Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Cigre TB 194
Cigre TB 194
Working Group
21.17
October 2001
STUDY COMMITTEE 21: HV INSULATED CABLES
TECHNICAL BROCHURE
Page 1 / 145
MEMBERSHIP LIST OF WG 21 – 17
1
EDF – RTE, 34, 40 rue Henri Régnault F-92400 COURBEVOIE - France
TECHNICAL BROCHURE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION 9
1.1 Terms of reference 9
2.3 Cable 17
2.3.1 Extruded -dielectric cables : 17
2.3.1.1 Cable description 18
2.3.2 Cables with lapped insulation 18
2.3.2.1 Cable Description : 18
2.3.2.2 Self-Contained Fluid Filled Cable : SCFF 19
2.3.2.3 Impregnated Paper Characteristics : 19
2.4 Accessories 19
2.4.1 General 19
2.4.2 Accessory types 20
2.4.2.1 Types of joints 20
2.4.2.2 Types of terminations 20
2.4.3 Compatibility of the accessory with the cable 21
2.4.3.1 Number of cable cores 21
2.4.3.2 Cable constructional details 21
2.4.3.3 Conductor area and diameter 22
2.4.3.4 Operating temperature of the cable conductor and sheath 22
2.4.3.5 Compatibility of the accessory with the type of cable insulation and semi-conducting screens 22
2.4.3.6 Cable electrical design stresses to be withstood by the accessory 23
2.4.3.7 Mechanical forces and movements generated by the cable on the accessory 23
2.4.3.8 Short circuit forces 23
2.4.4 Compatibility of the accessory performance with that of the cable system 24
3. CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES 31
3.1 Definition of the main technical terms 31
7. GLOSSARY 139
8. BIBLIOGRAPHY 142
LIST OF PICTURES
GENERAL
The following terms of reference had been established by S. SIN (France), P. COUNESON
(Belgium), W-D. SCHUPPE (Germany) and S.G. SWINGLER (United Kingdom).
The name of this new group is " Laying and Installation Techniques for High Voltage Cable Systems ".
To review existing and innovative methods for HV cable installation. The review should include cable
installed in trenches, ducts and tunnels.
To compare the relative merits of the installation methods and to give recommendations for their
application.
Starting from the studies of the previous working group 21-01, it is anticipated that the method of
working will be :
- Remind existing practices for cable installation and identify the factors responsible for the choice
of a particular practice.
- Review possible innovations, improvements and alternatives in the light of increasing economic and
environmental pressures.
- Give recommendations for the application of new installation technologies to high voltage cable
systems.
In reviewing the achievements of WG 21-01 and the existing information available in their reports, the
Task Force noted the need for a document summarising methods for design calculations. The work
required is to :
- Review the calculations and parameters necessary to perform design calculations for cable
installation (including for example, on the one hand, pulling tension during installation, and on the
other hand requirements for installations in tunnels, ducts, manholes and towers).
- Recommend simplified methods for the calculation of design parameters for cable laying.
The Task Force evaluated the work required and the skills necessary for its rapid and effective
completion. The results are necessary for the main task of the proposed working group in order to
evaluate the optimum installation techniques taking into account network conditions, regulation, cables
REVISIONS
1. A first revision was accepted in 1997 by the CIGRE Study Committee 21 on the limitation of the
terms of reference.
It impacts the type of cable studied. The scope of work was limited to land extruded cables as
submarine ones are studied in other Working Groups and as technical brochures are published on these
items. Nevertheless, an extension to LP SCFF (Low Pressure Self Contained Fluid Filled cable) has
been asked.
2. A second one was decided in 1999 by adding the review of the link safety with respect to the
environment.
It has been decided that this Group will focus on what is under the soil, the upper part being treated by
the Group 21-19 "Technical and environmental issues regarding integration of underground cable
systems".
This word is usually understood all around the world more as the pulling than the civil works prior to the
pulling. As an example, we can refer to the concept “After laying test” which is well known by the
cable industry. As so, it was considered that the word “Construction” should be added for a better
comprehension in the title of the Working Group and in some chapters of the Technical brochure to
explain the civil works that are necessary to build an underground link.
The name of the group is now " Construction, Laying and Installation Techniques for High Voltage
Cable Systems ".
MEMBERSHIP
The membership of the Working Group should largely be made up of representatives from utilities with
significant experience of cable installation. The subsidiary Task Force will require representatives from
cable manufacturers and construction companies.
TIME SCHEDULE
The Working Group should start their work before the end of 1996 and produce a final report in
advance of the Study Committee 21 meeting in September 2000.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The WG will review existing and innovative methods for HV cable installation and give
recommendations for their optimum implementation. The final report of the WG will be available in
advance of the 2000 meeting of Study Committee 21.
Throughout the life of the Working Group life, there was continuing discussion about :
- What is the difference between “construction techniques” and “installation techniques” ?
- What is an innovative construction technique ?
- How is it possible for a newcomer in the cable world to design an underground link ?
Finally, the twelve existing construction techniques (traditional and innovative) are reported and
explained. A hypothetical case study is presented in Chapter 6.2 in order to demonstrate the way a
comparative evaluation could be carried out. Cable engineers should apply the methodology to their
actual projects at the earliest possible stage. Estimated installation cost and anticipated environmental
constraints should be used in order to compare these techniques and choose the optimal ones.
Installation cost depends on many factors such as location, local regulations, etc… and will greatly vary
from one project to another.
80
70
60
50
% 40
30
20
10
Embedding
Pipe jacking
Tunnels
Mechanical
Microtunnels
Horizontal
Ducts
Shafts
Bridges
Troughs
Trenches
structures
Existing
drilling
laying
Figure 1 : Percentage of use for the different techniques
35
30
25
20
%
15
10
0
Embedding
Pipe jacking
Tunnels
Mechanical
Horizontal
Microtunnels
Ducts
Shafts
Troughs
Trenches
Bridges
structures
Existing
drilling
laying
6 out of 46 companies have already used 50% of the different techniques (among the 24) and only 1
out of 46 has used 90% of them.
16
14
Number of utilities 12
10
8
6
4
2
0
90-100 %
10-20 %
20-30 %
30-40 %
40-50 %
50-60 %
60-70 %
70-80 %
80-90 %
0-10 %
1.2.3 How is it possible for a newcomer in the cable world to design an underground link
?
This lead to a lot of discussions among the members of the Working Group, however all agreed on the
principle that : a reliable link is based on a reliable cable design and manufacture, a reliable cable
system design and reliable construction and installation techniques.
It therefore appears necessary to not only give the description of the different techniques, but also to
give guidance on the overall design process. For this, it was decided that the best approach would be to
define the process from the beginning to allow a complete understanding of what is needed to ensure a
reliable project..
Where cables interconnect with other circuits, the transition is achieved through a termination. The
length of a continuous section of cable is often limited by the size or weight of the cable reel that can
be transported to the installation site, sometimes by the safe pulling tension that can be applied to the
cable, or by the maximum induced voltage on the metallic screen of the cable. The lengths are then
connected in joint-bays. This is achieved through joints (or splices).
Joints and terminations are the main components of equipment called cable accessories.
2.2 Main cable systems configurations
Various configurations such as single circuit, double circuit and triple circuit lines with different
arrangements of transformer and generator connections are in use.
Many types of connections comprising overhead lines, underground cables or both are possible and can
be found. The length of such transmission lines and cables can vary significantly.
For load reasons, one circuit can consist of several cable systems. Note that in the subsequent figures
each cable can consist of several cable systems
Main configurations, given below, are representative of the most common practical situations.
2.2.1 Meshed underground network
Some parts of a HV network may be entirely underground as can be often seen in large towns where
urbanisation prevents the construction of overhead lines. Cables connect the busbars in the system, as
indicated in Figure 4.
Underground
cables
Substation 3
2.2.2 Siphon
A siphon is an underground cable connected between two overhead lines. It is assumed that no
switching device is located between line and cable. This configuration allows a HV/EHV link to pass
through areas too wide for an overhead line span such as rivers or small lakes. The configuration may
also permit the transmission line to pass through or near a protected site or an urbanised area.
Underground cable
Underground
cable
Overhead
line
Underground cable
Generator
Busbar
In this configuration, a cable is connected between a high power busbar and the auxiliary transformer
of a power unit. The cable is usually short.
Underground
Auxiliary cable
transformer
2.3 Cable
Although the present work is focusing on construction and installation techniques of extruded and self-
contained fluid-filled cables, it seems useful to give a brief overall view of the different types of cables
in service at the present time. These cables belong to two main families:
• cables with extruded insulation : extruded – dielectric cables
• cables with lapped insulation : SCFF, HPFF, HPGF. but SCFF are only considered here.
In this document, only extruded and SCFF cables are considered.
A semi-conducting bedding tape is sometimes wrapped over the conductor before extrusion. This
prevents the inner semi-conducting layer from entering the strand interstices during the extrusion
process and, in turn, facilitates removal for splicing and terminating.
The inner semi-conducting layer is extruded over the conductor or semi-conducting bedding tape. Its
purpose is to provide a smooth interface between the conductor and the insulation, and an uniform
electric field. It avoids the presence of air between metallic and insulation materials (no partial
discharge) and constitutes a thermal barrier in short-circuit conditions.
The insulation and outer semi-conducting layer are the other parts of the dielectric which are
preferably applied by triple extrusion process. Indeed, the simultaneous extrusion of the semi-
conducting layers and the insulation through a common (triple) cross-head is the best solution to
eliminate protrusions at the interfaces which are sources of high voltage stress points.
A metallic screen made with copper or aluminium wires and/or a metallic sheath carries the
capacitive current and the fault current of a specified magnitude and duration before reaching a
specified temperature.
A metallic sheath is normally applied to prevent the ingress of moisture. Its design must take into
account thermal and mechanical considerations. Since extruded dielectric materials have significantly
higher coefficients of expansion than metals, the radial volumetric expansion can be quite large. The
sheath must remain in good contact with the outer semi-conducting layer during heating and cooling.
