10th International Conference and Exposition on Electrical and Power Engineering (EPE2018)
Parameters Affecting the Resistance of Earth
Grounding Installation
Rusu Alexandru Viorel, Dorin Dumitru Lucache
Faculty of Electrical Engineering
“Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University
Iasi, Romania
alexandruviorelrusu@gmail.com
Abstract — Grounding installations are essential for the human
safety but also for the normal operation of the electrical
installation. Its design is difficult because the dependence on
different and divers parameters. The paper presents a study
regarding the importance of thickness, diameter, length, type of
used material and arrangement in getting the smallest resistance
possible in a grounding installation, while using the minimum
amount of material.
Keywords — grounding; resistivity; resistance; diameter; length
I. INTRODUCTION
In the past years the technology in all the field of activity has
evolved a lot. Humanity is occupying more and more of the
planets space and lack of space and increased costs of material
and power work has become a problem bigger and bigger
especially in the urban area. The present tendency to use
extensively the electricity led to an increased role of the
grounding installations.
The earthing installation is the assembly of conductors and
electrodes that make a loose connection of conductive elements
from a installation to the ground, considered a conductor for
passing the electric current.
All buildings, regardless of the utility: industrial,
commercial or residential, need to be connected to a grounding
installation.
The grounding installation has many roles. The most
important purpose is the security of the people that are in that
location, which could touch some of the metallic part and get
electrocuted. This can be done by reducing the step and touch
voltage as much as possible. Also, by connecting all the metallic
component to the same grounding installation we actually bring
them to the same potential to the ground. Another role in some
of the installation is to drive the current to the ground when a
lightning strike, or power surge occurs. In some cases the
grounding installation is used as a return circuit for the normal
work currents (for traction lines).
Usually, regardless of the roles and types of grounding, for
the same location it is recommended to have a single installation
for all it’s purposes in that location. That is possible if you take
the most drastic condition from all the functionalities. In most of
the cases the most drastic conditions are for the grounding
installations that are used for protection of people against
electric shocks.
978-1-5386-5062-2/18/$31.00 ©2018 European Union
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A proper designing means to get the lowest dispersion
resistance while keeping a minimum cost.
There have been several papers regarding the best way of
dimensioning the grounding installation. In one particular paper
it has been determined even a method of using nomograms for
dimensioning the earth electrodes [1].
Checking the design of grounding installation is possible as
well, because the installation can be build on the field and
measured with special equipments. There are several papers in
which people have tried to check the theoretical results [2].
This paper’s purpose is to analyze the influence of the
different parameters in order to optimize the designing of the
grounding installations.
II. CALCULATION OF A GROUNDING INSTALLATION
There are several things to take into consideration when
dimensioning a grounding installation. The most important
parameter that needs to be calculated is the resistance of the
grounding installation. The dispersion resistance of the current
to the ground is dependent of two main factors: the grounding
installation itself and the resistivity of the soil in the area.
