IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems, Vol. PAS-99, No.

6 Nov/Dec 1980 2357

IMPULSE IMPEDANCE OF GROUNDING GRIDS
B.R. Gupta B. Thapar, Senior Member, IEEE
Punjab Engineering college
Chandligarh, India

ABSTRACT A method and an empirical formula shape of current and characteristics of the
to calculate the inductance of square grounli- soil.
ng grids fed at either centre or one of the As in other configurations, the impulse
corners is presentedl. Empirical for-mulae for impedance of the grid is governed by the indu-
the effective area and impulse coefficient for ctance of the grid. An empirical formula to ca-
centre fed and corner fel square gri3s are lculate the inductance of square grids fed at
determinel. The valility of the analytical either centre or one of the corners is presen-
methol has been verifiel experimentally with tel. On the basis of analytical investigations,
model tests. It is shown that the effect of empirical formulae have been Jeveloped for the
soil ionization on the impulse impe3ance of effective ralius, the impulse coefficient and
grounding grils can be ignored for grounding impulse impedance. The authenticity of these
grids in high voltage sub-stations. theoretical computations was verifiel by exp-
erimental investigations on molels using
S'YMBOLS electrolytic tank at Punjab the
Engg.College,,Chan-.
G = Total distributed grounl leakage coniuct- digarh. A close agreement between the theoret-
ance of the grounding qridl mho ical and experimental results confirms the co-
L = Total Jistributed electroJe inJuctance of rrectness of theoretical approach.
the groundling grid, H BASI C CONSIDERATIONS
R = Power frequency grounding resistance of
the gril, ohms A grounling gril can be represented by
9 = Soil resistivity, ohm-meters the usual transmission line circuit of listri-
T = Wave front time, p-secs. butel leakage conductance, inductance, capaci-
A = Impulse coefficient tance and resistance. The effect of series
r = Radius of a circular plate having the resistance and capacitance can be neglecte-l, 3
same area as that occupied by the nrid, m If a unit current is anoliel to this
re = Radius of a plate having
circular the circuit, the voltage at the input point is qi-
same area as the effective area of the ven by:
grid, m
S = Spacing between the conluctots of the
qrid, m 1 n2 j 2 t/G L
t = time, P-secs. e(t) = ( + 2t/
INTRODJCTI ON n=1
The behaviour of grounding systems uni- The imoulse current was represented by
er lightning lischarge conditions governs the a wave having a cosine front and an exoonen-
legree of protection provilel by the grounding tial tail. The transient response of the uis-
systems. tributel parameter circuit subjectel to this
When an impulse current is fed to a or- wave was Jetermined by applying the principle
ounling system, its impulse impedance is lefi- of superposition. Computations were done on
nel as the ratio of the peak value of the vol- IBM 1620 computer.
tage developel at the feeling point to the pe- The power freauency grounding resistane
ak value of the current. The ratio of impulse of grids was assumed "to be equal to the groun-
impelance to the power frequency grounling re- ding resistance of a plate which is given by
sistance is referred to as impulse coefficient the following equation:
In an earlier paoer1, the authors had
presented the results of analytical investiga- R = y /4r (2)
tions to evaluate the impulse impelance of
simple grounding electrode configurations.This The inluctance of grids was calculatel
paper extenls these investigations to the squ- using the method oresentel in appendix.
are grounlinq grils. The voltage leveloped at the input no-
The impulse impedance of grounling gri- int and hence the impulse impelance were lete-
Is lepenls on the size anl shape of the gril, rminel for the following range of variables
the spacing between the electroles, point of The range of variables consilerel covers most
injection of the current, magnitude an:3 wavy of the practical cases:
Resistivity of soil 50, 100, 500, 1000 ohm-i
Current wave shapes 1/40, 3/40, 4/10, 4/40,
5/40, 9/40,u-secs.
Gril size
size (square ) 2x2m,Sq.m . to 5x5m
40000 Sq.m.
- Mesh 100 4x4m, and 6x6mn.
F 80 286-5 A paper reconunended and approved by the
IEEE Substations Conittee of the IEEE Power
It is known1l' 3 htteszeo
ndluctor loes not havre much effect on impulse
h o
Engineering Society for presentation at the IEEE PES impzedance. A fixel value of .O2rn for theralius
Winter Meeting, New York, NY, February 3-8, 1980. of the conductor- was therefore taken.
Manuscript subnitted August 21, 1978; nade available
for printing January 7, 1980.
0018-9510/80/1 100-2357$00.75© 1980 IEEE
2358

