CHARACTERISATION OF EARTHING SYSTEMS UNDER HIGH

FREQUENCY AND TRANSIENT CONDITIONS

H Griffiths, A Haddad, N Harid

High Voltage Group

Cardiff University

ABSTRACT
Earthing systems in distribution and transmission networks are designed to provide adequate safety levels under normal
operating and fault conditions. It is well known, however, that designs made for power frequency operation have a
different response under high frequency and transient conditions. Such conditions arise during fault and switching
transients as well as when the system is subjected to lightning strikes.
This paper reviews current recommendations and practice for high frequency and transient earthing system design. It
also describes simulation studies of various earthing scenarios under variable frequency and transient conditions. These
include surge arrester earthing electrodes, tower bases and substation grids The effect of electrode arrangements, mesh
dimensions and above-ground conductors were quantified.

1. Introduction mounting structure because it offers a lower impedance

Procedures for the design of earthing systems to
perform satisfactorily under power frequency
conditions are well-established and involve detailed
calculations to (i)establish accurate soil models, (ii)
compute earth impedances and potentials arismg under
fault conditions, and (iii) verify that the design ensures
these potentials do not exceed safety thresholds.
Although certain model parameters and safety
thresholds vary from standard to standard, the design
techniques used are similar and are based on a
quantification of the safety hazard. In respect of
earthing design requirements under fast transients,
however, detailed guidelines are not available.
Nevertheless, it i s recognised that the response of
earthing systems under transient conditions is quite
different from that under power frequency and that the
susceptibility of humans to transient shock is also
different. In this paper, a summary of current standard
recommendations for high frequency and transient
earthing design is presented. Then, simulation studies
are described which show the effect of particular
design features for different applications.
2. Existing guidelines for high frequency and
transient eartbing
2.1 ANSUIEEEIIO: 2000 and IEEEStd.142: 1992
Standard IEEE80 [I] states that grounding systems
designed according to power frequency principles will
‘provide a high degree of protection against steep wave
front surges ...’. This is based on the assumption that
the human body can withstand higher currents for very
shoh duration. This standard recommends that surge
arresters should ‘always be provided with a reliable
low-resistance ground connection’ and have as ‘short
and direct a path to the grounding system as practical’.
Some utilities provide separate down lead connections
for surge arresters while others use the metallic
path to the earth system. To obtain the 111 benefit of
applying surge arresters, they should be placed as close
as practicable to the device they are protecting [2].
2.2 EA-TS 41-24: 1992
The UK earthing design standard EA TS 41-24: 1992
[3] states that ‘equipment such as surge arresters and
CVTs are more likely to pass high frequency current
due to the low impedance they present to steep fronted
surges’ and ‘unless a low-impedance earth connection
is provided .. . the effectiveness of the surge arrester
could be impaired’.
This standard also recommends that the connection
from the equipment to earth should be ‘as short and as
free from changes in direction as is practicable’ and
that ‘the effectiveness of the arrester can be improved
... by connecting ... (it) to a high-frequency earth
electrode in the immediate vicinity, for example an
earth rod’.
2.3 CENELEC - €€D637 S1: 1999
CENELEC harmonisation document, HD 637 SI: 1999
[4], suggests measures to reduce the amount of
interference created when surges are dissipated to
earth. These include minimising the inductance of the
current paths by the ‘significant meshing’ of earth
electrodes and earthing conductors, Where high
transient currents are more likely to occur, the density
of the earthing mat should be increased.
2.4 BS 6651: 1999
A quantitative value applicable to transient earthing
appears in BS 6651: 1999 ‘Protection of Structures
against Lightning’ [ 5 ] . It recommends that earthing
systems designed for lightning protection should have
an earth resistance of less than lOQ, This value has
been adopted by many electricity companies; in Japan,
for example, the loa figure is the target value for
power-line tower footing resistance [ 6 ] .