A jacket or outer covering or oversheath (made of PE or PVC) prevents the corrosion of the metallic
sheath and isolates it from the ground. It is also required to protect the cable during handling and pulling
operations.
The insulation consists of either a pure cellulose material, a high-quality kraft paper or, more recently, a
laminated paper-polypropylene. Many individual crossed layers of tape (width 10 to 30 mm, thickness
0,06 to 0,15 mm) are helically applied to the thickness required for the rated voltage. According to
different methods, the cable is first dried in a tank and then impregnated with a degassed and dried
impregnating compound.
An insulation shield has the same function as the conductor shield on the outer side of the insulation.
A central hollow core in the conductor provides a passage for dielectric fluid. The oil pressure
necessary to prevent from ionisation is 1 to 3 bar, but recent developments allow operation until 15 bar
high pressure.
For three core cables, the phases are generally contained within a common sealed metallic sheath,
again typically extruded lead or aluminium. Ducts located between the phase conductors provide for
passage of the dielectric fluid.
2.3.2.3 Impregnated Paper Characteristics :
Both kraft-paper and laminated paper-polypropylene insulations have normal operating temperatures
limits of 85°C, and allowable maximum emergency operating temperatures of 105°C.
The hydraulic system design must take into account the cable route and elevation differences to ensure
that all parts of the cable route are maintained at a pressure above atmospheric under all operating
conditions. In addition, the design must ensure that the pressure limits are not exceeded.
To achieve this, it is normal for longer routes to be divided into a number of hydraulically separate
sections by using stop joints which maintain electrical continuity but isolate adjacent cable sections
hydraulically.
It is essential to select the design of accessory to be compatible with the particular cable type and the
particular service application. Compatibility should be validated and be supported by appropriate tests,
or service experience. In particular the performance of the accessory is dependent on the quality, skill
and training of the jointing personnel in the installation conditions and on the use of the specialised tools
required for a particular accessory.
• Straight joint,
• Transition joint,
• Screen interruption joint,
• Y branch joint.
For SCFF systems, an additional joint is required to isolate adjacent hydraulic sections of the cable
route to ensure the system hydraulic pressure limits are not exceeded.
This is referred as a stop joint.
The diameter and tolerance of the conductor and of its compaction (the radio of the effective cross
sectional area of the metal to the total area occupied) are needed in selecting a connector that will
exhibit stable conductivity and high mechanical strength.
The diameters and tolerances of the cable metallic barrier and over sheath are needed to ensure that
accessory metallic flanges and other components can be passed back over the cable during assembly.
The following dimensional and constructional details should be obtained by the user to ensure
compatibility of the accessory with the cable :
The detailed cable construction should be obtained from the cable manufacturer, which includes the
following information as a minimum requirement. Diameters, maximum and minimum tolerances,
eccentricity dimensions, construction and material need to be obtained for each of the following cable
components :
The user should ensure that the conductor connections in the complete kit of components are supplied
to suit the particular conductor construction. The conductor connection must be capable of carrying the
same current as the cable conductor and must be capable of withstanding the cable longitudinal
thermomechanical forces, depending on the installation design, these being proportional to the
cross sectional area.
2.4.3.5 Compatibility of the accessory with the type of cable insulation and semi-conducting screens
The insulation of the polymeric cable must be identified by the user. There are significant differences
between the electrical and mechanical characteristics of extruded insulation. The usual insulants for
extruded polymeric cables in the voltage class of 60 kV and above being XLPE (crosslinked
polyethylene), LDPE (low density polyethylene), HDPE (high density polyethylene) and EPR (ethylene
propylene rubber).
• Chemical compatibility with the extruded cable
The type of insulating liquid or lubricant used in joints and terminations should be identified to ensure
that these do not affect the properties of the polymeric insulation and semi-conducting screens
employed in the cable and accessories. For example a) hydrocarbon liquids at elevated temperature
can cause swelling of XLPE and EPR insulation and reduction of the conducting properties of screens
and b) silicone liquids can have an effect on silicone rubber components.
In the case of transition joints between polymeric cable and paper insulated cable it is important to
establish whether the cable is of the internally or externally pressurised type and whether the fluid
dielectric is a gas or a liquid; these details will determine the performance requirements of the barrier
plate that segregates the two cables. In the case of mass impregnated non pressurised cables it is
important to determine the type of impregnating compound and whether it is of the liquid type or of the
non draining type; these details will determine the chemical suitability of the materials employed within
the joint to segregate the impregnating fluid from the insulation of the polymeric cable and joint.
Penetration of a hydrocarbon impregnating fluid into the polymeric cable can result in swelling and
modification of the electrical characteristics of the semi-conducting screens and insulation of both the
cable and accessory components, thereby reducing their electrical performance. Loss of the
impregnating fluid into the polymeric cable can result in eventual electrical failure of the paper cable.
2.4.3.7 Mechanical forces and movements generated by the cable on the accessory
The magnitude of the forces and movements generated by the cable on the accessory depends upon
the cable materials, the method of cable manufacture and the type of cable installation design (i.e. rigid
or flexible installation).
The following forces are dependent upon the cable construction, current loading, operating temperature,
method and type of cable constraint and accessory design :
2.4.4 Compatibility of the accessory performance with that of the cable system
2.4.4.1 Circuit performance parameters
The current rating and optimum circuit economics are dictated by the cable conductor size, cable
material costs and the method of installation. To achieve the optimum economical solution it is
important that the accessory design is not allowed to limit the performance of the cable. The accessory
must therefore match the following cable performance :
• Continuous, cyclic and short time overload (Current magnitude, time and temperature),
• Short circuit rating, “ phase to earth ” and “ phase to phase ” (Current magnitude, asymmetry, time
and temperature),
• Basic impulse level (Withstand voltages for lightning impulse and switching surge), (Flash over
voltage for the system insulation co-ordination of outdoor terminations, if specified ).
- Magnitude of induced sheath or screen wire voltage under normal and short circuit current,
- Magnitude of circulating sheath or screen wire current under normal loading,
- Magnitude of short circuit current,
- Magnitude of specified over sheath lightning withstand voltage and dc withstand voltage.
It is important that the accessory design incorporates means of connecting the cable screen wires,
metallic tapes or sheath and joint shell to the insulation screen.
For many project applications one company will manufacture the cable and accessories and undertake
to complete the installation of the circuit. In other applications the installer may complete the circuit
using cable and accessories supplied by different manufacturers. In some applications the installer may
only assemble the accessories. For each application the requirements of the QA system are equally
rigorous :
The user should ensure that the installer provides evidence of an approved quality assurance system for
installation to an internationally recognised standard.
• Quality Plan
The installer is required to produce a Quality Plan for each project, this includes the project time
schedule together with the requirements for suitably qualified personnel, training, on-site storage of
components and accessories, tools, testing equipment, constructing materials, assembly instructions,
preparation of the jointing environment and records of the assembly work. It is important that the
records of assembly are traceable to the location of each accessory in the cable circuit. If purchasing
separately, the user is advised to ensure that, for the purposes of traceability, the quality systems of the
cable manufacturer, accessory manufacturer and installer are compatible.
• General training at specific system voltages with the standard range of accessories required by the
user
• Repeat training after a defined period for those personnel who have completed general training
• Specified training on a new accessory or cable design for those personnel who have completed
general training.
At the end of the training course the proficiency of the assembly personnel is normally assessed, for
example, by a verbal or written examination, by a practical test and preferably by performing on the
assembled accessories an electrical partial discharge test and voltage withstand test.
Proficiency is recognised at the completion of training by the issue of a certificate, which should be
checked by the user as part of the quality plan for a specific project. In many instances a kit of general
jointing tools and a set of general assembly instructions is also issued to the personnel following
satisfactory completion of training.
The instructions should also include lists of the specified assembly tools, the specified consumable
materials and the health and safety precautions. Recommendations for the preparation of the assembly
environment should also be given.
It is important that the user studies the instructions before work begins to ensure that the workplace is
correctly prepared and that all the tools and consumable materials are available.
• Joint assembly :
• Termination assembly :
2.4.6.3 Voltage withstand test on the cable over sheath and joint protection
It is usual for specially bonded cable systems, including their accessories, to be subjected to an after
laying test comprised of the application of a dc withstand voltage applied to the metallic sheath or
screen wires.
2.4.6.4 Current balance test on the cable sheath and screening wires
This test is performed on cross bonded cable systems at or adjacent to accessory positions to confirm
that a) the bonding connections of the accessory are correct and b) the cable lengths and spacing are
symmetrical, such that the magnitude of residual circulating current is of an acceptably low magnitude.
2.4.7.2 Voltage withstand tests on the over sheath and joint protection
These tests are similar to the after laying tests, but are usually performed at reduced voltage levels.
3.2.1 Ducts
Manholes are underground chambers built to house the joints and other auxiliary equipment such as
fluid feeding tanks, sheath cross bonding cables and sheath protection surge arresters. Access to
cables and joints is easy using fixed or removable ladders installed in two or more chimneys depending
on manhole design.
Manhole dimensions depend on the number of cables to be jointed as well as the circuit voltage.
Metallic structures are usually used inside the manholes to support cables and joints. All metallic steel
members inside manholes should be properly connected to a solid ground rod or bare ground cable loop.
High Voltage cable circuits are normally installed in dedicated duct banks, often one cable per duct.
However, for economical reasons, three cables could be installed in the same duct in case of lower
voltages. Also two circuits (six cables ) could be installed in the same duct bank. It is not recommended
to install more than two circuits in order to reduce the risk of cable damage due to accidental
excavation. This would enhance underground system availability as well as maintain a reasonable cable
load rating.
Laying cables in ducts is considered one of the safest type of installation regarding safety in case of
short circuit. It should be noted that a good earth cover over the duct bank is necessary to ensure
public safety. It is also worth mentioning that manholes could present a safety hazard in case of cable
or joint explosion.