EFFECTIVE AREA OF GRIDS 4.8

The results show that as the size of
the grid increases,the impulse impedance dec-
reases till a certain area is reached.Tn-
crease of qrid area beyond this value does not
10l
4.0
result in any aporeciable change in impulse
impedance. It was seen that when the ifrpulse
impedance has decreased to a value within 3%
of the final value, the rate of decrease of 03
impulse impedance with increase in area be- 0 3.2 \
comes very slow and hence this value was taken
to be the final value of the impulse impedance. T=1
The area of the grid corresponding to this
value of the impulse impedance was termed as £ 2.4
the ef fective area.
Because of the finite number of meshes, H
the shape of the effective area of a large
centre fed grid will always be a square and T=3
that of a large corner fed grid a triangle.
These areas are shown in Fig.l. The effective 1.6=4
area can be represented by an equivalent H
circle which has an area equal to the effect- T=
ive area. The formulae for the effective radii
presented in the next section reoresent the .8
respective radii of these equivalent circles.
EMPIRICAL FORMULAE FOR EFFECTIVE RADII AND
IMPULSE COEFFI CIENTS
, I I I l I I
Figures 2 and 3 show the variation of 0 10 20 30 40
the impulse impedance with the radius of
a centre fed grid. Figs. 4 and 5 show this va- r, meter
riation for a corner fed grid. These figures
are for grids with meshes of 5x5m size.
Fig. 2 Imoulse impedance of grounding grids,fe
-d at centre, for different values of
wave front time.

6 T=5

-1000
4
E
0
(a)
z3 ~~~~~~~=500
Ef ective an
Area H

2i12

1 ~~~~~~~~=50
 2359
The data obtained from the computer
12 sshowedthat the effective radius and impulse
coefficient can be calculated using the follo-
= 100 wing empirical formulae:
10 F re K (? T)0'5 (3)
0% where K = (1.45 - .05S) for centre fed grids
* \\ = ( .6 -.025S) for corner fed grids
2.3
\\For r rer A .333(r/r) (4)
H: _ \ T =1 Impulse Impedance = A x R

For r> ree Impulse Impedance is the same as

that for radius re.
H t_ T =3 EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS
4 T =4 A model test study was conducted in 6m.
T =5 ldia.hemi-spherical electrolytic tank to verify
experimentally the authenticity of the method
of analytical computations. 16 mesh grids of
4 sq.m size made of 14 SWG
2
1 sq.m
and
wire were used. The procedure
copper
for these
investigations was the same as in the case
of single horizontal electrodes . Both centre
fed and corner fed arrangements were consider-
0 a values of were impulse
The andtheoreticalcoefficient
4 8 12
0 416
16
12 impedance impulse also
r,meter computed. The experimental and analytical res-
ults are shown in Table 1. A perusal of Table
1 shows that the experimental and the analyti-
Fig. 4 Impulse impedance of grounding grlds cal results are quite close to each other.This
fed at corner, for different values verifies the authenticity, of the method for
of wave front time . theoretical computations .
GENERALISATION OF RESULTS
24- I The impulse coefficient for a square gr-
ounding grid can be found by the use of equa-
T=5 tion 4.
A further scrutiny of the results in-
dicates that the effective area in all cases is
20 -
reached when the factor RT/L reaches a value
of 0.65.
It is expected that this factor will
remain the same for all square grids fed
v. \ \at either centre or corner. Knowing R,L and
816 \ \ T, the effective area of any grid can be dete-
rmined and impulse coefficient and impulse im-
pedance evaluated.
EFFECT OF FEEDING POINT ON IMPULSE IMPEDANCE
12
00 It is seen from the results presented
in appendix that a corner fed grid has a much
larger inductance than a centre fed one. As a
result, the ecfective area of a grid fed at
H
corner is smaller than that of a grid fed at