188
3. High frequency and transient studies
The performance of earthing systems under transient
conditions can be investigated by representing impulse
shapes by their spectral components using FFT. Based
10 7 I 1.2
1.0
-s-
on frequency spectra obtained for 115, 8/20 and 30/80 6
impulses, it was found that frequencies of interest for 0.8 5
U
these impulses extend into the h4Hz region and this
0.6
may explain why enhancements to basic earth grids
such as rods are sometimes referred to as ‘high 0.4
frequency’ earth electrodes [ 3 ] . To quantify the
2 0.2
performance o f various earth electrode systems under
transient conditions, the frequency response of
impedance and the transient response were simulated 0 0.0
using an electromagnetic field s o h a r e . Three 0 1 2 3 4 5
scenarios were considered; a) general substation Time Qls)
earthing, b) surge arrester earthing and c) tower base
earthing.

3.I Substation earthing

The frequency response of a basic 4-mesh 1OOmx 1OOm
grid is shown in Figure 1. Under DC conditions, the
resistance of the grid is directly proportional to
Grid l o a m earth resistivity 1 M m earth resistivity
resistivity. It can be seen that at high frequency (1-
dimensions
IOMHz), the range of earth impedance values for (m) 50Hz lOkHz lOMHz 50Hz IO& IOMWz

10x10 0.4 0.5 IO 40 40 40

50x50 1 0.1 0.4 IO 10 10 40
100x100 I 006 0.4 IO Oh 6 An

However, increasing grid area has less effect at higher

I.Eiol 1.m 1.m 1.m l.m 1.M l.m
Frequency, Hz
Figure I Frequency response of a lOOxlODm earih
grid
different resistivity media is at least two orders of
magnitude higher than under DC conditions. This
illustrates the preponderance o f inductive effects.
Figure 2 shows the transient voltage response to a 1/5
current impulse for the same grid in 100Clm. In this
Figure, the transient voltage front-time is less than that
of the injected current which is attributed to inductive
effects. It can also be seen that the voltage impulse
decays substantially faster than the current impulse.
Various enhancements to the basic grid were employed
to improve performance under high frequency and
transient conditions. These enhancements aim to
reduce earth resistance or earth grid inductance or both.
a) Increasing grid area
Considering the computed results shown in Table 1, it
can be said that by increasing grid area the earth grid
impedance at low frequency is considerably reduced.
frequencies and this is particularly so for low soil
resistivity. In the case of transient voltage response, no
substantial benefit is obtained by increasing grid size
beyond 50x501~1except for slow current impulses
(30/80) under high resistivity.
b) Addition of rods
The addition of rods connected at the periphery of grids
is common practice to reduce grid resistance.
Simulations carried out on a lOOxlOOm grid in a range
of resistivities show that, at low frequencies, the
addition of rods reduces the earth grid impedance for
all soil resistivities. In low-resistivity soil ( 1 O h -
100Qm), the impedance magnitudes of grids with and
without rods are very close at lower frequencies
compared with high resistivity conditions (1kRm-
10”). This may be explained by the effective area
concept for earthing systems.
In transient simulations, it was found that peak voltage
magnitudes decreased with an increasing number of
peripheral rods. However, significant decreases up to
20% in peak transient voltage were only obtained by
adding over 200, 5m rods, This reduction of voltage
was attributed to a lowering ofthe overall resistance.
A separate study of the effect of rods local to the point
of injection on the transient performance of earth grids
was also undertaken because their use is recommended
in standards as so-called “high 6equency” electrodes.
As expected at low frequencies, the computed results
indicate that the addition of small numbers of local

