MATLAB-Based Fault Analysis of Power Systems

with Graphical User Interface as an Educational Tool

Kenan Hatipoglu, Arash Jamahbozorg and Ghadir Radman

Electrical and Computer Engineering Department

Tennessee Technological University
Cookeville TN, 38505
khatipogl42@students.tntech.edu
ajamehboz42@students.tntech.edu
gradman@tntech.edu

scientific programming languages in the area of power

Abstract— This paper presents a MATLAB-based fault
analysis of Power Systems with Graphical User Interface (GUI).
The objective of the paper is designing a user friendly Graphical
User Interface as an educational tool that helps students who are
new to the power system area and studying fault conditions of
electrical power systems. There are commercial programs and
customized toolboxes developed for education and research but
most of them are not user friendly and visualization capacities
are low. This paper is intended to fill this gap for fault analysis.
User can choose or add the system he/she wants to work on and
display the bus voltages and fault currents. This GUI lets users
change the faulted phases and buses and at the same time
observe the changes in the system operation under fault
conditions. This interface is developed under MATLAB 7. This
paper will report the structure of the current development.
I. INTRODUCTION
Traditional tools for power system analysis can be divided
into two classes: commercial programs and customized
toolboxes developed for education and research. Various
commercial programs, such as Power System Simulator for
Engineering (PSS/E) [1], Power System Simulator (Simpow)
[2], and PowerWorld [3], Eurostag [4], PSAPAC [5] are
available on the market. These programs provide detailed
component/system models and computationally efficient
algorithms for the analysis. However, they are not suitable
for educational purposes since modification or addition of
new component models and algorithms to those programs are
not easy. These programs are mostly intended to use by
professional users and are too hard for a beginner student to
use. For educational purposes, flexibility and ability of easy
prototyping are often more crucial aspects than computational
efficiency.
For research and teaching applications, MATLAB [6]
software package has become one of the most popular
systems. The MATLAB become an attractive choice for
power systems because of the following features [7]:
• wide availability, cost , and portability;
• high-quality numerical processes, including sparse
matrix capability;
• the ability to create dynamically linked C/C++ or
FORTRAN subroutines;
• the availability of symbolic computation capability
through the Extended Symbolic Toolbox;
• the ability to build a powerful and portable graphical
user interface (GUI);
• well known by students and widely used in
engineering curricula;
• wide selection of toolboxes, such as Simulink,
Control Toolbox, Real-Time Workshop , and Sim-
PowerSystems.
Several MATLAB-based programs are available in power
system simulation, modeling, and analysis, such as
Electromagnetic Transients Program in MATLAB
(MatEMTP) [8], Power System Toolbox (PST) [9],
Educational Simulation Tool (EST) [10], Power Analysis
Toolbox (PAT) [11], MATLAB Power System Simulation
Package (MatPower) [12], and SimPowerSystems (SPS) [13].
Among these, only MatPower program is open source and
freely downloadable.
This paper describes a new MATLAB-based fault analysis
GUI that uses visualization capabilities of MATLAB. This
free and user friendly GUI helps students visualize the effects
of changes in system parameters by providing an attractive
interface for fault analysis concept.

978-1-61284-738-2/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE 354

 II. PROCEDURE
The basic procedure for the proposed MATLAB-based fault Step 11: Displaying the results on the interface.
analysis of power system GUI contains the following steps.
III. FEATURES OF THE INTERFACE
Step 1: Reading the required data from the Excel File. This interface is user friendly and very easy to use.
Pressing the run button is enough for displaying all results as
Step 2: Defining the maximum number of buses and max bar format on the screen at the bottom of the interface for
number of elements at the test system. each bus. Next to this screen, there is another display that
shows all results numerically. Basic interface window can be
Step 3: Creating bus incidence matrix . seen in Fig. 1.
Step 4: Creating primitive Z impedance matrix. First pop-up menu is used for choosing the system. The
user can choose the system he/she wants to work on. The
Step 5: Calculating admittance matrix: program itself has only ‘‘4 Bus System’’ as a default for test
purposes. Pressing the run button in the middle of the
(1) interface is enough to run the program. If the user wants to
test his/ her own system the ‘‘New System’’ option has to be
Step 6: Calculating I , bus currents vector: selected. After hitting the run button a new window pups up.
This window is the current directory of the MATLAB. At that
(2) window the excel document named as ‘‘New System’’ has to
be modified and saved with the new system data. After that
where E is vector including the generator’s internal user has to press any key to continue and see the results for
voltages for each element. the new system.

