Simulation of Grounding Networks
in the SES CDEGS Software
Antoni Szczepański
Department of Electrical and Computer Fundamentals
Rzeszow University of Technology
ul. W. Pola 2, 35-959 Rzeszow, Poland
aszczep@prz.edu.pl
Abstract—The article presents a new concept in the area of
mathematical modeling of grounding networks. The idea is to
combine a few arbitrary homogeneities (finite volumes of
prismatic shape), defined in the MALT module of SES CDEGS
software by its developers, to build the polyhedron much more
useful in grounding system simulations (finite length cylinder,
semi-cylindrical trough or sphere). The polyhedron, with
resistivity different than surrounding soil, is created from a
several finite volumes that can each be defined separately by 24
numbers in rectangular Cartesian coordinate system. Every finite
volume has a shape of hexahedron. The six faces of the volume are
convex tetragons.
Keywords—CDEGS software; finite volume; grounding
networks analysis; heterogeneous soil; MALT program
I. INTRODUCTION
CDEGS software package (Current Distribution,
Electromagnetic Fields, Grounding and Soil Structure
Analysis) is a powerful set of integrated engineering software
tools designed to accurately analyse problems involving
grounding and earthing, electromagnetic fields,
electromagnetic interference, including AC/DC interference
mitigation studies and various aspects of cathodic protection
and anode bed analysis with a global perspective, starting
literally from the ground up [1].
CDEGS computes conductor currents and electro- magnetic
fields generated by an arbitrary network of energized
conductors anywhere above or below ground for normal, fault,
lightning and transient conditions.
CDEGS models simple and multi-component conductors,
including bare, coated pipes and pipe-enclosed cable systems
buried in complex soil structures. CDEGS is composed of eight
engineering modules: RESAP, MALT, MALZ, TRALIN,
SPLITS, HIFREQ, FCDIST, and FFTSES. In the article
advantages and disadvantages of MALT will be discussed.
II. MALT PROGRAM FEATURE
The computer program MALT [2] is a powerful grounding
analysis tool, which is useful whenever electrical conduction
978-1-4673-9452-9/15/$31.00 ©2015 European Union
through earth must be studied. MALT is used to analyse and
design ground networks for HVAC and HVDC power stations,
substations or transmission towers, or to design anode beds for
cathodic protection installations. Other electrical engineering
problems can also be accurately solved using MALT program.
MALT can analyse complex ground networks consisting of
arbitrary arrangements of bare conductors buried in vertically,
horizontally, spherically, or cylindrically layered soils. It can
also account for the presence of arbitrarily shaped regions of
varying resistivities embedded in a uniform soil.
Generally, MALT is suited to analyse all practical problems
where DC or AC power frequency currents are injected into the
earth by a ground network or multiple electrodes, so long as the
longitudinal impedances of the ground conductors can be
neglected. In this situation, the locations of the current injection
points within the ground network do not play a significant role.
MALT computer program is used primarily to analyse
power system grounding networks. It is also used to investigate
various engineering problems where there exists conduction of
current in metallic conductors buried in the soil [3].
MALT has a few features that give the program broad
applicability, such as the calculation of currents in and
potentials around irregular grounding grids within layered
soils.
MALT can be used to study the performance of a ground
network embedded in a uniform or layered (horizontal or
vertical) earth having arbitrary resistivities and distances
between the interfaces of the layers (Fig. 1). Soils with three
concentric hemispherical regions with different resistivities can
also be modeled (Fig. 2).
MALT also supports a cylindrical soil model and allows for
the modeling of arbitrarily shaped regions of varying
resistivities embedded in a uniform soil [4], [5].
MALT is valid for any possible configuration of ground
conductors. Irregular grids having unequally spaced vertical,
horizontal, or inclined conductors and combinations of these
can readily be analyzed.
 has many limitations. For example, spherical cap or segment
cannot be represented by the model, neither ellipsoidal shape. It
is not stated directly in MALT that cylindrical-horizontal
diversity is infinitely long, which is not suitable while
simulating winding river flowing near to grounding network.
Besides, axis of the cylindrical horizontal heterogeneity must
perfect soil uniform soil horizontal 2-layer soil lie on z=0 plane, so it is impossible to use it for buried metallic
or concrete parts (water and sewer pipes, cable channels etc.).
The question is: How to model an object that looks like a whole
cylinder of finite length, embedded in the native homogenous
ground?
Cylindrical vertical heterogeneity has the same
horizontal 3-layer horizontal multilayer vertical 2-layer disadvantage as the horizontal one i.e. length of the cylinder is
still infinite and one of the cylinder base must be placed on the
earth surface. In this case the question arises: How to get
multilayered vertical cylinder? For example, it is useful while
performing simulation of water in a deep vertical wells
surrounded by concrete circles, because water and concrete
have different electrical conductivity.
vertical 3-layer vertical multilayer
Fig. 1. Layered earth models having interfaces in the form of planes B. Finite volumes of prismatic shape
perpendicular or parallel to the surface of the earth (pictures copied from
MALT program help file). Problems mentioned above can be partially solved with aid
of arbitrary heterogeneity, named finite volume (Fig. 2). User
of MALT program can define one or several finite volume(s) of
a prismatic shape constrained by 6 tetragonal plane surfaces
and 8 vertices. To define the geometry of the volume, 24
numbers are needed (Fig. 2). No more than 20 prismatic
volumes may be defined simultaneously. The first step is to
specify the total number of finite volumes in the simulation and
the resistivity of the soil environment ρnative. The second step is
to define each volume separately. For each volume, user should
hemispherical multilayer cylindrical horizontal set its soil resistivity, the name, the vertex coordinates X, Y, Z
for any two opposite volume faces (top and bottom), and
Number of Patches (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. Soil characteristics while using prismatic volumes.

