure 6 –Simplified equivalent of ferroresonant circuit The quasi-periodic oscillations prior to the steady-state
2.5 V [pu]
ferroresonant condition (from 200 ms to 500 ms in
2.0 2 Figure 3) were almost impossible to replicate, although
1.5 simulated waveforms also displayed a quasi-periodic
1.0 behaviour. We suggest that this is due to a random
0.5
1
combination of parameters such as switching time, pre-
0.0
I [Amps] switching voltage, remnant magnetization and power
-0.25 -0.20 -0.15 -0.10 -0.05 -0.50.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 losses, the latter being variable during high saturation in
|E’+VC’| -1.0 the magnetic cores.
2.50

|VL|
-1.5 [V]

1.25
-2.0
3
-2.5
VR 0.00

Figure 7 – Graphical solution of Ferroresonant Circuit -1.25

(Fundamental Frequency) -2.50

2.50
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 [s] 1.0

[V]

1.25

ATP/EMTP MODEL OF THE 400KV STATION VS 0.00

As an extension of the previous graphical analysis,

-1.25

time-domain simulations were performed with the

-2.50
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 [s] 1.0
2.50

purpose of better understanding the factors influencing 1.25

[V]

the occurrence of ferroresonance and in order to VT 0.00

evaluate methods for mitigating or avoiding system

-1.25

overvoltages. The line bay shown in Figure 1 was

modelled in detail using the ATP/EMTP software.
-2.50
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 [s] 1.0
2.50

Preliminary simulations indicate that an accurate 1.25

representation of the Voltage Transformers is essential VN 0.00

for the study of ferroresonance. The three voltage

-1.25

transformers were represented as three single-phase

three-winding transformers, with their tertiary winding
-2.50
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 [s] 1.0

connected in open-delta and closed through a 0.5
resistor, as in the field tests. The magnetic behaviour of
the core was represented by its saturation curve, derived
from the no-load V-I curve supplied by the
manufacturer. The hysteretic behaviour of the steel core
plays an important role since it imposes additional
losses that are crucial for the stability of a ferroresonant
state. It has been reported in [11] that the equivalent
iron-core losses of a 245kV gas-insulated VT can
increase to four times its nominal value when working
in a high saturated region. Some attempts have been
made to represent deep saturated iron core losses using
dynamic resistors that take flux levels into account [5]
or as a function of the amplitude and shape of the
oscillation [9]. The main difficulty when trying to
implement any of those dynamic models is the lack of
measurements to validate them. Furthermore, it has
been suggested in [2] that single-phase transformers are
not very sensitive to core losses representation and,
therefore, it is acceptable to use a linear resistor with a
value as close as possible to nominal voltage. As
hysteresis measuremets were not available for the VTs
under study, we represented iron core losses by a
lumped linear resistor of 182M (293W at 400kV).
Figure 8 – Simulation results of ferroresonant condition
MITIGATION OPTIONS
A review of literature reveals a wide range of remedial
actions for mitigating ferroresonance in HV substations:
switched resistors connected to “Y” secondary windings
[3], damping resistors permanently connected across
open-delta windings [12], air-core reactors connected in
parallel with the HV winding [6], series combination of
a resistor and a saturable reactor in the secondary
winding [9], replacement of inductive VTs by capacitive
VTs [6], revised switching procedures [6], closing
grounding switches upon detection of ferroresonance
[10], use of VTs with higher saturation level or
installing primary neutral resistors.
Mitigation options investigated in our analysis are
briefly discussed below:
1. 0.5 damping resistor in the open delta winding
was not effective in suppressing ferroresonance.
Lower resistance values were not practical due to
thermal limitations in the secondary windings.
2. 50M resistor connected across the HV winding
could suppress ferroresonance. This solution,
 however, would imply extra losses of 28 MWh per
year.
3. 50 resistor connected across the “Y” secondary
can successfully quench resonance. Consideration
should be given to the effect of this added load on
the operation of protection relays connected to the
same winding.
4. 1 MVAR air-core reactor connected across the HV
winding avoids the occurrence of ferroresonance.
5. Optical transformer technology is a promising
emerging alternative that eliminates the concern for
ferroresonance. Further operating experience is
required, however, before they can be generally
installed in HV plants.
6. Capacitive VTs were not an option as fast line
discharge is essential for the autorecloser scheme.
7. VT relocation to the “line side” of DL was
considered. The permanent connection of the 95km
long line capacitance (1.05 microF) prevents
ferrroresonance from happening. Field tests
performed with DL closed confirmed this result.
8. Interlocking scheme to prevent the series
connection of the VTs with the CB grading
capacitors when DL is open and DA is closed.
9. VTs with higher saturation knee are under
consideration for future installations.
CONCLUSIONS
A ferroresonant experience involving inductive VTs in a
400kV substation has been presented in this paper. Key
factors affecting the phenomenon have been analysed
and discussed. These include substation capacitance,
circuit breaker grading capacitance, VT magnetizing
characteristic and circuit losses. It has been
demonstrated that fundamental and sub-harmonic
ferroresonance are possible for a range of substation
capacitances. Attention must be paid to this issue when
performing busbar extensions or bay alterations that
could modify the equivalent circuit capacitance. A very
comprehensive analysis was carried out using time
domain simulations with the ATP version of EMTP.
Simulation results duplicated reasonably well the
ferroresonant events recorded in the 400kV substation.
Digital time-domain simulations as well as field tests
demonstrated the chaotic nature of ferroresonance:
small variations in the model parameters or initial
conditions lead to completely different solutions.
During the course of the studies a number of methods
for suppressing ferroresonance were evaluated including
revised switching procedures (interlocking), VT
relocation, adding circuit losses and detuning the circuit
by installing a shunt reactor.
Although some understanding has been gained on the
ferroresonant phenomenon, many aspects require further
research such as its transient behaviour and the “jump
mechanism”. A deterministic approach does not apply
to a ferroresonant circuit, where more than one steady
state are possible. Further work is taking place in the
use of chaos theory and non-linear dynamical methods.
Preliminary analysis have revealed fundamental
frequency and sub-harmonic (period 3, 6, 9 etc)
ferroresonant modes as the station capacitance is varied.
No chaotic behaviour has been detected yet. Ongoing
work is aimed to identifying all possible ferroresonant
modes and understanding their periodic behaviour. This
work will be presented in a publication in the near
future.
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