189
rods causes very little change in the impedance
magnitude.
c) Increasing mesh density
Grid mesh density can be varied uniformly across the
grid as a whole or it may be enhanced locally within
particular areas of the grid. Figure 3 shows an example
of the effect of increasing the overall mesh density on
I
leads
LEI01 lEtO2 IE+03 IE+O4 1EM5 ]€+ob lEM7
Frequency (Hz)
Figure 3 Effect ofmesh densio on a IOOxlOOm earth
grid in IOOOQm soil
the frequency response of a grid in lkRm soil. As can
be seen on the Figure, increasing mesh density reduces
grid resistance at low frequencies. There is also an
intermediate frequency range where the mesh density
has a pronounced effect and further studies have shown
that this frequency range is determined by soil
resistivity. The transient simulations indicated that
reductions of up to 20% in peak transient voltage can
be obtained for both slow and fast impulses with
increased mesh density.
Local mesh enhancement was also investigated, and it
is shown that it is particularly beneficial, in low
resistivity soil.
d ) Enhancement of downlead connections
An analysis of the inductive effects of earth grids at
high frequencies has shown that the contribution from
a single downlead of a few metres length can be very
high in terms of the overall inductance of the system.
As a result, it may be beneficial to enhance the above-
ground earthing metalwork to include parallel
conductors. Figure 4 shows the principle of such an
enhancement which can be achieved by superimposing
a finer-meshed grid within the basic lOOxlOOm grid.
The grid is energized through a lead 3.3m in length
with the horizontal aboveground interconnections made
at a height of 3m above ground level. This arrangement
was compared with the same size .grid having a single
downlead 3.3m in length. Table 2 shows that the
addition of a local 17-downlead arrangement has a very
Figure 4 Possible dawnleaad enhancemenf
190
significant effect in reducing the earth impedance for
all frequencies above the ‘upturn’ frequency. This can
be attributed to a reduction in the inductance o f the
arrangement, and the effect is therefore more
pronounced for low resistivity soil.
Table 2 Grid earth impedance ai selected frequencies
with downlead enhancement ($2)
l0Rm earth resistivity 10 !2m earth resistivity
50Hz IOkHz IOkHz 50Hz lokHz IOkIiz
0.006 0.03
3.2 Surge arrester earthing
As shown in the previous section, providing above-
ground interconnection with multiple downleads can
reduce significantly the earth impedance seen from the
point of injection. In Figure 5 , such interconnection
between the bases of three phase-to-earth surge
arresters is shown. Current is injected at the top of the
central downlead corresponding to the position of the
I I
No interconnection With interconnection
Figure 5 Surge arresier eurrhing arrangement with
12x6m grid
base of the middle surge arrester. First, no
interconnection is provided between base of the middle
surge arrester (point 2) and the bases of the outer two
(points 1 and 3). The frequency response of impedance,
seen from injection point 2, is shown as curve (a) in
Figure 6, and the transferred potential per unit current
at point 1 is given by curve (b), Under this condition,
1000
100
E
1
I.Ei-01 l.E+02 l.Ei-03 l.EM4 1.Et05 l.Ei-06 1.EM7
Frequency (Hz)
Figure 6 Effect of bonding to surge arrester bases
there is considerable difference in the potential of the potentials at the tower top and at the tower base
between points 1 and 2 at high frequency. In the second are shown in Figure 8. For the 1/5 current shape, the
case, interconnection is provided between points 1, 2 first maximum seen in the tower top potential occurs at
and 3 while current injection remains on the central 300ns, which corresponds to twice the tower travel
downlead. Curves (c) and (d) in Figure 6 show that time of a wave travelling at the speed of light. After
interconnection results in a considerable reduction in that time, i.e. when the wave reflected from the ground
earth impedance at high frequency, above lOOkHz (cf. arrives at the top of the tower, the potential decreases.
curves (a) and (c)). However in this case, Subsequent oscillations can be explained by successive
interconnection also increases the potential markedly at reflections between the top and base of the tower.
point 1. Detailed inspection the current and potential response
at the tower base shows there is a time delay, which is
3.3 Tower base earthing equivalent to the tower travel time of 15011s. For
With the continuing encroachment of high-voltage impulses with a slower rise time, oscillations are still
lines upon urban areas, the rise of potential acquired by evident but less pronounced, as can be seen in Figure 9,
a tower during a fault has become of greater concern. For the 8/20 impulse, the maximum value of the
Also, power line towers have been increasingly used potential at the tower top is higher than that at the
for the installation of mobile telecommunication
stations and antennae ('GSM'). The interconnection of
1500 11
the steel lattice towers by the earth wire provides lower
impedances at individual towers but extends the area of
the earthing system affected by faults. The design of
tower earthing systems, like other earthing systems, is 1100
currently based on their performance under power 7
frequency fault conditions with respect to step and y 900
-
m
._
touch potentials. However, there is lack of information c
E
regarding their performance under transient conditions. 5 700
Simulations were carried out on a 45m-high tower
500
(Figure 7). The modelled physical structure of the
c
lattice tower consists of cylindrical conductors having a 300 2
diameter of 0.04m. The tower legs for both towers 1 III I
extend to a depth of 3Sm. The square base dimensions
are 6.86 x 6.86m. The impulse current was apptied at
100 I
the top of each single isolated tower and a peak -100
magnitude of lOkA was used for the injected current
for all impulse shapes. The tower response subjected to
a double-exponential impulse current was examined for Figure 8 Impulse response of a full tower to a 1/5,
different values of earth resistivity. lOkA impulse current (looam)
For the lOORm condition, the computed time variations
Energisation xEt03
.............*........
A f? point