The vertices constituting the face should lie on the same

cylindrical vertical arbitrary heterogeneity (finite volume)
Fig. 2. Earth models having interfaces in the form of curved surfaces or
arbitrary heterogeneity (pictures copied from MALT program help file).
A. Limitations of MALT program
In many practical cases a design engineer must work with
earth structure that cannot be approximated by a set of plane
layers like these in Fig. 1. Hemispherical version of earth also
plane and follow each other either in a counterclockwise (or
clockwise) manner. The order of the vertices should be the
same for both Face1 and Face2 of a given volume.
In order to get accurate results, volume surfaces should be
subdivided into smaller surface elements (patches). If the
number of elements is not specified in the Number of Patches
textbox, the program will proceed with default subdivisions. In
general, the number of patches per finite volume may vary from
500 to 2000 depending on the volume shape and the location of
the grounding network conductors. The detailed patch
distribution for every volume face can be specified by selecting
the ‘Specify Subdivision’ option.
Two finite volumes may have a common face. More
complex volume contacts are not supported in the current
version of MALT. All finite volumes used do not have to be in
contact with each other, so it is possible to get two or more
disjoint solids of different shape in one simulation.

III. GROUND ENHANCEMENT MATERIAL

Forget for a moment about MALT and draw attention to
GEM (Ground Enhancement Material) from ERICO, because it
is where the article starts.
GEM is a low-resistance, non-corrosive, carbon concrete
that improves grounding effectiveness, especially in areas of
poor conductivity. The resistivity of GEM is less than 2
ohm-cm; which is less than 1% the resistivity for bentonite Fig. 5. GEM calculator - single ground rod without GEM.
clay. GEM is ideal for areas with poor conductivity such as
rocky ground, mountain tops, sandy soil and areas of moisture
variation [6].

Fig. 4. Ground enhancement material shaped as a finite length cylinder

immersed in the homogeneous soil (pictures from [6]). Fig. 6. GEM calculator - single ground rod with GEM.

GEM Calculator software provides resistivity values for
common GEM applications and can help to estimate the
amount of GEM required for an installation (Fig. 5, Fig. 6).
A. Single ground rod resistance determination
The aim of researches was to determine the validity of the
results obtained from the GEM calculator. The program quickly
returns results, probably by analytical formula [7]
The simplest way to approximate cylinder is the use of two
finite volumes (Fig. 7). The solution has some disadvantages,
i.e. it does not allow to put a ground rod on axis of the cylinder
in the same way as in Fig. 6. It is a troublesome obstacle,
because MALT computational algorithms do not permit to
place grounding rods crossing or near to the skeleton segments
of a finite volume. To overcome this limitation more finite
volumes are required.