Empty ducts could be used for a reserve cable provided that sheath bonding is designed accordingly.
Fiber optic communication cables could also be installed in the same duct bank .
• Civil work
Civil work includes excavation of trenches and shoring them if necessary, relocation of existing
services, placing of ducts and spacers, pouring of concrete to form duct banks and covering them with
the proper back filling materials as well as reinstating of all surfaces to their original conditions. It is
recommended that construction of necessary manholes or assembling prefabricated ones is often
carried out after ducts have been securely placed. Compacting of back filling materials as well as of
the soil layers is essential in order to obtain a low thermal resistivity.
Long cable lengths could be pulled through straight duct sections provided that cable reels could be
transported to site. However, due to factors related to cable route that have to follow existing road and
street network, land topography and existing subterranean services, almost all cable routes include
bends and offsets that would increase the required cable pulling tensions and thus limit distances
between manholes. Cables installed in ducts rarely exceed 800 meters. In major cities the maximum
length of open trenches at any given time may be limited by local authorities to a few hundred meters.
• Water drainage
Water table level varies with location. In some areas, abundant surface water could hinder civil work
progress. Water seeping through the ground during construction should be pumped out, using
appropriate equipment, to ensure personnel safety as well as quality of work.
Although the presence of water around cables and accessories could be considered somewhat
beneficial, many utilities do not allow it to accumulate in ducts or manholes to prevent possible
premature deterioration of cables and accessories. Ducts would be installed with a continuous slight
slope towards manholes. Manholes would be connected to city sewage or storm draining systems
through an anti pollution arrangement particularly in the case of fluid filled cables. Local regulations
should be followed and authorization should be obtained for these connections.
• Temperature of the soil/environment
Ducts could be installed in soils that are naturally warm provided that some forced cooling arrangement
is foreseen.
• Hardness of the soil
In hard rocky soils it would be advantageous to consider alternative techniques to install cables such as
micro tunneling described in this document. Technical and economic studies should be carried out in
order to compare different viable alternatives.
• Stability of the soil
Different soil formation could exist along any cable route. Soil should be tested and its properties
investigated by carrying out on-site and laboratory tests. Soil stability should be ensured prior to
installation of ducts or duct banks.
• Thermal resistivity of the soil
Soil resistivity should be measured along cable route using appropriate instruments to determine the
need for replacing native soil by special thermal back filling. Some laboratory measurements could also
be useful in establishing the maximum thermal resistivity and percentage of water content by weight of
soil samples.
Back filling materials having higher thermal resistivities than that assumed in cable design calculations
could lead to higher cable operating temperatures, soil drying out and eventually dielectric breakdown
due to thermal runaway. Back filling of trenches should be done in layers that are properly compacted.
Local regulations could influence the choice of back filling materials.
• Seismicity
Ducts could be used in seismic risk areas provided that they have been designed to withstand the
expected earth tremors. Both rigid and flexible designs would be acceptable. Some experimental work
on a model are advisable.
• Frost
Frost and ground freezing occurs for short or long duration in many countries. Ducts and duct banks
should be placed below the expected frost line in order to avoid damage due to ground movement
caused by (severe and frequent) freezing and thaw cycles.
An advantage of this method is that the route of the link can easily be deflected to avoid unforeseen
obstacles.
The depth of the trench is such that in most cases the cables have an earth cover at least one metre
thick (this often is a legal requirement or this can also depend on the short-circuit levels).
Cables are usually laid in trefoil formation. Every metre an adequate non-corrodable clad or rope is
wrapped around the cables to keep the trefoil formation during the backfilling of the trench. The other
type of laying configuration is the flat formation which is used mainly for cables in the 220 to 500 kV
range (depending on the carrying capacity).
Trench width obviously varies according to the type of formation and the voltage level of the cables :
• width <0.8 m (60 to 170 kV) and close to 1.0 m (220 to 500 kV) in trefoil formation;
• width close to 1.0 m (60 to 170 kV) and >1.0 m (220 to 500 kV) in flat formation.
• Civil work
The civil works are identical to those required for duct laying, except that the cables are laid directly in
the trench on a bottom layer of materials intended to protect them from any sharp rocks likely to be
present in the bottom of the trench.
The backfilling materials used to fill the trench are composed, starting with the protective bottom layer
referred to above, of sand, special backfill or possibly lean concrete. It is not so frequent that the
excavated soil or concrete are used for backfilling.
Weak mix may be used instead of the normal backfill to increase the mechanical protection around the
cables.
In many countries, a special backfill (so-called controlled backfill) is used in order to create a low
thermal resistivity environment to dissipate the heat released by the power cables (this greater
dissipation allowing an increased power rating of the link).
In this respect, the use of fibre-optic cable or of optical fibres in HV cable, although not yet
generalised, brings certainly advantages in the future as it will make possible permanent thermal
monitoring of the link (giving precise knowledge about the thermal environment of the cables).
Civil works include also the excavation of joint pits. The size of these pits is naturally larger than the
trench (width and depth) itself, and may vary according to the voltage level, the type of joint and layout
(in parallel or longitudinally).
The length of the trenches is often defined by the size of the cable drums, drum-size itself being often
dependent on the means and possibilities of transport and handling (but the length can also depend on
the calculated pulling tensions if they exceed the limits, environmental aspects, …). Furthermore, in
urban situations, especially taking into account of the traffic, opening a trench several hundreds of
metres long may give rise to problems. Accordingly, local authorities may restrict the length of open
trenches (with increase of joint's number), restricting the periods of the year or week and sometimes
the hours of day during which work may be done.
This problem is the more critical, in terms of site planning and organisation, when controlled backfill is
being used as this material must be very carefully applied (degree of humidity, of compaction) and
closely inspected by a laboratory.
The length of the trench may be some hundreds of metres, hardly ever exceeding 800 metres.
• Drying of the soil
Soil drying can occur in the immediate vicinity of cables in service, due to migration of the humidity
from the hot zone to the cold zone (so increasing the thermal resistivity of the dry zone).
This phenomenon can also be observed when the link runs parallel to certain types of vegetation (trees
that have deep roots, …).
In certain regions the soil may be permanently dry naturally.
Various solutions can be considered :
• use of controlled backfilling material;
• creation of a ‘root-free’ corridor;
• a different configuration for the cables (in flat formation instead of trefoil formation) to improve the
rate of heat dissipation of each cable.
These points can have influence on the type or the width of the trench but don’t really change the
manner of working.
• Water drainage
Conversely to the soil drying phenomenon, wet soil may seem more favourable to laying of HV cables
because it constitutes a natural cooling system.
For other pests it may be effective to lay the cables at a depth where these pests are not usually active
(for instance, rodents do not normally stray below a depth of 80 cm).
• Laying in National Park
Certain local or national authorities may make mandatory a different laying technique in order to
preserve the natural environment (for example, directional drilling instead of direct burial).
Assuming digging a trench is allowed, a number of particular recommendations or stipulations will have
to be complied with restoration of the soil and the vegetation.
• Duration of the work
When the duration of the work would otherwise be too long, a different technique may be imposed.
This may be the result of the already being other rights of soil occupancy (e.g. utilities, telecom) or of
local circumstances (important road crossings, residential areas) where the local authorities would
impose different techniques (for instance, laying in ducts or directional drilling).
• Maintenance and repairing process
Once the link has been built with the direct burial method, the only points where access remains
possible are the extremities where the cables emerge from the soil for connection to terminals, and
possibly the cable shields at the joints between cables. These are the only places where direct visual
inspection is possible.
Nevertheless the link operator can still perform tests on the outer covering (generally a DC. test).
Defect location and repair will always necessitate some excavation work. If the cable defect is a
substantial one, the civil works will also be substantial, as the deteriorated length of cable will have to
be replaced, and two new joints made.
• Cable removal after operation
Cable removal at the end of his life has been definitively stopped represents a huge amount of work
and cost, because the trenches will have to be completely reopened. This is the reason why these days
the disused links are usually abandoned in place.
However, this may result in environmental concern if the cables are the fluid-insulated type. The fluid
should be regularly drained by pumping it from the central channel so as to avoid the risk of fluid
leaking into the soil.
New developments to remove the cables with a trenchless method are at the present time under
investigation.
• Adaptation of the technique to the cable system design
For a well-defined cable system the choice made concerning the conductor materials has a significant
effect on the link construction method and cable laying technique, on account for instance of the
difference in weight between copper and aluminium.
The lighter cables (aluminium) allow to have drums with longer length of cable (but with a different
carrying capacity for the same size in copper), in turn allowing the laying of longer lengths.
3.2.3 Tunnels
Shield method
Shield is a kind of tunnelling method designed to operate even in poor subsoil. Tunnels are excavated by
a tunnel driving machine known as a "shield machine" and tunnel wall is constructed by fixing a pre-
fabricated circular pre-cast members called "segments" against each other using bolts.
By using the Shield method, circular tunnels with diameters from Ø‘1800mm up to Ø‘14000mm could
be bored.
A tunnel is constructed by open-cut method, shield method, or pipe jacking method. Pipe jacking
method is described in Section 3.3.4. Shield method and pipe jacking method are similar in their shapes.
The difference of them is just construction method and only shield method is described here.
b) Shield Method
When Open-cut method cannot be used, the Shield method should be used. It may be applied where
the road traffic is too heavy or the tunnel to be constructed too deep to excavate from ground surface
because of keeping away from other underground equipment such as telephone cables, gas pipes,
water pipes, sewage pipes, subways, etc.
Shield method can be used when the subsoil is poor. A shield tunnel is excavated by a tunnel driving
machine known as a "shield machine" and tunnel walls are constructed by fixing pre-fabricated circular
pre-cast members called "segment" against each other using bolts. Circular tunnels with diameters from
Ø 800 mm up to Ø 4000 mm have been constructed in Japan.
Ventilation is generally used in tunnels for human safety. Ventilation also dissipates the heat generated
by the cables, thus increasing the transmission capacity compared to direct burial or ducts. When larger
transmission capacity is required, cooling system may be applied.