Step 7: Calculating V , bus voltage vector: Second pop-up menu is used for choosing the faulted
phase(s) or no fault conditions at the test system. Program can
(3) be run under no fault conditions by selecting the ‘‘no fault’’
option. Fault can be applied to a single phase ‘‘a’’, ‘‘b’’, ‘‘c’’,
After all these steps fault analysis part starts. or two phase ‘‘a-b’’, ‘‘a-c’’, ‘‘b-c’’, or three phase ‘‘a-b-c’’ by
selecting those options at second popup menu.
Step 8: Obtaining the location of the fault and fault
impedance data from the user interface. Third pop-up menu is used for choosing the faulted bus at
the test system. Faulted bus can be changed by selecting any
There are two different cases depending on fault bus number at the system.
impedance.

The case without fault impedance:

Step 8a: Removing the rows and columns of faulty

phase(s) from Y and removing rows of faulty phases from
the I and V vectors

Step 9a: Calculating V from (3); I would be the same

as before.

Step 10a: Rearranging V by adding zero as voltage of

faulty phase(s) and then calculating I from
.

The case with fault impedance:

Step 8b: Creating the new Y by adding Y (fault

admittance) to previous Y .

Step 9b: Calculating V from (3). Fig. 1- MATLAB GUI Based Three Phase Test System Interface

Step 10b: Calculating I from I Y V whereV is

the voltage of the faulty phase(s).

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 Fourth pop-up menu is used for changing the display either
‘‘Bus Voltages’’ or ‘‘Fault Currents’’ at specified fault Here are some results after testing the four-bus system.
location.
Case 1: Steady-State Results
Fifth pop-up menu is used for choosing fault impedance. If
the ‘‘With fault impedance’’ section selected, for entering the Bus voltages under no fault condition can be seen in Fig. 4:
fault impedance values, a new table pops up just underneath
that pop-up menu. User can change the fault impedance
values. Symmetrical or unsymmetrical faults can be tested by
changing those values.

IV. FOUR BUS EXAMPLE SYSTEM

This example system is a four-bus seven-element system.
Configuration of the system is shown in Fig. 2. Bus numbers
and element connections are in Fig. 3. The data at Table 1 is
the required data for four bus system configuration. For other
user defined systems, these data must be added to the excel
document named ‘‘New System’’ at MATLAB current
directory.

Fig. 4 - Four bus system under no fault condition

Case 2: LG fault in phase ‘‘a’’ of the first bus

Fig. 2 - Four Bus Test System Configuration Bus voltages under fault at phase ‘‘a’’ of the first Bus
without fault impedance can be seen in Fig. 5:

Fig. 3 - Bus numbers and element connections for four bus test system.

Table 1 - Required data for testing four bus test system1

Element From R11 X11 Angle

To Bus V (p.u.)
number Bus (ohm) (ohm) (deg.)
1 0 1 0 0,1 1 0
2 0 2 0 0,1 1,05 5
3 0 4 0 0,15 0,98 -3
4 1 2 0 0,13 0 0
5 2 3 0 0,5 0 0
6 4 3 0 0,3 0 0
7 2 4 0 0,6 0 0 Fig. 5 - Four Bus System under fault at phase “a” at first Bus without fault
impedance

1
In this case it is supposed that all of the self-impedance are
equal and mutual impedance are zero. Generally, user can
enter all the nine elements of the Z-matrix independently. Case 3: LL fault of phases ‘‘a’’ and ‘‘b’’ of second Bus

356
 When the ‘‘With fault impedance’’ case is selected a new
Bus voltages under fault at phase ‘‘a - b’’ of second Bus table as shown in Fig. 8 pops up in order to enter the fault
without fault impedance can be seen in Fig. 6: impedance data. The table has the default values for fault
impedance.

Fig. 8 - Editable fault impedance table

Fig. 6 - Four Bus System under fault at phase “a - b” at second Bus without
fault impedance (Bus Voltages).

Fault currents under fault at phase ‘‘a - b’’ of second Bus

without fault impedance can be seen in Fig. 7:

Fig. 9 - Four Bus System under fault at phase “a - b - c” at third Bus with
symmetrical fault impedance (Bus Voltages).