A way of calculating different types of grounding
installations as per Romanian norms [3], [4] is presented in
Table I and Table II.
The resistivity of the soil is a synthetic parameter, defined as
the resistance of the volume in cm3 or m3 from the existing soil,
when passing the current between two parallel faces. We can
measure it in cm or m [1].
The resistivity of the soil can be measured in order to
determine the exact value on the location the grounding
installation is build. Most of the times this is not happening, but
the norms give you some statistic value depending on the type
of the soil in the area. In the following, for practical calculations,
we will use a value of 50 m for the soil resistivity, .
Nomenclature:
l – length of vertical electrode [m];
d – exterior diameter of the electrode [m];
b – height of the bar [m];
q – the distance from the top of the electrode to the surface of
the ground [m];
S – surface of the plate [m2];
a – length of the square plate [m];
 D – diameter of the round plate [m]; At the surface ߩ ͺ݈
‫ݎ‬௣଴௛ଷ ൌ ͲǤ͹͵ʹ ݈݃
rp0 – resistance of dispersion for a single socket with the upper Ring electrode with ݈ ߨܾ
circular section ߩ Ͷ݈ଶ
part at the ground level []; At the depth q ‫ݎ‬௣௤௛ଷ ൌ ͲǤ͵͸͸ ݈݃
rpq – resistance of dispersion for a single socket with the upper ݈ ߨ‫݀ݍ‬
ߩ ͳ͸݈
part at the depth q []; At the surface ‫ݎ‬௣଴௛ସ ൌ ͲǤ͹͵ʹ ݈݃
Ring electrode with ݈ ߨܾ
rectangular section ߩ ʹ݈ଶ
TABLE I. VERTICAL ELECTRODE CALCULATION BASED ON TYPE AND At the depth q ‫ݎ‬௣௤௛ସ ൌ ͲǤ͵͸͸ ݈݃
݈ ܾ‫ݍ‬
WAY OF MOUNTING
Plate buried ߩ
Type of Installation horizontally at the ‫ݎ‬௣଴௛ହ ൌ ͲǤͶͶ ൈ
electrode method
Resistance of dispersion []
surface of the soil ξܵ
At the surface of Circular plate ߩ
the ground buried horizontally ‫ݎ‬௣଴௛଺ ൌ
ߩ ͵݈ at the surface ʹ‫ܦ‬
‫ݎ‬௣଴௩ଵ ൌ ͲǤ͵͸͸ ݈݃
݈ ݀ Hemispheric ߩ
Pipe with ‫ݎ‬௣଴௛଻ ൌ
electrode ߨ‫ܦ‬
diametre much
smaller than it’s Buried at depth “q”
length III. ANALYZING THE IMPORTANCE OF EACH PARAMETER
ߩ ʹ݈ ͳ Ͷ‫ ݐ‬൅ ݈
‫ݎ‬௣௤௩ଵ ൌ ͲǤ͵͸͸ ൬݈݃ ൅ ݈݃ ൰
݈ ݀ ʹ Ͷ‫ ݐ‬െ ݈ A. Conductivity of material used for the grounding installation
Analyzing the formulas for calculating the vertical and
At the surface of the
horizontal electrode we will see that in neither of the formulas
ground ߩ ͺ݈ we can’t see any parameter regarding the conductivity of the
‫ݎ‬௣଴௩ଶ ൌ ͲǤ͵͸͸ ݈݃ material. This means that the material used for the grounding
Bar with ݈ ܾ
rectangular installation doesn’t influence at all the overall results of the
section Buried at depth “q” resistivity. The only importance in choosing the right material is
t=q+a/2 ߩ Ͷ݈ ͳ Ͷ‫ ݐ‬൅ ݈ actually referring strictly to the corrosion of the ground. Some
‫ݎ‬௣௤௩ଶ ൌ ͲǤ͵͸͸ ൬݈݃ ൅ ݈݃ ൰
݈ ܾ ʹ Ͷ‫ ݐ‬െ ݈ soil types can corrode materials like steel or cooper and after a
few years of corrosion, the strips and electrodes can even be
ܵ
Irregularly ߩ ʹ broken, and the result will be much worse in some cases [5].
buried plate to ‫ݎ‬௣௤௩ଷ ൌ ൮ͳ ൅ ܽ‫݊݅ݏܿݎ‬ඩ ߨ ൲
ܵ ߨ ܵ
the depth “q” ͺට Ͷ‫ ݐ‬ଶ ൅
ߨ ߨ B. Resistivity of the ground
Square plate
buried vertically
It can be seen that in all types of grounding installations the
at the depth “q” ߩ‫ۇ‬ ͳ ‫ۊ‬
overall resistance will be directly proportional to the resistivity
‫ݎ‬௣௤௩ସ ൌ ͲǤʹʹʹ ‫ ͳۈ‬൅ ͲǤ͸͵͹ܽ‫݊݅ݏܿݎ‬ of the ground. Although there are solutions in improving the soil
ܽ ඩ ʹ‫ ݍ‬ଶ ‫ۋ‬
ͳ ൅ ߨ ቀͳ ൅ ቁ resistivity, by changing the soil or using materials with very
ܽ
‫ۉ‬ ‫ی‬ good resistivity around the electrodes like bentonite, this doesn’t
Square plate happen very often because of the extra costs generated by the
buried vertically extra hours of labor and transportation [6], [7]. Usually,
at the depth “q” ߩ‫ۇ‬ ͳ ‫ۊ‬ solutions consist in changing the grounding installation itself:
‫ݎ‬௣௤௩ହ ൌ ͲǤʹͷ ͳ ൅ ͲǤ͸͵͹ܽ‫݊݅ݏܿݎ‬ඩ
‫ۈܦ‬ Ͷ‫ ݐ‬ଶ ‫ۋ‬ adding electrodes, increasing surface, increasing depth in which
ͳ൅ቀ ቁ
‫ܦ‬
‫ۉ‬ ‫ی‬ you install the grounding installation, etc.