0'
0 6 I2 18 24 30

(a) Time (ps)

Figure 9 Eflecr of impulse shape on tower impulse response

( S n O impulse)
Figure 7 Model of tower struciure for impulse sirrdies

191
tower base, with the travel time delay still visible in the
tower base potential. As the impulse rise time is further
increased, the induced component of voltage is less and
the potential shapes at the top and base of the tower
become nearly similar.
4 Conclusions
The frequency and impulse response of various
earthing systems has been investigated using
simulations based on electromagnetic field theory. For
substations earthing systems, it was found that
reinforcements to the basic design such as additional
rods, increasing mesh density and downlead
enhancement could significantly improve transient
performance and it is clear that individual designs
should be tailored according to local resistivity
conditions. Specifically, mesh density reduces
impedance over a frequency range related to resistivity
and enhancements to downleads will reduce the overall
inductance. In the case of surge arrester earthing, the
reduction of earth potential rise at the point of injection
as a result of above-ground interconnection must be
weighed up against the increase in transferred potential.
The impulse response of towers was shown to be
dependent on the shape of the impulse current. Impulse
currents with a slow rate of rise gave a mainly resistive
response while the response to fast impulses showed
significant osciIlations which can be explained by the
travelling wave effects.
192
5 References
1. ANSIiIEEE Std.80, ‘IEEE Guide for Safety in AC
Substation Grounding’, The Institute of Electrical
and Electronic Engineers, 2000
2. IEEE Std. 142-1991, ‘IEEE recommended practice
for grounding of industrial and commercial power
systems’, The Institute of Electrical and Electronic
Engineers, 1991
3. EA TS-41-24, (Electricity Association, Technical
Specification 41-24): ‘Guidelines for the Design,
Installation, Testing and Maintenance of Main
Earthing Systems in Substations’, Electricity
Association Services Limited, 1992
4. HD 637 SI, ‘Power installations exceeding 1kV
AC’, European Committee for Electrotechnical
Standardisations (CENELEC), 1999
5. BS6651:1999; ‘Code of practice for protection of
structures against lightning’, British Standard 1999
6. Takeuchi, M. et al,: ‘Impulse characteristics of a
500kV transmission tower footing base with
various grounding electrodes’, 24” International
Conference on Lightning Protection ICLP-98, pp.
513-517, Birmingham (UK), 1998
Address of authors:
High Voltage Group
School of Engineering
Cardiff University
Newport Road
PO Box 925
Cardiff CF24 OYF
Wales, UK
Tel: 44 29 20875904/4608/5953
hftp:/nYww.cf.ac.uWengin/research/highvolt