• Civil Work
Since tunnel construction method is much more expensive than construction of ducts by open cut
method, it is necessary to carefully evaluate the construction cost. Construction of a tunnel is
economically unfavourable when there are only a few circuits to be installed. At the time of
constructing shield tunnel, all the route need not be excavated but land for shafts is necessary. Land for
ventilating facility is necessary for both open cut tunnel and shield tunnel.
• Planning
At the time of the planning, various items should be considered such as, number of circuits, supporting
material, ventilation, cooling system, working space, road condition, countermeasure for fire,
environmental impact since the construction of a tunnel may involve major earth movements, etc.
These items affect one another and should be considered systematically.
• Basic Design
The height of the tunnel needs to be such as to allow adequate space for the installation and
maintenance work. Joints are generally positioned within the tunnel with the distance between joints
being as long as is possible based on the longest length of cable that can be transported to site and
installed. Ventilation is provided by shafts along the route as needed to satisfy the ventilation
requirements for personnel access and safety requirements and to ensure the capacity of the link.
• Snaking Design
It is very important to evaluate the thermal expansion of the cables. To cope with thermal expansion
and contraction of single-core cables installed on shelves in tunnels, pits, etc., a snaking installation
technique is generally used.
This technique enables thermal cable expansion and contraction to be absorbed by lateral
displacements of the cable initially laid in waves at a certain pitch and width. There are horizontal and
vertical snaking installations.
Selection between them is made depending on site conditions, available space, economy, etc. Horizontal
snaking installations are widely used for fluid-filled cables and both snaking installations are used for
XLPE cables.
3.2.4 Troughs
3.2.4.1 Description of the technique
A trough is a generally prefabricated U-shaped covered housing which is used to protect the installed
cable from mechanical damage.
The trough can be cast in place as a single element composed of precast sections of approximately one
meter long installed end to end or by means of continuous concrete casting process with the top of the
sides permitting a structural cover such as concrete or steel or fibre reinforced plastic, to be used to
protect the installed cable. The troughs are generally filled with special backfill in the form of selected
sand or weak mix mortar to aid heat dissipation.
Once the trough path has been assembled, the cables may be installed as in an open trench, either by a
pulling or a laying process from joint to joint or from joint to termination. Then covers are placed.
Reinforced concrete troughs are installed at the surface of ground as shown in the drawing below and
cables are installed in the troughs.
In the case of filled troughs (sand filling in the troughs), the most likely movement of cable for
thermomechanical behaviour is in the vertical direction where there is least resistant and lifting of
trough lids can occur.
Care is therefore necessary to ensure that the trough lids are either heavy enough or sufficiently well
fixed to the trough to prevent movement.
In the case of unfilled troughs, cables are necessary to be snaked and fixed with cable cleats to cater
for thermomechanical behaviour same as the unfilled trough in air of class (3) described below.
This surface trough type has been used running along side railways and in substations.
In the case of the reduced transmission efficiency of many cable circuits installation, cables are laid in
tunnel and fixed with cleats on hangers.
To limit the extension of fire or prevent from external damage, cables could be laid in closed FRP
troughs as shown below.
The bottom of the trough is filled with a layer of thermally suitable sand backfill or weak mix mortar
before laying the cable.
If the cables are in trefoil, then after laying the bottom cable, the trough is backfilled to the top of the
installed cable to eliminate the air remaining in empty spaces and in preparation of the next cable to be
installed.
After installation of all three cables, the trough is completely filled with sand, then covers are installed,
sealed and eventually fixed.
For buried troughs, backfilling is achieved in several successive layers carefully compacted.
When single core extruded cable is installed in the straight line in unfilled surface trough or in unfilled
trough in air, irregular thermal cable movement occurs due to longitudinal thermal expansion. So,
snaking installation, where cables are laid in waves at a certain pitch and width, is applied to absorb
thermal expansion and contraction. The dimension of snake is determined by considering the cable
occupied space, axial force at the end of snake section, workability of snaking and so on.
• Kinds of snake
There are two type of snaking, one is horizontal snake and the other is vertical snake. Horizontal snake
is applied in cable installation into the trough.
• Sheath distortion
Sheath distortion of cable with metallic sheath is in most cases sufficiently less than the permissible
value, when the above mentioned parameters are adopted. This is confirmed theoretically and
• Other
There are some cases that the cables are bound together at regular interval against electrodynamic
force at the occurrence of short circuit.
• Civil work
For buried troughs, civil work include excavation of a trench and shoring when necessary. After
installation of the cable as described before, the trench is backfilled and different layers of the native
soil are compacted. Limits are the same as for directly buried cables with an additional limit concerning
bending radius which is generally 70 times the cable outside diameter.
• Drying of the soil
The buried troughs method is better than direct buried method because of the improved heat flow
provided by the use of concrete trough
• Hardness of the soil
Same limits as for directly buried technique
• Stability of the soil
If the soil is not stable, it is necessary to anchor the troughs on a concrete sole.
• Thermal resistivity of the soil
Troughs material and backfilling inside and outside the troughs can be selected to take account of the
thermal resistivity of he soil.
3.2.4.5 Limits of the technique for surface troughs
The use of this technique is strictly limited to these cases where the right of way is the utility property.
On steel profile bridges, the cables can be laid in steel profiles or on cable ladders. In this case
additional protection is needed, especially at the piers.
The cables can also be directly cleated on the bridge or installed into ducts.
Before deciding to use an existing bridge as a crossing, a careful study should be made. The designer
has to take into consideration the dynamic mechanical stress caused by its vibrations, elongation and
bending at junctions and the environmental stress such as sunlight heat and wind pressure.
When constructing new bridges there should always be a design with a space for possible future
cables. Cast-in ducts make it easy to pull the cables through the bridge. But again the offset of the
cables at the piers is very important.
Vibration
If cables, that have an extruded metallic sheath, are installed in bridges the vibration generated by
automobiles and trains may introduce strain into the sheath, which could lead to fatigue. To reduce this
strain to an acceptable value it is necessary to design the cable supporting method and cable supporting
intervals with regard to their resonance frequency.
• Civil work
The civil work will normally be to make modifications or extensions of the existing bridge structures.
This should be done in close co-operation with the owner of the bridge to avoid reducing the
mechanical properties of the bridge. The transition zone at the piers is the most critical points. Here the
cable needs to be installed with an offset to compensate the thermal movement of the bridge. It should
also be considered if the magnetic field or the increased temperature may affect the lifetime of the
bridge. A research made in Norway in 1995 show that the risk is low. The cable racks/ trays and sun
shielding should allow the maintenance of the bridge.
If the cables are laid in unfilled troughs, a drainage system should be provided.
• Temperature of the soil/environment
3.3.2 Shafts
3.3.2.1 Description of the technique
Shafts are generally used in hydraulic generation plants where the power generated from the
underground equipment have to be brought up to the beginning of the aerial lines.
Shafts may also be part of cable routes in cities where the cables are running in deep tunnels and must
be connected to aerial lines or substations.
Cables may be fixed with clamps at the shaft walls or to metallic structures.
Several circuits may be installed in the same shaft; in this case walls or special structures are used to
reduce the possible damages in case of problems of one of the circuits.
Joints, if present, are normally installed in horizontal configuration in special chambers to be purposely
created.
Sometimes the shafts are used as vent of the production plant, and the air temperature during normal
operating conditions has to be considered when designing the installation layout.
In case of extruded cables attention must be paid to the significant expansion coefficient of the cables,
limiting the restraining force that each clamp may transfer to the cable and hence requiring special care
while designing the supporting structures.
Special clamps will have to be used in this case.
In shaft the safety aspects have a significant impact, because short circuits or explosions may lead to
the complete failure of the circuits.
Special structures or precautions shall be taken to minimise the effect of fire inside the tunnel.
Special laying tools and ancillaries structures will have to be in place and available during the whole
service life to allow the recovery and replacement of a faulty phase.
• Civil work
Shafts are often designed as part of the power plant or tunnel structures and the cable installation
design shall consider the existing facilities. Sometime calculation have to be made to be sure that the
existing facilities can withstand the weight of the cable and the relevant structures.
In case of FF cables, following the maximum allowable cable length, joint chambers will have to be built
on purpose along the shaft. The size of the chambers shall take into account the size of the joints, the
number of cables and the structures to be installed.
• Water drainage
Water may permeate through the shaft walls, and heavy moisture may condense over the cables.
Corrosion problems has to be carefully considered when selecting the materials for the supporting
structures.
• Temperature of the soil/environment
The design of the whole system requires the knowledge of the shaft temperature in operating
conditions and the annual excursions to evaluate the thrust developing in the cables.
• Thermal resistivity of the soil
In shafts the cables are installed in air that can circulate from the bottom to the top of the shaft.
Generally no cooling problems are present
• Seismicity
Accelerations imposed by earthquakes may have to be considered when designing supporting
structures. Being the shaft part of the station or tunnels civil works, the civil structures are already
designed considering these accelerations.
• Duration of the work
As the laying and jointing operations are carried out in substations and in the shaft itself, the operations
can be planned quite easily.
On the other side, installation works may last more than usual, due to the particular care to be taken for
cable clamping.
• Maintenance and repairing process
Maintenance for cable in shaft may consist of a periodical visual inspection on:
cable sheath
supporting structures and fixing devices
joints
In shaft the repair of a faulty phase will involve the recovery of the faulty cable and the lay of a new
cable. Repair of an existing cable putting joints in the middle of a cable length is generally not possible.
• Introduction
Augers, vibratory pipe reamers, micro-tunnellers, directional drilling, pneumatic moles; all of these are
devices for installing underground facilities with a minimum of digging required.
Many of the techniques and equipment have been around for many decades, however the most
interesting and versatile trenchless technique, in use, has increased exponentially over recent years,
guided horizontal drilling.
• The technique
Guided horizontal drilling, sometimes referred to as guided boring, is a construction technique that
provides for faster product placement with less disruption to the surrounding urban and suburban
neighbourhood.