TABLE II. HORIZONTAL ELECTYRODE CALCULATION BASED ON TYPE C. Thickness of material

AND WAY OF MOUNTING
Looking in Table I and Table II we can see that thickness is
Type of electrode
Installation
Resistance of dispersion [] not even a parameter to be taken into consideration so that means
method that the only restriction for the thickness of the material used is
At the surface
just based on mechanic and thermal restriction just for the
ߩ ʹ݈
‫ݎ‬௣଴௛ଵ ൌ ͲǤ͹͵ʹ ݈݃ grounding not to suffer degradation in time, or if a big current
݈ ݀
Round pipe buried
flows through it. Minimum thickness is presented in the norms
horizontally At the depth q
and it depends on the type of material used.
ߩ ݈ଶ
‫ݎ‬௣௤௛ଵ ൌ ͲǤ͵͸͸ ݈݃ D. Depth
݈ ‫݀ݍ‬
To determine how important is the depth for each type of
At the surface electrode, vertical or horizontal we will do 4 calculations at: 0m,
ߩ Ͷ݈
Rectangular section ‫ݎ‬௣଴௛ଶ ൌ ͲǤ͹͵ʹ ݈݃ 0.8m, 3m, and 10m to see what will happens to the values and
݈ ܾ
bar buried determine until when it is feasible to dig for the grounding
horizontally ߩ ʹ݈ଶ installation.
At the depth q ‫ݎ‬௣௤௛ଶ ൌ ͲǤ͵͸͸ ݈݃
݈ ܾ‫ݍ‬
For all the vertical and horizontal electrodes we will use as
standard, a soil resistivity of 50 m. All the electrodes, vertical

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or horizontal, regardless of the shape will have 1m length. For
the vertical electrodes the diameter will be 0.065 m. For the
horizontal strip we will take into consideration galvanized steel
band of 40x4mm2. All the plates will have length, width or
diameter of 1 m.
Based on this assumptions we will do calculations for all
types of vertical and horizontal electrodes and interpret the
results accordingly. All calculated values are shown in Table III,
also a comparison of the values is presented in Fig. 1.
In Table III and Fig. 1 we can notice some differences
between resistance values of grounding installations installed at
different depths. For the vertical electrodes, the differences are
notable only between 0m and 0.8m depth, but for the horizontal
electrode the situation is totally different. We can see that Fig. 1. Depth importance in resistance values.
regardless of the solution used the difference is pretty big. In
some cases it can be several time less, so if we are restricted by E. Diametre of electrode and width of horizontal electrode
the space for building a grounding installation putting it to a
In any grounding installation we can use several types of
bigger depth could be the optimal solution. This could mean
much more expenses for labour hours. Looking at the results we electrodes and strips for connecting them. We will analyze what
can see that ring and plate grounding installation don’t have very will happen with the resistance of this elements if we increase
good values, and usually in execution this type of groundings are their dimensions in width and diameter.
individual, so if you need a very small resistivity like 4 or 1 For this we will take into consideration several electrodes
the best solution would be to do a multiple electrodes grounding and strips of the same length: 3m. The thickness of the material
with vertical electrodes buried, at least 0.8 m depth and will be the same for all calculations.
horizontal strip. Table IV presents the resistance values for different
diameters.
Analyzing Fig. 2, it can be seen that there is not a very big
TABLE III. EVALUATION OF DEPTH IMPORTANCE IN DESIGNING A
GROUNDING INSTALLATION difference between the values. Actually, if we increase the
diameter by 10 times, the resistivity is not even double so an
Crt.
Nr.
Resistance [] 0m 0.8 m 3m 10 m increase of diameter cannot be justified due to the extra costs of
1. ‫ݎ‬௣଴௩ଵ 30.46 - - -
material. Following the example results, we can consider that
the electrode with a diameter of 65mm is the most suitable,
2. ‫ݎ‬௣௤௩ଵ - 28.78 27.80 27.42 especially because on bigger diameters it becomes troublesome
3. ‫ݎ‬௣଴௩ଶ 38.25 - - - to install a pipe in the ground, without digging to it’s maximum
depth.
4. ‫ݎ‬௣௤௩ଶ - 34.29 33.31 32.93

5. ‫ݎ‬௣௤௩ଷ - 12.58 11.64 11.26 TABLE IV. VERTICAL ELECTRODE DIAMETER COMPARISON
Crt. Diameter [mm]
6. ‫ݎ‬௣௤௩ସ - 12.61 11.67 11.29 Value
Nr. calculated 50 65 100 200 500
7. ‫ݎ‬௣௤௩ହ - 14.01 13.07 12.69
1. Resistance [] 13.58 12.88 11.75 9.9 7.48
8. ‫ݎ‬௣଴௛ଵ 54.47 - - -