Fault current under fault at phase ‘‘a - b - c’’ at third Bus

with symmetrical fault impedance can be seen in Fig. 10:

Fig. 7 - Four Bus System under fault at phase “a - b” at bus two without fault
impedance (Fault Currents).

Case 4: LLL fault at third bus with symmetrical fault

impedance

Bus voltages under fault at phase ‘‘a - b - c’’ at Bus three

with symmetrical fault impedance as can be seen at Fig. 9: Fig. 10 - Four Bus System under fault at phase “a - b - c” at third Bus with
symmetrical fault impedance (Fault Currents)

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 Case 5: LLL fault at Bus 4 with unsymmetrical fault
impedance
Bus voltages under fault at phase ‘‘a - b - c’’ at fourth Bus
with unsymmetrical fault impedance can be seen in Fig. 11:
Fig. 11 - Four Bus System under fault at phase “a - b - c” at bus four with
unsymmetrical fault impedance (Bus Voltages).
Fault current under fault at phase ‘‘a - b - c’’ at fourth Bus
with unsymmetrical fault impedance can be seen in Fig. 12:
Fig. 12 - . Four Bus System under fault at phase “a - b - c” at bus four with
unsymmetrical fault impedance (Fault Currents).
V. CONCLUSION
A MATLAB-based fault analysis of power system with
Graphical User Interface is presented in this paper. This
MATLAB-based GUI can help the students who are new in
power systems area studying the fault conditions in power
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systems. It is user friendly and easy to use. The most
important features of the interface is the testing ability of user
selected power systems under different fault conditions and
clear visualization of the results. User can get the bus
voltages and fault currents that are the key components of
fault analysis in power systems. The behavior of the power
system under fault conditions can easily be understood after
carefully examining the results of the program.
This interface will be available at the Tennessee Tech
University, Center for Energy System Research web site
[14].
Future work will be concentrated on developing a tool box
dealing with fault analysis, DC load flow, contingency
analysis and economic dispatch.
VI. REFERENCES
[1] PSS/E, "Power System Simulator for Engineering"
Power Technologies Inc, Schenectady, NY, 2001.
[2] Simpow, “Power System Simulator“ STRI AB, Ludvika,
Sweden, 1977
[3] PowerWorld, Power World Corporation, Champaign, IL
[4] EUROSTAG, "Software for the Simulation for Power
System Dynamics" Tractable Energy Engineering,
Brussels, Belgium, 2001.
[5] PSAPAC, "The Power System Analysis Package"
Powertech Labs Inc, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2001.
[6] “Matlab,” in High-Performance Numeric Computation
and Visualization Software. Natick, MA: The MathWorks,
Inc., 2001
[7] S. Ayasun, C. O. Nwankpa, and H. G. Kwatny, “Voltage
Stability Toolbox for Power System Education and
Research” IEEE Trans. Education, Vol. 49, No. 4, Nov
2006.
[8] J. Mahseredjian and F. Alvarado, “Creating an
electromagnetic transients program in Matlab:
MatEMTP,” IEEE Trans. Power Del., vol. 12, pp. 380–
387, Jan. 1997.
[9] J. H. Chow and K. W. Cheung, “A toolbox for power
system dynamics and control engineering education and
research,” IEEE Trans. Power Syst., vol. 7, pp. 1559–
1564, Nov. 1992.
[10] C. D. Vournas, E. G. Potamianakis, C. Moors, and T. V.
Cutsem, “An educational simulation tool for power
system control and stability,” IEEE Trans. Power Syst.,
vol. 19, pp. 48–55, Feb. 2004.
[11] K. Schoder, A. Hasanovic, A. Feliachi, and A.
Hasanovic, “PAT: A power analysis toolbox for
Matlab/Simulink,” IEEE Trans. Power Syst., vol. 18, pp.
42–47, Feb. 2003.
[12] R. D. Zimmerman, C. E. Murillo-Sanchez, and D. Gan,
MatPower, Version 3.0.0, User’s Manual. Ithaca, NY:
Power Systems Engineering Research Center (PSERC),
Cornell Univ., 2005.
[13] G. Sybille, SimPowerSystem User’s Guide, Version 4.
Nattick, MA Hydro-Quebec/The MathWorks, Inc., 2004.
[14] http://www.tntech.edu/cesr/research/