Drilling can be initiated on the job either by being placed into a pre-dug launching pit, or starting from
the road or soil surface, commonly called surface launch. The following outlines the procedure
commonly followed to install a conduit or small conduit bundle:
Step One: Lay out of entrance and exit pits for determining drilling path and segment lengths.
(highly dependent on machine size and capability)
Step Two: Pilot hole drilling between the pits at the proper depth to avoid "frac-outs" or situations
where the drilling fluids used might bubble to the surface.
Step Three: With the drill steel left in the ground, a back reamer is attached to the exit end of the
steel to widen the hole to the proper dimensions for the conduit.
Step Four: Repeat step three as often as is necessary to obtain the desired hole diameter. On the
last back ream, a high tensile strength swivel and packer will be added to pull in the conduit or conduit
bundle behind the reaming system.
In all jobs, the proper drill heads, reamers, fluid handling systems and pumps must be carefully selected
in order to have an efficient and cost effective product installation. Drilling fluids, sometimes referred to
as "mud", must be mixed using proper densities for the job at hand. Fluids normally are comprised of
water, bentonite and sometimes a polymer oxide additive to provide for better performance. The
bentonite "mud" or slurry, serves various purposes; it is the medium that provides a path for rock
cuttings and surrounding soil to flow back to the launch pit, it provides cooling of the drill head and
lubrication when drilling into rock substrata and it stabilises the hole.
For long lengths, an installation to the recycling of the mud is to be considered.
• The equipment
Depending on the installation, the size of the tool needs to be chosen carefully for maximum economic
benefit.
Service tools are used for very small installations of gas and underground residential distribution (URD)
services. These are easily transportable and require very little set-up space. Service tools can drill small
diameter holes for about 60 m.(200 ft) effectively. Many are "dry borers", meaning that they use no
slurry to act as a coolant or for hole stabilisation.
Mini-rigs, currently represent the largest market segment for drill rigs. These are small versatile tools
that employ a minimum amount of slurry for drilling in relatively easy to moderate soil conditions. Mini-
rigs come in various sizes and capabilities just as back hoes. In many respects these small machines
are the equivalent of backhoes while midi-rigs, which are approximately the same physical size, are
equivalent to excavators. The Table 1 below shows the performance ranges to the four categories of
drilling units.
• Benefits
Safety - Open trenches endanger pedestrians and traffic; including cave-ins, trench debris, and failed or
improperly installed cover plates
Convenience - Businesses, homes, and commuters are less inconvenienced by traffic backups, dust and
uneven pavement due to removal.
Productivity - Installed lengths can exceed open trenching by as much as 5 times on a per day basis.
This translates into less traffic disruption, noise and reduces the construction times in any one location.
However, in many countries, the horizontal drilling is mainly used to cross obstacles and not to replace
the open trench where it is possible to work with direct burial.
Conflict Reduction - Increasingly congested utility corridors and easements make it very difficult to
place cable or conduit. Directional drilling can be a solution to this dilemma through the use of
measure-while-drilling, MWD, electronic tracking systems accurately drill beneath existing utilities.
Route Selection - Drilling may allow for different or shorter routes to be taken for the installation of a
cable circuit. This is because in many cities there are moratoriums on cutting open recently paved or
refurbished road surfaces. The local governments in many cases make allowances for the use of
drilling instead of trenching.
Reduced Environmental Issues - Run-off from job-site excavation is minimised as is the risk of
excavating and disposing of soils that may be contaminated. Regulatory restrictions related to
excavations in wetlands and other sensitive areas will be reduced.
Cost Savings – Faster installation time, less backfill materials used, traffic control issues, pavement
removal, separation and disposal / refurbishment effectively eliminated, reduced spoil handling and
Many of the above can be overcome using lesser known drilling methods, however in some cases the
better approach to take would be to use microtunnelling.
• Temperature of the soil/environment
Depending on the depth of drilling, temperature of the ambient soil or rock where the cable circuit
would eventual reside, can actual be more constant and at a lower temperature than for shallower
installations done using open cut methods. Because of the greater installation depths, the circuit
ampacity may need a de-rating. This disadvantage can be overcome through the use of dynamic
monitoring on the circuit or through the use of a larger conductor cable.
• Hardness of the soil
As previously mentioned under civil limitations, the hardness of soil can affect the drilling effectiveness.
• Stability of the soil
Unstable soil conditions such as flowable sands and cobble mixed with softer soil materials are
probably the worse conditions for drilling operations to be effective. In the case of flowing sands, or
very sandy soil conditions where the bentonite slurry cannot stabilise and maintain the drill hole, a
washover technique can be performed (for small diameters). This is where sections of a larger
diameter pipe are connected and pushed into the bore hole during the pilot drilling operation. Once the
drill rod has gone the desired length, it can be removed from the washover pipe and also be used to pull
in the cable. The washover pipe is sacrificial and it stays in the ground to act as a conduit. For larger
diameter holes, a technique known as forward reaming is used. During the pilot hole drilling, reamers
are attached every so often onto the pilot drill rod faced in the forward direction (smaller reamers first,
eventually having the last reamer at the desired diameter). Behind the last reamer is attached a sleeve
or large pipe, which is pushed into the large hole in parallel with the pilot hole drilling and reaming
operations. This sleeve or large pipe provides a path for the cuttings and slurry back to the drill rig. The
fact that it is pushed or spin into the hole during the drilling results in a stable hole. This however does
limit the advance rate of the drilling and as a result dramatically increases to cost. This same method
may also be needed where cobbles and covered river bottom rock is encountered.
• Thermal resistivity of the soil
Installation of circuits at greater depths tend to reside in surround soil and or rock that have better
native thermal resistances than the soils closer to the surface that contain higher organic content. Thus
the thermal resistivity of the native environment is not a limitation on the guided horizontal drilling
In adapting the cable circuit design to the drilling installation case, the following need to be looked at in
detail before the total design is selected;
Adaptation of cable design and trade-off analysis is complicated with a myriad of civil parameters
versus thermal performance and cable design. More and more engineering design firms, consultants
are doing detailed analyses for clients. When done properly, application of guided horizontal drilling to
the electric industry can save significant civil / construction costs. These savings by far are larger than
any increase cable cost caused by larger conductors.
The last technique will be described in great detail as it is the most common used.
Pipe jacking can be considered as an environmental balanced installation technique, as it does not
effect the surroundings. The surplus soil (equal to the volume of the pipe) is removed from the ground
implying that displacement of the in situ and settled soil can be avoided.
As a rule of thumb, the following minimum depth to the upper pipe surface could be considered :
The nature and composition of the soil must be investigated before the pipe jacking method is selected.
Without this study, the pipe jacking may be halted due to a block, which will impose a manual and time
consuming action at the front of the first pipe when the block shall be cut to pieces. Such action is not
possible with pipe diameters less than 800 mm. Only excavation from the surface or use of explosive
within the pipe (if possible) can prevent that the installation must be given up. In such a case a new
pipe jacking operation must be started at a new depth or location.
Cathodic protection shall be considered if the pipe jacking is done with steel pipes.
The excavated soil is taken out of the tube by compressed air or by using a flush.
The saturated steel tubes can have a diameter ranging from 100 to 500 mm. The penetration speed can
reach 3 to 10 m/hour in unconsolidated soil. The pipe jacking lengths in these soils are between 30 and
40 m but this technique by beating is not very accurate.
When a tube enters the soil the subsequent pipe is electrically soldered on to it.
This technique can only be contemplated in homogenous and soft soils (clay, silt, sand, etc.) with
diameters ranging from 400 to 800 mm and with 40 to 50 m lengths. It is simple and quick, useful when
the soil is suitable and there is no need for great precision (about 0.5m for works of 40 to 50 m).
As the pipe jacking progresses the earth works are done, either manually or mechanically, according to
the requested diameter. The first tube is equipped with a steel drum curb, which bites into the subsoil
while protecting the workers cleaning the earth.
The drum curb is equipped with correcting screw jacks that direct the unit of assembled tubes.
Topological measurements are done with a theodolite or more usually with a laser. The extracted soil at
the working face is taken to the thrust by a winching tip truck.
When the thrust linked to the friction load becomes too high, it is possible to resort to intermediary
stations. During the pipe jacking, bentonite is injected between the soil and the tube in order to reduce
the friction coefficient. The substance is injected into the tube and goes out through holes on the side of
the tube. Towards the end of the pipe jacking the bentonite is replaced by cement grout to "solder" the
tube to the subsoil and spread the earth’s thrusts.
When the pipe jacking is finished, the drum curb is retrieved in the exit shaft. The screw jacks at the
intermediary station are dismantled.
This technique is applicable for pipe diameters between 1000 and 3200 mm.
The thrust station at the work shaft is equipped with 4 to 6 screw jacks which each are capable of
developing 1000 to 3000 kN. The average friction of the pipe surface / soil is approximately 1.2 kN/m2
of the external surface.
The maximum permissible thrust for a standard 2 m reinforced concrete pipe is:
• Civil work
Pipe jacking is possible up to 100 m length without intermediary stations. With intermediary stations
lengths up to 500-600 m may be installed, but the work is limited by the time consumption for
transporting of the soil backward in the pipeline. Health and safety concern for the workmen might also
give reason to limit the length of the pipe. However the length can be doubled if it is possible to
excavate a central receiving shaft and perform two pipe jacking installations (one from each side).
Pipe jacking by thrust is not applicable for rocky soil. The technical limit of the cutting head is 300 kN.
For pebbled soil situated below the ground water (sand and gravel, sandy silt) measure must be taken
to lower the groundwater level and the pipe jacking shall be done by compressed air.
Drying out of the soil is not of any importance if the permanent groundwater level is above the pipe
installation. Therefore the groundwater level must be verified at the geological survey before the
detailed design of the pipe installation is completed. Additionally the soil characteristics (thermal
resistivity and drying out performance) must also be clarified at the geological survey.