9. ‫ݎ‬௣௤௛ଵ - 23.5 12.99 3.42

10. ‫ݎ‬௣଴௛ଶ 73.20 - - -

11. ‫ݎ‬௣௤௛ଶ 32.86 23.36 12.79

12. ‫ݎ‬௣଴௛ଷ 58.31 - - -

13. ‫ݎ‬௣௤௛ଷ 25.42 14.92 5.35

14. ‫ݎ‬௣଴௛ସ 77.05 - - -

15. ‫ݎ‬௣௤௛ସ - 32.86 22.36 12.79

16. ‫ݎ‬௣଴௛ହ 22.00 - - -

17. ‫ݎ‬௣଴௛଺ 25.00 - - -

Fig. 2. Influence of electrode diameter in resistance value.
18. ‫ݎ‬௣଴௛଻ 15.92 - - -
As in the previous case we made the same calculations for
horizontal strip of different thicknesses, presented in Table V.

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 TABLE V. HORIZONTAL STRIP WIDTH COMPARISON installations that have the ratio between horizontal electrode and
Crt. Dimensions [mm2] vertical electrode smaller or equal to 3 [3]. For all the other
Value
Nr. calculated 25x4 30x3 40x4 100x5 200x5
ratios, bigger than 3, practically there is no reduction factor so
the value will be considered equal to 1.
1. Resistance [] 18.02 17.53 16.77 14.35 12.51
Fig. 3 reveals that using a 10 times bigger strip reduces the TABLE VI. VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ELECTRODES RESISTANCE
resistance of the electrode with only 30%, which is a very small
diminution in comparison with the extra material used. Crt.
Resistance [] Case 1 Case 2 Case 3
Nr.
1. ‫ݎ‬௣௤௩ 12.88 12.88 12.88

2. ‫ݎ‬௣௤௛ 6.03 10.22 16.78

TABLE VII. CORRECTION FACTORS

Crt. Correction factor
Nr. Type of electrode
Case 1 Case 2 Case 3
1. Vertical 1 0.66 0.5

2. Horizontal 1 0.44 0.25

Now we will do the calculation based on each arrangement
with the number of electrodes and coefficient factors for each
Fig. 3. Evolution of horizontal electrode resistance based on strip width
case. For the individual electrodes we will take into
consideration the same values as in Table VI.
F. Multiple grounding installations
Multiple grounding installations. For getting the resistance
It is known that every electrode has an influence area that of multiple electrodes of the same type in parallel we can use the
surrounds it depending of the type of electrode and soil dispersion resistance formula:
resistivity [7]. For multiple electrodes grounding installations, ‫ݎ‬௣
the most advantageous situation means having the electrodes to ‫ݎ‬௣௔ ൌ ሾȳሿǢ
݊ൈ‫ݑ‬
be as far as possible (minimum 4 times the length of the vertical
electrode distance between them), but this needs a lot of space rp – Dispersion resistance of one electrode[];
in material consumption, so, the more compact structures Grounding installations consisting of vertical equidistant
leading to a good compromise have to be analyzed. electrodes and horizontal bond electrodes:
In Fig. 4 are drawn the 3 types of grounding installation, ܴ௩ ൈ ܴ௢
those that will be compared in the following. ܴ௣ ൌ ሾȳሿǢ
ܴ௩ ൅ ܴ௢

In Table VIII can see a very strange thing happening. Because

Fig. 4. Types of grounding installation analized
For all three cases the distance between the electrodes will
be considered l = 3m, similar with the vertical electrode length.
For calculation, the chosen parameters values are:
of the interference of the electrical field between 2 adjacent
electrodes, when we add extra electrodes in the detriment of
distance between them instead of helping reducing the overall
resistance actually we are increasing the value. Considering the
values of the correction factor we should always try to have a
distance of minimum 2 times the length of the vertical electrode,
and try to have more if possible. Actually a distance of 4l would
be the best arrangement possible, if we consider we want a cost
efficient installation. Of course this is not possible in many
cases.