1 ⎛⎜ ⎛D⎞ ⎛ ⎛ 8l ⎞ ⎞ ⎞
Rsingle_rod = ρ ln ⎜ ⎟ + ρ ⎜⎜ ln⎜ ⎟ − 1⎟⎟ ⎟, (1)
2 π l ⎜⎝ ⎟
GEM soil
⎝d⎠ ⎝ ⎝ D ⎠ ⎠⎠

which is applied to a single ground rod surrounded by GEM,

where l - length of ground rod, D - diameter of GEM
cylindrical foundation, d - diameter of the ground rod,
ρGEM, ρsoil – GEM and exterior soil resistivity respectively.
To prove correctness of GEM calculator returned results
one may use MALT program, but there is no possibility to
directly declare even as simple grounding network as a single
ground rod encased by GEM of finite length cylinder embedded
in a native soil. It will be shown now how to create a cylinder
from a several finite volumes, described earlier. It is obvious
that it is impossible to get a perfect circle with a finite and small
number of quadrangles. For the same reason it is impossible to
build a perfect cylinder having at disposal only a finite
prismatic volumes.
Fig. 7. Cylinder created from 2 prismatic volumes.
A better solution is presented in Fig. 8 but it uses 5 finite
volumes. An axis of the cylinder is now far enough away from
the solid edges. Pictures in Fig. 8 were created in Matlab and
are the result of special scripting m-file developed by the author
of this paper. The visualization helps to ensure that cylinder
approximation is designed properly. An output of the m-script
consists of 5*24=120 coordinates (some are the same) that user
of MALT has to copy manually into string grid control of the
MALT(Soil type) input window.
As a proof of the correct definition of the cylinder two
pictures got in MALT quick view display area are given in
Fig. 9. User can visually check if entered data are valid.
Fig. 8. Cylinder created from 5 finite volumes.
It is worth noting that entering data into Face1(Top)-
Face2(Bottom) table is a little cumbersome. These 24 numbers
cannot simply be copied to the string grid using Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V
method from a Windows Notepad text file. They should be first
loaded into MS Excel sheet and then (by the clipboard) copied
into the string grid. Although the decimal point should be a
point in the string grid, it has to be a comma in MS Excel.
Fig. 9. Cylinder built from 5 finite volumes seen in MALT program quick
display area.
To check GEM Calculator output data many simulations
were performed in MALT and IES Electro (it is a commercial
software). Geometry shown in Fig. 6 was used. GEM cylinder
radius was changed from 5 cm to 30 cm. GEM calculator is
constrained to 15 cm, because higher value of GEM radius
results in many bags of the enhanced material that is not cheap.
Simulations and calculations were repeated for two values of
native ground resistivities.
Fig. 10. Simple ground rod resistance for ρnative=100 Ωm.
Fig. 11. Simple ground rod resistance for ρnative=500 Ωm.
IES Electro results are slightly different from the rest
(Fig. 10, Fig. 11), probably because of use the FEM method.
MALT uses Methods of Moment which is better suited for thin
wire simulations. There is good conformity of the results of the
GEM Calculator, MALT, and Mitskevitch-Dawalibi formula
[7]. This means that the modeling of finite cylinder with
prismatic volumes in MALT is correct and gives results in a
good agreement with reality.
B. Four ground rods in a straight line simulation
As a second example let’s consider four ground rods of the
same length, arranged along a straight line. Each rod is encased
with GEM coating of the same radius (Fig. 12). Twenty finite
volumes were used to make these four cylindrical coatings.
Every cylinder is approximated by 5 finite volumes in the same
manner as in Fig. 8.
Fig. 12. Four cylinders built from 20 finite volumes visualized in Matlab.
Resistance of electrode system made of four rods with GEM
can be easily calculated by GEM software (Fig. 13).
Fig. 13. Four ground rods in a line resistance calculation.
 MALT does not support such soil heterogeneity as a standard
option. Another m-file script was written to obtain a more
accurate representation of a cylinder. In the case in Fig. 17 nine
finite volumes are used. It can be seen that the base of the
cylinder is almost a perfect circle. Four cylinders shown in
Fig. 18 may be used as foundation legs of a power pole. Fig.
19-21 show how to model coated cylinders. The external ring
made of 12 adjoined volumes may play role of metal or P.V.C.
pipe with resistivity different than inside.