Drying out of the soil can be expected to start at a continuous temperature of 50 oC depending on the
soil characteristics. (In sand material the drying out phenomena will most properly start at a lower
temperature).
Cable installation with pipe jacking will always result in that all three phase conductor cores are pulled
through the same concrete or steel pipe. The pipe surface temperature varies (among others) with the
current, phase distance, depth of the pipe, and the outer diameter of the pipe.
Drying out of the soil must be considered in particular for cable systems designed for a continuously
load and with a conductor size being equal along the whole cable route. In such a case a large depth
(above 3m) might result in a bottleneck for the current capacity of the whole link, since available
measures against the possibilities of the drying out of the soil is limited. Spreading out of the cables
beyond the inner pipe diameter is impossible. Improving the soil characteristics by substitution of soil
with better thermal performance is not possible. Injection of a "specific developed fluid with excellent
thermal properties" within the pipes will only have a minor effect, since the major temperature raise
appears in the soil.
Above mentioned heating problem can be prevented if a cooling arrangement is applied. Natural or
forced air circulation in the cable pipes can remove the heat generated by the cable cores.
Alternatively a water cooling system can be adopted. A cooling system will result in additional
installation costs and require supervision and maintenance on a larger scale than the cable system,
which is practically maintenance free.
• Water drainage
Water drainage shall be considered for the implementation period. Permanent water drainage is not
recommended.
• Temperature of the soil/environment
Pipe jacking will be performed at a depth more than 2,5 meter in almost every installation. The
temperature at the upper surface layers (depths 0,2-1,0 m) varies during the day and week depending
on the sun heating, wind, and air temperature. This fluctuation in the soil temperature is less distinct at
1-3 m depth and vanishes at a larger depth. The soil temperature at large depth is almost constant and
equal to the yearly average air temperature at the particular location. This implies that a different soil
temperature can be applied for the calculation of the cable temperatures.
• Hardness of the soil
Pipe jacking in soil consisting of rock, granite or similar soil can not be performed.
• Thermal resistivity of the soil
Pipe jacking with three conductors within one pipe is not recommended in soils with high thermal
resistivity unless a cooling system is applied.
• Frost
Since pipe jacking is performed at depths larger than 1.5 m frost does not affect the performance of
the pipe jacking operation.
Above mentioned duration is of course dependent on the complexity of the installation (pipe diameter,
length and dept of installation).
• Maintenance and repairing process
Cable pipe with bentonite
No maintenance is required for the cable installation if the plastic pipes and the concrete/steel pipes are
injected with bentonite. In case of cable failure within the pipe installation the bentonite can be flushed
out and the cable core redrawn from the pipe.
Cable suspended in air
If the pipe installation can be accessed a regular visual inspection (each second year) can be
recommended in order to detect any deterioration of the cable suspension arrangement or to inspect if
objects or animals has intruded the installation and caused any damage.
• Cable removal after operation
Cable pipe with bentonite
The bentonite can be flushed out and the cable core redrawn from the pipe when the cable system is
taken out of operation.
Cable suspended in air
Cables suspended in air to the inner surface of the pipe by mean of applicable cable clamps are easily
removed when the system fails.
• Installation practice
Depending on the size of the concrete/steel pipe two different installation methods can be applied:
• Air installation
If the concrete pipe is large (above 1,5m inner diameter) the cables can be suspended at the inner pipe
surface either as a flexible or rigid installation in air. In this case the cable installation design practice
used for cables in tunnels can be applied taking into consideration the mechanical forces during short
circuit and the thermal design (heating up of the soil and the cable insulation). A proper sealing of the
pipe must be considered in order to prevent intrusion of water, insects etc.
Unintended overheating of cables must be prevented by substitution of the residual air volume with a
material with improved thermal characteristics. Bentonite or a similar pumpable mixture is injected
between the cable and the plastic pipe. A slurry mixture with a thermal resistivity less than 1 Km/W in
dry condition is normally selected for use between the plastic pipes and the concrete pipe.
If a trefoil formation is essential for the cable system design all three plastic pipes must be attached
firmly in trefoil and pulled through the large pipe in one operation. Increasing the phase distance to the
maximum possible can reduce the thermal mutual heating between the phase conductors. In such a
installation (with pipe diameter above 1.5 m) it is necessary to adapt clearance wedges between the
cable plastic pipes.
It is not mandatory that the cable cores are located in a true trefoil formation. The current and voltage
of the screen depend on it’s bonding, the location of each phase conductor and the length of the whole
cable system. If close trefoil is applied in the standard trench a short length with flat formation will
result in an unbalanced screen bonding system. The screen voltage at the opened end for single point
bonded systems and the circulating current for cross bonded & two point bonded systems will increase
a little compared with a true balanced system. This however is of negligible importance if the total
length of pipe/cable installation is relatively short compared with the whole cable system length.
If the space is available more than one cable system consisting of three phase conductors can be
installed in the same concrete pipe. However consideration related to the mutual heating and the
possibility of a cable failure caused by one system to the other system must be taken.
3.3.5 Microtunnels
Microtunnels are one of the installation techniques which are adopted where open ditches are not
possible, e.g. crossing of obstacles like railways, rivers, duct banks, motorways etc.
Their diameters are typically between 300 and 1200 mm and their lengths 200 m maximum. In contrary
to larger tunnels they are not accessible by man and mostly contain only one 3-phase power cable
system.
The machine is driven electrically or hydraulically and remote controlled and can dig horizontal holes of
up to 1200 mm diameter over a length of appr. 150 m (max. 200 m).
As the pipe jacking or large tunnel techniques the microtunnelling, too, starts and ends in vertical shafts,
which have to be prepared in advance to provide the necessary space for the tunnelling and thrusting
equipment.
The clearing of the dug out earth can be done in three different ways via tube systems to the decanting
box
- removal by an endless screw (earth pressure)
- hydraulic removal (mud pressure)
- pneumatic removal (air pressure)
Picture 10 : Microtunnelling
For the main tubes of the tunnel two different techniques exist:
- pipe jacking the final tubes directly
- pipe jacking temporary tubes, which will be replaced by the final tubes once the exit shaft has
been reached.
The temporary and the final tubes have the same diameter. The latter are fitted into each other and can
also be soldered (when made of steel).
If the drilling length becomes too long, it can be divided into two with a central work shaft (provided
that space is available) and two lateral exit shafts. In this case, the thrusting station must be turned
round.
• Civil work
Microtunnels are constructed where open trenches are not possible. Such technology of digging without
using a ditch requires excellent geological knowledge of the lay of the land. A geological study and a
detailed survey of the character of the subsoil including the position (or non-existence) of the ground
water table are necessary before defining the civil work to be done.
These data will determine the technological choice of the earth removal method by screw, hydraulically
or pneumatically, the type of drill head, closed for hard soil, half closed for less hard, open for soft soil,
and also the lubrication, (bentonite, polymeric mixture, foam etc.).
The possible risk of an incomplete examination and the use of an inappropriate drill head can lead to the
microtunneller being blocked. If this happens there are several systems that allow part of the equipment
to be recuperated, but in most cases it will be lost.
It is therefore necessary to take any precautions possible, as the cost of a microtunneller is in the order
of several hundreds of thousands of US $.
Apart from the boring of the underground tunnel the civil work is more or less restricted to a few
limited areas, i.e. mainly the work shafts at the start and the exit of the tunnel and their surroundings.
The shafts have to be carefully designed and executed according to size of equipment to be installed
therein, to depth, kind of soil, ground water table, thrust pressure etc. They must be kept dry from rain
and ground water. Their typical dimensions are 4 m x 2.5 m or a diameter of 3.5 m for the entrance
shaft and 2.5 m x 2.5 m for the exit shaft. Around these shafts a certain surface area must be available
for storage of material, decanting of mud, machines, cranes, control and other equipment.
Typical dimensions are 40 m x 3 m (max. 150 m²) at work site of entrance shaft.
The thermal situation of a power cable system within a microtunnel is determined by a large number of
different components:
- cables will be laid in filled or unfilled PE or PVC ducts
- these ducts are installed inside the common tunnel tubes, either steel or concrete
- interstices between ducts and tunnel tubes are filled with special slurry
- tunnel tubes are ”soldered” to surrounding subsoil by special fillers (bentonite, cement grout)
- surrounding subsoil can be of great variety with regard to geological composition, equality along
the route, homogeneity and, last but not least, thermal resistivity
- the position of the microtunnel in the ground will be different with each installation, especially
with regard to depth, ground water table, distance to foreign heat sources etc. The calculation
of admissible thermal ratings of the cable system has to adequately consider these parameters
to guarantee for stable thermal conditions rather than thermal runaway and drying out of soil.
• Water drainage
The robotisation of the mechanism allows work to be carried out in the groundwater table without
lowering the water level. This is possible up to 20 m water pressure but only for microtunnellers which
remove the earth hydraulically. The only problems can arise at the work shafts, but there are methods
to seal these watertightly.
Blocs or obstacles that exceed about 30 % of the drill’s diameter can not be dealt with and it is
therefore impossible to use this method in soils containing large blocks.
Certain clay soils, which are too sticky, should be avoided either.
• Thermal resistivity of the soil
The detailed knowledge of the thermal characteristics, especially the thermal resistivity of the soil along
the microtunnel is a must before such a cable system can be designed. If changes of these parameters
cannot be excluded over the life time of the cable system a real time temperature monitoring system
with temperature sensors along the cables can be installed to identify changes and to adjust cable
ratings accordingly.
• Seismicity
The tunnel tubes, whether steel or concrete, provide a certain mechanical protection for the cable
system inside. The degree of seismic impact, which can be withstood without damage is hard to define.
• Frost
Since microtunnels are positioned in larger depth, frost does not influence its performance.
• Archaeology
As microtunnelling avoids opening of trenches, it could be a favourable technique to keep
archaeological sites of limited area (< 200 m) undisturbed.
• Presence of termites
The part of a longer cable link, which is laid inside the microtunnel, will be much more protected against
termite attacks than the remainder outside.