4 centre fed and corner fed arrangements. The
0 'I
O 10
grouning rids
Fig. 5. Impulse impedance of gonig ris
fed at corner, for different values
of soil resistivities.
cen tre.
Fig.
6 shows the variation of impulse
impedance with the radius of the arid for
= 100 power freauency grounding resistance is not
-_ 50 affected by the feeding point.It is seen that
a centre fed grid oresents a much lower impuls!
impedance as compared to a corner fed one.
' EFFECT OF SOIL I ONI ZATI ON ON IMPULSE IMPEDANCE
20 30 40
The ef fect of soil1 ionization is very
r,meter intense in the case of point electrodes and
driven rods. In long horizontal electrodes the
current dissipated per unit length. is not very
large so that ionization pLays only a small
role in affecting the impulse impedance.d In
practical grounding grids, for high voltage su_.
2360
Table 1. Comparison of Analytical and Experimental Results

Model Resistivity Feed in g Powe r Analytical Results Experimental Results

size of Electro- Point frequency Impulse Impulse Impulse Impulse
lyte resistance Impedance Coefficient Imoedance Coefficient
ohm-mr ohms ohms ohms
lxl m 19 Centre 9.5 9.55 1.006 10.3 1.08

lxl m 19 Corner 9.5 10.2 1.074 10.9 1.15

2x2 m 19 Centre 4.8 5.0 1.04 5.4 1.12

2x2 m 19 Corner 4.8 6.8 1.42 7.3 1.52

lxl m 7.2 Centre 3.7 3.79 1.025 4.15 1.12

lxl m 7.2 Corner 3.7 4.6 1.246 5.1 1.38

2x2 m 7.2 Centre 1.9 2.15 1.13 2.3 1.21

2x2 m 7.2 Corner 1.9 3.32 1.75 3.5 1.84

ionization.. However a close scrutiny of these

results shows that this has happened on ly in
the case of small grids laid in very high
12 50 resistivity soils which will normally not
happen in actual practice.
= T
| 55For the usual sizes of grids used in
-|Curve_l:ImC)ulse imoedance of
corner fedi grid..
sub-stations, the actual area is likely tobe
Curve-2 |Imorser impedance
impedance of
of at least equal to the effective area. (For
10 Curve_2ceImturse
1ure lPcentre feqgriuenyroUn
a soil of 100 ohm-m resistivity,the actualarea
of a grid may be around 2000 sq.m. The maxi-
roesrisutance
ding of orid mum effective area, for a wave front of 4usecs,
is 1800 sq.m).The dissipation of impulse
current will, therefore, be generally non-
8 uniform. As a result, the voltage gradient at
the surface of the electrode will also be non-
-1 uniform.
The maximum surge voltage that can reach
6
a sub-station through a transmission line is
limited to 1.2 times, the impulse flashover
voltage of the line insulation.Thus for a 220
KV system, the maximum surge voltage will be
around,1700 KV. For the usual transmission line
4 surge impedance and discharge characteristics
of lightning arrester, the maximum current
which this surge can cause will not exceed 10
2 KA.
Consider a square grid with the followim
2 particulars:
3 Soil resistivity 100 ohm-m
Area of the grid 2000 sq.m.
Radius of conductor 1 cm.
0 E I X l Mesh size 5x5 m
C) 20 40 60 80 Even for the extreme case of the ligh-
tning arrester lead connected to one corner
r, meter of this grid, the maximum voltage gradient at
the surface of the conductor of the grid isnot
likely to exceed 5KV/cm.For other locations
of the lightning arrester lead, the gradient
Fig. 6 Impulse impedance of grid, fed at cen- is likely to be still less.
tre and at corner. The effective area of a grid changes
in the same ratio as the resistivity. The
bstation,the total length of buried conductors total length of buried conductors also changes
is very large.As a result, the current dlissipa- more or less in the same ratio. As a result,
ted per unit length is very small and conseq- the voltage gradient at the surface of the
uently the effect of soil ioniz.ation is almost conductor, for other soil resistivities, is
negligible,. also like ly to be aporoximatelSy the same .
-Vainer4and C:iudice et al5.have renorted Since the critical internal breakdown
some results of experiments to investigate the gradient of soils is in the range of 10-20 KiV/
impulse behaviour of grounding grids . In some cm, the soil ionization is not likely to occur.