Fig. 17. Vertical cylinder created from 9 finite volumes.

Fig. 14. Four ground rods in a line visualized in MALT.

The resistance of electrode system in MALT is 24.826

ohms and GEM calculator gives 25,377 ohms. Thus, the results
are in a good conformity. The potential waveforms on the
ground surface, near the rods, are shown in Fig. 15 and in
Fig. 16.

Fig. 18. Four cylinders spaced in the rectangle vertices.

Fig. 15. Potential profile magnitude in Volts for z = 0.

Fig. 19. Cylinder (5 vol.) with thick coating (12 vol.).

Fig. 16. Contour plot of potential profile magnitude.

IV. OTHER TYPES OF CYLINDRICAL SOLIDS

The m-file script generating X, Y, Z coordinates of vertices
of finite volumes are highly parameterized, so it is easy to get a
Fig. 20. Cylinder with thin coating.
long thin cylinder or a wide flat circular plate. Also, the axis of
the cylinder can be set horizontal. It should be noted here that

Fig. 21. Cylinder of small radius with very thick coating.
V. SPHERE APPROXIMATION WITH PRISMATIC VOLUMES
Charts in Fig. 22 and Fig. 23 show scalar potential profile
and contour plots at depth z = h, which cuts the sphere in half.
These charts prove that mapping of the sphere with prismatic
volumes is very good.
Fig. 22. Scalar potential profile magnitude in Volts for a sphere.
Fig. 23. Contour plot of scalar potential of a sphere.
VI. CONCLUSION
Prismatic finite volumes available in the MALT program
significantly broaden the range of its applications in the
grounding networks simulations. The volumes enable modeling
heterogeneous soil more realistically than in standard MALT
hemispherical and cylindrical soil models. A suitable
combination of a few or several prismatic volumes give the
solid similar to the underground channel, manhole, river, pond,
concrete basement etc. Entering the coordinates of these
prismatic volumes, however, is a bit arduous. It would be more
convenient if these data were read from a text file. Twenty
prismatic volumes available in the current version of MALT is
not enough for an extensive simulation.
A standard set of solids, designed by developers of the
software, should also be available. For the chosen solid user
should specify only the size, location, and the number of
prismatic volumes he wants to use in the simulation.
Implementation details ought to be hidden from the user. The
ideas presented in the article can be a starting point for further
development and new options in MALT program.
REFERENCES
[1] CDEGS Homepage http://www.sestech.com/Products/
SoftPackages/CDEGS.htm. Accessed 2 September, 2015.
[2] MALT Homepage http://www.sestech.com/Products/
SoftModule/Malt.htm. Accessed 2 September, 2015.
[3] MALT help file
[4] J. Ma, N. Mitskevitch, “Analysis of Grounding Systems in Soils with
Cylindrical Soil Volumes”, IEEE/PES Transactions on PWRD, Vol. 15,
No. 3, July 2000, pp. 913-918
[5] N. Mitskevitch, F.P. Dawalibi, “Study of Grounding System Safety
Aspects in the Presence of Finite Heterogeneities”, Proceedings of the
2000 IEEE IAS Workshop on Electrical Safety in Industry, New Delhi,
April 14-15, 2000, pp. 9-14
[6] Ground Enhancement Material Homepage http://www.erico.com/
products/GEM.asp. Accessed 2 September, 2015.
[7] J. Ma, N. Mitskevitch, F.P. Dawalibi, “Performance Evaluation of
Grounding Systems in Soils with Finite Volumes of Different
Resistivities”, Proceedings of the 62nd Annual Meeting of the American
Power Conference, Chicago, April 10-12, 2000, pp. 338-342
[8] CDEGS Engineering Guide, A simple substation grounding grid analysis,
Safe Engineering Services & Technologies Ltd, Montreal 2006.