• Laying in National Park
Although microtunnelling avoids open trenches, it does not seem to be a favourite for application in
National Parks, as their standard lengths are limited to 100-200 m. It might be too short for extended
areas and the impact of the construction work at the shafts on the environment could be considered too
high.
• Duration of work
The duration of the installation of a cable system in a microtunnel is hard to estimate, as it depends on a
number of individual parameters, the most important of which are:
Putting in place the slurry is a delicate operation. This material must be spread in all the volume in order
to avoid the presence of air bubbles, which could create hot spots. The injection of the slurry must be
done without damaging the ducts.
To avoid ovalisation during injection of the slurry it is recommended to strengthen the plastic ducts by
air, water or helium pressure.
Lastly, the slurry should have a low and consistent thermal resistivity of preferably 1 Km/W.
Once this installation of ducts and filling is completed, the three single core cables can be pulled into the
ducts within the microtunnel. The ducts can be left unfilled or be filled with e.g. bentonite to improve
thermal heat dissipation.
The thickness of the mortar around the cables and in particular under the cables (raft) must be at least
50 mm.
For trefoil laying, fastening must be used if the cable guides cannot maintain the trefoil position until the
covering is in place.
A telecommunication cable may be laid if necessary in a separate duct above the power cables (on the
weak mix mortar) and directly laid in the soil.
A warning plastic netting is laid on top. Then the trench is backfilled and the soil is compacted.
The width of the trench which takes into account the diameter of the cables is between 300 and 400
mm for trefoil cables and 450 and 500 mm for cables laid in a flat position (H V Cables).
- simultaneously : the cables are laid with the help of cable laying machines or a cable drum carrier
(Figure 15, •1) which is a few metres in front of the trenchdigger,
- beforehand : the three phases are laid beside each other along the future route. The cables must not
come into direct contact with the ground. They can be laid on rollers or on a polyane sheet.
Joints :
Depending on the voltage and the accessory technology, joints might not be laid by machine. Indeed,
their preparation and completion time might not be compatible with the works progress. In this case,
they are placed in special excavations (joint chambers) that are then filled once the joints have been
made.
This cable guiding system is necessary to obtain the correct positioning of the cables at the entrance to
the cubicle tray . If the cable guides are not able to maintain the cables in a trefoil position until the
covering is in place, a fastening system becomes necessary.
The equipment must allow a permissible route curve radius of approximately 12 to 15 m and must be
capable of being dismantled when necessary.
- Pouring the mortar into the cubicle tray while operating the trenchdigger.
Equipment :
All the above equipment is part of a laying "train" about 50 m long, an example of which can be seen in
Figure 15.
Since August 1993 many sites have used this technique in Europe. Thus we can consider that this
technique has moved from the experimental to the industrial stage in the HV cables range
3.3.6.2 Limits of the technique
• Civil work
This technique imposes the use of dedicated equipment which are expensive and heavy . The
transportation of the equipment from one site to another one must be carefully considered (cost ,
duration.) . The ground occupied by the works site is larger than for a conventional site for several
reasons:
On the other hand, advantages of this technique compared to conventional open trench are :
- management of the supply of weak mortar mix which is conditioned by three parameters :
the distance,
climatic
progress
3.3.7 Embedding
This technique consists of excavating a riverbed from a barge or with an amphibious machine, burying
a tube or cables and filling up the trench.
Burying of cables presents the effective, definitive protection against mechanical damage.
• Civil work
The methods that can be used to bury cables in riverbeds vary widely; the choice depends on such
factors as river-bed conditions, operating depth, route obstructions, depth of burial desired or required,
total length to be installed, cable size, and tools available.
a) Dredging
b) Blasting
c) Jetting operated by divers
Usually, the use of these methods is limited to rather shallow waters, practically up to depths of about
20 m, which is usually enough for river crossings.
Picture 12 : Embedding
• Method of operation:
Pre-trenching
Post-embedding
Simultaneous laying and embedding
Plugging or cutting of cable trenches before laying the cables requires precision laying of the cable and
is usually limited to a depth where divers can work for some time and where the river is comparatively
calm.
• Method of excavation:
a) Static plough
b) Static plough water jets (injectors)
c) Water jets (fluidisers)
d) Suction-pumps
e) Cutting-chain
f) Cutting-wheel
g) Mechanical disintegrators
h) Various combinations of the above
Methods a), b), c), and d) may only be used where the riverbed is soft, i.e. sand, shingle or clay.
b) Self propelled:
• Operators:
b) Operated by divers
at bottom pressure
at atmospheric pressure
It is to be pointed out that if the riverbed changes its morphology along the route, different types of
equipment might be needed.
• Hardness of the soil
Depending of the type of soil vehicles can accommodate three distinct cable-trenching tools:
A rock wheel cutter which require a cable route over the top of the vehicle will create a trench 1.2
meters deep in any riverbed up to quite strong rock. This is a robust device, but the work rate can be
low with wear rate and consequently is time consuming.
A chain cutter can provide trenches more than 2 meters deep in quite hard material, but is subject to
significant wear, with low work-rates in difficult conditions.
A powerful jet tool creating trench up to 2 meters. It can provide high work-rates in sandy riverbeds.
• Maintenance and repairing process
Due to the recent technological progress in the field of embedding machines and other ancillary
equipment (remote operated vehicles (ROV), etc.), cable burial is presently possible, with various
methods, up to a considerable depth and practically in every kind of riverbed. However in many cases
the cost of the embedment is very high therefore the right way to proceed is to limit it to the sections
where the risk of a cable damage is so high that it offsets the embedment cost.
In case of limited risk, and where the power availability of the link is high, the possibility of a cable
repair has to be considered as preferable, its cost will be paid only if, and when, the cable will be
damaged.
Of course the cost of a repair, weighed with its probability, has to be compared with the cost of
protection. The result of this approach could be different case by case: for example in a short
connection where extensive human activities (shipping, with anchoring) are present. A total embedding
may be preferable, whilst in a long connection with limited local activity, an exposed cable (except
limited portions with special protection) may be much more economic, even taking into account the cost
of a possible repair.
• Environment
When crossing navigable waterways, this method implies that river traffic be stopped or deviated
during the excavation and laying operations.
Pipe-type cables are the most commonly used in the United States to transmit power at high voltages.
Three phase conductors are insulated with layers of fluid-impregnated paper and housed in a coated
steel pipe. The free area in the pipe is pressurised with a dielectric fluid (oil or gas filled) to increase
the dielectric strength of the system, to suppress ionisation in the insulation, and to defer moisture
ingress in the event of a leak in the pipe.
This mode of installation offers several advantages : the pipe itself is very tough and can be installed
with short and narrow roadway openings, minimising traffic disturbances. When the pipe sections are
welded together, the cables may be pulled at a later date, and the maintenance requirements are low
compared with self-contained fluid-filled cables.
By adopting another technology, utilities reduce their environmental exposure to fluid leaks. An idea is
to replace the old fluid-impregnated paper tapes cables by cables with extruded dielectric insulation
such as polyethylene. Due to electrical stress design considerations, the outer diameter of extruded
cables may be larger than for the previous fluid-impregnated cables. Therefore, the substitution is not
always feasible because of the minimum clearance between the top of the upper cable and the pipe.
With extruded cables designed with a moisture barrier as a thin metallic sheath, no pressurised
dielectric fluid is required. The technological change affects cable ratings because insulation and the
free area in the pipe are modified.
• Civil work
The use of existing structures offers the advantage of reduced civil work operations, without trench
opening or disturbance. Nevertheless it may be important to empty the pressurised dielectric fluid in
addition to removing the existing cables, if it is to be feared a risk of chemical incompatibility between
the remaining fluid and the replacing cables.
If a grout is injected after the pulling of the new cables, some vents have to be placed along the link.
• Drying of the soil
The air gap issued from the lack of pressurised fluid is prejudicial to the efficient heat flow dissipation
from conductors towards the surrounding soil. Special injection grouts, with low well characterised
thermal resistivity, can decrease the risk of overheating and thermal instability due to moisture
migration.
• Duration of the work
Since no civil work is involved, the use of existing structures is very favourable to shorten the site
duration. Retrofitting operations can be anticipated and planned to optimise installation.
• Cable removal after operation
Any operation to have access to cables after laying is similar to ducts configuration.
Fluid-filled cables have been designed for the voltage stress at lightning impulse. The main insulation is
the fluid which fully impregnates the cable. Its breakdown strength in the butt gaps between the paper
tapes determines the insulation thickness.
The critical design parameter for extruded insulation cables is generally not the lightning impulse
voltage but the maximum stress at the alternating current operating voltage to achieve an expected
nominal lifetime of more than 30 years. Historically, the ageing parameters were not accurately
established. Low insulation design stress levels resulted in high insulation thickness and large cable
diameters.
Improved ampacities are not the only consequence of the external cable diameter reduction. Longer
shipping lengths are achieved, and the overall system cost may be positively affected.
Cable clearance :
A critical parameter for pipe-type cable design is the clearance between the cables and pipe to ensure
that the cables can be pulled through the conduit. A minimum clearance of about 0,5 in. (12,7 mm) is
recommended by most utilities for straight pulls.
The value of the external cable diameter De can be increased by a few per cent to allow for variations
in cable and pipe dimensions or ovality at bends.
Reciprocally, the maximum external cable diameter for a given clearance value is :
De =
(
2 2+ 3
1
[( )
Dd 4 1 + 3 C + 3Dd − 2 1 + 3 C + 3Dd
) ] ( )
140
120 12"
100 10"
De (mm)
80 8"
60 6"
40 5"
4"
20
100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280 300 320
internal diameter of pipe Dd (mm)
C=1/4 in. C=1/2 in. C=1 in.
When the ratio of the internal diameter of the duct or pipe to the cable external diameter is higher than
3.0, one of the cables in a group of three or four may slip between two other cables, causing the cables
to jam in the conduit. The limit on jam ratio should be modified to take into account variations in cable
or conduit diameter and ovality in conduit diameter at bends.