 = 50 m; q=0.8 m; d = 0.065 m; b = 0.04m TABLE VIII. TOTAL RESISTANCE OF GROUNDING INSTALLATION
First, the resistance value for a grounding installation with Crt.
Resistance [] Case 1 Case 2 Case 3
only one electrode has to be calculated. Adding more electrodes Nr.
in the same proximity, the dispersion resistance of the earth plug 1. ‫ݎ‬௣௔ vertical 3.22 2.44 1.61
is diminished but not proportional to the increase in the number
2. ‫ݎ‬௣௔ horizontal 1.51 2.9 4.2
of electrodes. So, in calculation appears the necessity to consider
some correction factors. This corrector factors are based on the 3. ܴ௣ total 1.03 1.33 1.16
ratio between the length of the electrode and distance between
two adjacent electrodes. As it can be seen in Table VII, in the G. Depth of vertical electrodes where the space is reduced:
design and exploitation norms related to the electrical In this case we will see if in a small multiple grounding
installations, the correction factors are given only for the installation, increasing the length of vertical electrodes actually

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helps or because of the interference of the electrical fields TABLE XI. TOTAL RESISTANCE OF GROUNDING INSTALLATION
actually the results are worse. Crt.
Resistance [] Case 1 Case 2 Case 3
Nr.
As in the other calculation we will take into consideration 3
1. ‫ݎ‬௣௔ vertical 5.4 4.29 2.87
cases to analyse. In Fig. 5 we can see the dimensions of each
grounding installation. We will make a close square grounding 2. ‫ݎ‬௣௔ horizontal 3.61 6.57 8.03
installation with 4 electrodes. The horizontal strip will be made 3. ܴ௣ total 2.16 2.59 2.11
of galvanized steel 40x4 mm2, 6m length, and the electrodes will
be galvanized steel bar of d=0.065 m. Length of the vertical Analyzing the data from the table we reach to the same
electrodes will be: 1.5m, 3m and 6 m. Based on this data, we can conclusions as before that adding electrodes in the detriment of
calculate the resistance of the vertical and horizontal electrode. distance is not helping in most of the cases and it is not a good
investment at all to increase the depth of the electrode if you
don’t have enough space to distance them at a reasonable
distance.

IV. CONCLUSIONS
The most important thing that we can conclude analyzing all
the information in the previous chapter is that more is not all the
time the best. Sometimes increasing the number of electrodes or
length of electrodes can do more harm than helping. The
Fig. 5. Types of grounding installation
electrical field of 2 elements could interfere one with another,
and not only that the grounding resistivity will not become
As in all the other calculation we can see that the correction smaller by increasing the lengths, which is the desired outcome,
factors are so low that increasing actually the depth when the but actually the value could rise.
distance between them is less than 4 times the length of the This means that each time we design a grounding installation
electrode, it is not helping at all, actually in some cases is having we should try as much as possible to customize it to the surface
worse results. that we have available. This way we can reduce considerably the
total material and costs used for the grounding installation.
TABLE IX. VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ELECTRODES RESISTANCE
Crt. REFERENCES
Resistance [] Case 1 Case 2 Case 3
Nr. [1] Virgil Maier, Sorin G. Pavel, Horia G. Beleiu, Iulian Birou, “Nomograms
1. ‫ݎ‬௣௤௩ 21.61 12.88 7.47 for Sizing the Vertical Earth Grounding”, 2016.
[2] R. P. Sodré, B. L. Pereira, L. L. Sidrim, J. F. S. Almeida, C. L. S. S.
2. ‫ݎ‬௣௤௛ 14.45 14.45 14.45 Sobrinho, “Optimization of Grounding Grids Design for a Square-Shaped
Now we will calculate the total resistance of the grounding Mesh”, Jan 2018;
installations presented in Fig. 5, using the correction factors [3] “Norm for the design, construction and operation of the electrical
installations related to buildings”, indicativ I7/2011;
from Table X and the individual values of the electrodes from
[4] “Design and Execution of Grounding Installation”, indicativ IP30/2004;
Table IX.
[5] Arfah Ahmad, Mohd Rizal Ahmad Saroni, Intan Azmira Wan Abdul
Razak, Suziana Ahmad, ” A case study on ground resistance based on
TABLE X. CORRECTION FACTORS copper electrode vs. galvanized iron electrode”, 2014;
Crt. Correction factor [6] H. Hamidi, B. Sedaghat, ”Technical and economical ground electrode
Nr. Type of electrode design in various soil and depth in HVDC system by analyzing voltage
Case 1 Case 2 Case 3
distribution by FEM”, 2015;
1. Vertical 1 0.75 0.65 [7] M. Sufrim, M. L. Goia, M. Petran, “Grounding Installation”, 1987;
2. Horizontal 1 0.55 0.45

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