Of the results, the imoulse cozefficient isless The maximum impul.se curr.ent which can
than unity which indicates occurrence of soil be caused by a direct stroke to the substation
 2361
will be much higher (say around 100 KA). Such Frequency Current PartI"Research Schemeof
a stroke impinging on the centre of the above Power,Technical Report No. 16, Central
grid will cause a maximum voltage gradient of Board of Irrigation and Power, Govt. of
only 8KV/an. If the stroke impinges at other India, New Delhi March 1978.
points of the grid, except the peripheral 4. A.L. Vainer, "Impulse Characteristics of
conductors, the maximum voltage gradient is Grounding Systems" ELEKTICHESTiVO (USSR)
again not likely to exceed the critical value. March 1966 pp 23-27.
AS a matter of fact a direct stroke to 5. E. Guid3ice and G.B. Lo Piparo, "Behaviour
the sub-station is likely to come only on the of Earth Plates to Pulse Waveforms" Tele-
aerial ground wires of the sub-station. The communicazioni(Italy), Vol. 21,No.2,1972,
aerial ground wires are connected to the sub- pp. 59-65.
station structures.Thus such a stroke islikely 6. R. Rudenberg, "Grounding Principles and
to reach the grounding grid through a number Practice - Fundamental Considerations on
of paths. This means that almost the entire Ground Currents". Electrical Engg. Jan.,
grid will be effective for such strokes.ThuS 1945, pp. 1-13.
the maximum voltage gradient at the surface of
conductors is likely to be well below the APPENDIX
critical value.
From the above qualitative examination, Inductance of Square Grids
it can be concluded that soil ionization is
not likely to occur in actual groundino grids The inductance of square grids gas
for the usual magnitudes of liqhtning currents, determined with the following assumptions
Nevertheless, in some situations, a couple of 1. The electromagnetic field is the highe:
streamers may emerge due to non-homogenuity where the current is most concentrated ie.
of the soil. They may cause a slight reduction around the conductor. Therefore,the in-
(say 5%) in the impulse impedance. Such cases 5uctance is mainly given by the distribu.
can always be ignored especially because this tion of the current in the conductors for,-
reduction in the impulse impedance will result mino the grid. The effect of current in
in better liqhtning protection of the sub- the ground was neglected.
station. 2. The leakage of current to the ground was
neglected. All the current entering the
CONCLUSIONS feeding point is collected atthe discrete
remote points on the grid.
1. An emptziric:al folrmula to calculate the 3. Variation of the radius of the conductor
inductance of square grounding grids is forming the grid has negligible effect on
suggested. the inductance of the grid for the usual
2. Only limited area of the grounding grid, range of the size of conductor encounteiad
around the point of feeding is effective in the field. Therefore the radius of the
in controlling the imoulse impedance.The conductor was assumed as .02 m.
effective area of a square grid is reached (w 1 ) and (2) stated
Assumptions above
when RT/L = .65. The ef fective ralius of a have been propooed by Rudenberg6. The first
square grid can also be represented by as_Jump_( n tends to give a lower value of the
equation 3. inductance since the effect of current in the
3. The imoulse coefficient and hence impulse ground has been neglected whereas the second
impedlance of sqruare grounding grids can be assumption tends to give a higher value of the
determined with the help of equation 4. inductance as the leakage of current to the
4. A centre fed grounding qrid has a much ground is neglected.The errors created by
lower impulse impedance than a corner fed two assumptions cancel each other to some the
one. extent.
5. The effect of soil ionization in grounding The self & mutual inductance of each
aridis is likely to be very small and can, element of the grid was calculated & they were
therefore, be ignored. suitably combined to give the total inductance
6 The results prsente in the paper offer a of the grid. The calculations were done for a
*simple and useful method to determine the number of grids with different number of mesh-
effective areas impulse coefficient andl es and dif ferent spacings between electrodes.
impulse impedance of square grounding qri- These results indicated that the inductance the of
ds a grid mainly depends on (a) length of
elements of meshes (b) number of the meshes
AC1KNOWLEDGEMENTS (c) feeding point of the current,.
A perusal of the results2,3 showed that
The authors thank the Central Boairdof the inductance of a square grid can be found
Irrigation and Power, Govt. of India and the
authorities of Punjab Engg.College Chandiqarh
for the facilities provided for carrying out Inductance of Grid = (Self Inductance of
the work. one element) x D (5)
REFERENCES where D is an empirical constant whose value
depends on the number of meshes and the fee-
1. B.R. Guota and B. Thapar',ImPulse Impedan- ding point of current on the grid. The vralues
ce of Grounding Systems" IEEE PAS Paner A of P are givren in Table 2.
78563-9 Summer Power Meeting 197R. I t was founld that the inductance of a
2. F3.R. Gupta and B. Thapar, "Inductance of grid of givren dimensions decreases with the
Square Grids" Journal of Institution of increase in the number of meshes. The decrease
Engineers (India), Vtol. 58Part EL_6 June in inductance is fast when the number of mesh-
1978 p 320. es is below 16 and negligible for the number
3. B. Thapar and B.R. Gupta, "BehavriOur of of meshes above 64.For calculating the induct-
* Grounding Systems under Impulse and High ance of a grid with number of meshes greater
2362
than 64, the grin may be consislerei to have icullum an3 running of short term refresher
only 64 meshes and the iniuctance calculated courses. He has been a consultant to a number
for this grii can be aioptei for the grii of utilities in the area of 5esign of earthing
having larger number of meshes. systems anS testing of high voltage equipment.
He is the author or co-author of over two
Table 2. Values of coefficient D cozen research papers and reports and co-
author of the book 'Power System Transients
No. of Feeling Point Feeling point and High Voltage Principles'.
meshes Centre Corner Dr. GuPta is a recipient of Central Board
of Irrigation anl Power (InMa) medal for
4 0.326 2.04 distinction in engineering technology. He is a
0.326 2.04 member of IEEE Power Engineering Society and
16 0.570 3.75 InStitution of Engineers (InSia).
36 0.570 5.28
Dr. B. Thapar receiveS his
64 1.05 7.15 B. Sc. (Engg.) (Hons.)dSegree
in Electrical Engineering
from the Banaras Hindu Uni-
versity in 1953. During 1959
Dr. B. R. Gupta was born in _63,he studied at the 1111-
Bhatinda, India on March 14 nois Institute of Technolo-
1939.He received the degrees gy, Chicago,where he receiv-
of B.Sc. Engg. with Hons., ed the M S and Ph D degrees
M.Sc.Engg. with Distinction in Electrical Engineering in
an$ Ph.D from Panjab Unive- 1960 and 1963 respectively.
rsity in 1961,1967 and 1979 From 1953 to 1955. he was with the Punjab
respectively. PWD Electricity Branch. In 1955 he joined
He has been on the teach the Punjab Engineering College. chandiiarh as
-ing faculty of Punjab Engg. an Assistant Professor and is now the Profess-
College, Chandigarh, India or ani Head of Elect.Engineering Department.
since 1961, an& is currently His special fields of research are protec-
Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering tion ani grounding of electric power Systems.
and a menber of Power System Research Grou_ . He has contributei a number of technical
He has broai teaching research and consultancy papers in various fielis of electrical power
experience in the areas of high voltage engineering ani is co-author of a book on
engineering, power sysatm transients, protec- 'Power System Transients and High Voltage
tion, earthing and reliability. He has also Principles'. He is a senior member INEM,member
been participating in the ievelopment of curr- IEE sigma Xi and Tau Beta Pi.