The second type of support includes all systems in which the cable is free to move as a result of its
thermal expansion or contraction. The cable may be supported in cleats with a spacing wide enough to
allow it to deflect vertically or horizontally as it expands or contracts. The cleats are usually supported
from below, but can also be suspended from above, depending on the local situations. This type of
installation is described in Chapter 4.1.1.2 or 4.1.1.3.
There is another situation where the cables are in air, being installed in pipes not filled with solid
material. From the thermo-mechanical point of view the cable may be rigid or flexible, depending on the
specific installation design, as described in Chapter 4.1.1.4.
The different types of support give rise to very different mechanical stresses and strains within the
components of the cable and the design procedures are therefore quite different. In general it is
preferable that any given cable system should be designed throughout its length on the basis of either
rigid support or flexible support. If for any reason it becomes essential to mix the two types of support
within a single cable route, special precautions must be taken at the interface between the different
systems, as described in Chapter 4.1.3.
4.1.1.1 Rigid systems
When a length of cable is subjected to a temperature change, each component attempts to expand or
contract by an amount corresponding to its temperature change and its coefficient of expansion. When
the cable is installed in a rigidly restrained environment, no longitudinal expansion or contraction can
occur and the cable therefore develops a thrust when heated and its components are subjected to a
corresponding compressive strain. The conductor and sheath need be considered in practice when
calculating this thrust, if the sheath is not present only the conductor must be considered. Experiments
show that the value of the thrust developed on heating depends on the cable size and design, the
temperature rise and the rate of temperature rise, the slower the rate the more the cable elements will
relax and reduce the actual thrust.
It is generally assumed that at the time of installation the cable is in a stress free condition so that if the
cable is laid at a ground temperature (or ambient temperature for cables in air) below the maximum
design ambient temperature on which rating calculations are based it will develop a thrust when the
ambient temperature increases to the design value.
This temperature increase is likely to be very slow however and hence allows a greater relaxation to
occur. The rate of temperature increase from the design ambient temperature to the maximum
operating temperature depends upon the cable environment and the rate of load increase.
A buried cable cannot increase in temperature rapidly because of the thermal capacity of its
surrounding. A cable in air can rise in temperature more rapidly but it is most unusual to require a
newly installed cable to carry full load immediately, load growth is usually gradual and cyclic so that
some opportunity for relaxation occurs. To allow for these effects it is necessary to include relaxation
factors in the calculation of total cable thrust.
The evaluation of the cable thrust is essential when dealing with rigidly installed cables, or at the
interface points where flexible and rigid systems meet.
C= C1 + C2 + C3 + C4 (kg)
where:
C1 = conductor thrust due to load
C2 = conductor thrust due to ambient change
C3 = sheath thrust due to load
C4 = sheath thrust due to ambient change
C1 is given by:
∆ Tc1 = conductor temperature rise from the maximum ambient temperature to the maximum
conductor temperature (K)
Ac = conductor cross section (total cross section for three-core cables)(mm2)
K1 is the relaxation coefficient, which is of the order of 0.75 for load temperature variations,
depending on cable constructions
Ec is the equivalent Young’s modulus for the conductor which depends upon its construction and
materials and on the constraint provided by the insulation surrounding the conductor. Experimental
measurements are necessary to obtain accurate results.
C2 is given by:
where the symbols have the same values as above, but K2 (the relaxation factor) is of the order of 0.45
for ambient, temperature variations, depending on cable construction.
∆Tc2 is the conductor temperature rise from the laying temperature to the maximum design ambient
temperature (since the laying temperature is not usually known at the design stage the minimum
ambient temperature may be assumed). (K)
∆Tg1 is the sheath temperature rise from the maximum ambient temperature to the maximum sheath
operating temperature (K)
C4 = K 4 ⋅ α g ⋅ ∆Tg 2 ⋅ E g ⋅ Ag (kg)
where the symbols have the same value as above, but K4 may be taken as 0.1 for lead sheaths and
0.45 for aluminium sheaths, again depending on cable constructions
∆Tg 2 is the sheath temperature rise from the laying temperature to the maximum design ambient
temperature (K)
For rigidly restrained system the spacing and cleating evaluations must be done considering several
parameters:
- At curves the restraining elements must be capable of withstanding the radial force given by
F= C/R (kg/m)
- the radial pressure at bends due to maximum conductor thrust must be compatible with the insulation
material
- cleat spacing must be calculated considering that the cable thrust must be less than the critical load
for instability ( Ccr )
For cables with thick aluminium sheath the critical load may be calculated as follows:
π 2 ⋅E ⋅J
Ccr =
l2
whilst for cables with lead or thin aluminium sheath:
2⋅π 2 ⋅ E ⋅ J
Ccr =
l2
This difference of behaviour, which is shown in experimental tests, may be explained by the fact that
the more rigid aluminium sheathed cables behaves as though the cleat acts as a hinge, whilst for the
less rigid cables the restraint normally appears as midway between a hinge and a rigidly fixed beam.
- sheath strain must be checked if daily temperature changes are significant (> 35°)
Short circuit forces may be significant in the case of rigidly restrained cables cleated in air. In this case
the cable between cleats will already be in compression due to its temperature rise under normal load
and the electrodynamic effect of the short circuit will result in the addition of a uniformly distributed
side loading to the original compression load which, assuming a phase/phase short circuit, is given by:
µ0 ⋅I 2
F= (kg/m)
2 ⋅ π ⋅ S ⋅ 9.81
where:
µo = magnetic permeability of air, 1256.10-6 (H/m)
I = short circuit current, rms (A)
S = cable spacing (m)
These forces result in a bending moment in the sheath which is a maximum adjacent to the cleat and
has a value:
F ⋅ l2
M= (kg.m)
12
where:
l = cleat spacing (m)
This equation is valid for the normal case where the thrust C existing in the cable prior to the short
circuit is less than 10% of Ccr the critical thrust causing deflection, where:
4 ⋅ π 2 (EJ )
*
C * er = (kg)
l2
(EJ)* is the flexural rigidity of the cable based on the short term properties of the sheath.
If the thrust existing in the cable before the short circuit exceeds 0.1. for a lead sheath cable or if the
sheath is of aluminium, a more elaborate calculation must be used.
Having calculated the bending moment M, the sheath strain ε is given by:
M ⋅ Ds ⋅10 −3
ε=
2 ⋅ (EJ )
*
where:
Ds = outside diameter of cable sheath (mm)
To avoid noticeable permanent deformation of the cable the maximum sheath strain ε should be limited
to an acceptably low level.
The cable is held in widely spaced cleats with an initial sag between cleats which increases with
temperature rise. Figure 17 illustrates a system of this type.
The spacing of the cleats is not critical and within the limits given below can be chosen to suit the
fixings available.
The weight of the cable is supported by the cleat and if the cleat spacing is too large the side pressure
on the cable at the cleat will become excessive and there will be a tendency to concentrate bending at
the edge of the cleat. On the assumption that the cleat length is approximately equal to the cable
diameter and has suitably rounded edges the following practical rule is suggested
De2
l≤ (m)
65 ⋅ W
where:
l = cleat spacing (m)
W = cable weight (kg/m)
De = cable outside diameter (mm)
Similarly, to avoid concentrated bending at the edge of the cleat the cable deflection δ due to its own
weight should be at least five time less than the initial sag between cleats fo required to ensure
satisfactory expansion and contraction movement. It is therefore necessary to make an initial estimate
of cleat spacing. The following criteria for δ and fo may be followed
W ⋅l
4
f
δ = ≤ o (m)
384 ⋅ ( EJ ) 5
where:
δ = cable deflection due to its own weight (m)
Having determined the cleat spacing it is necessary to fix the value of fo, the initial sag between cleats.
This sag should not normally be less than 2 De but it may be necessary to increase it beyond this value
in order to ensure that the change of strain in the sheath due to thermal movements does not exceed
the maximum imposed by the fatigue properties of the sheath.
To simplify the calculation of the sheath strain it is assumed that the longitudinal expansion of the
complete cable follows the expansion of the conductor.
The total sheath strain is then the sum of the absolute values of the strain due to the movement of the
cable together with the strain due to the differential expansion of the conductor and the sheath.
On this basis it can be shown that the maximum sheath strain change ∆ε max will not be exceeded
provided:
2 ⋅α c ⋅ ∆Tc ⋅ Ds ⋅10 −3
f0 ≥ (m)
∆ε max − α c ⋅ ∆Tc − α g ⋅ ∆Tg
where:
αc = coefficient of thermal expansion of the conductor (l/K)
∆Tc = daily temperature rise of the conductor (K)
αg = coefficient of the thermal expansion of the sheath (l/K)
∆Tg = daily temperature rise of the sheath (K)
Ds = outside diameter of the metal sheath (or average outside diameter for a corrugated sheath)
(mm)
∆ε max = maximum allowable sheath strain change due to daily load cycles.
For a typical system designed for a life of 30, 40 years the standard values of 0.1% for lead and 0.25%
for aluminium sheathed cables are normally adopted, particularly for fluid filled cables.
Taking into account the excellent experience during many years, however, slightly less conservative
values such as 0.12% for lead and 0.35% for aluminium can also be considered, particularly for
extruded cables.
The system described above is suitable for straight or gently curved cable routes. If it becomes
necessary to install the cable around a small radius bend in the route it should be supported on a
horizontal plane within the bend and with suitable means of minimising friction as the cable moves due
to thermal changes.
In this type of installation the cables are arranged in a sinusoidal formation in a horizontal plane with
cleats fixed at the points of flexure of these sinusoids, as shown in
Figure 18.
Swivelling cleats may be used, capable of rotating on a vertical axis as the cable moves, but it is
preferred to use fixed cleats with a length approximately equal to the cable diameter and with a rubber
lining of 3 to 5 mm thickness.
These cleats must be installed at an appropriate angle.
The movement of the cable due to thermal cycles will be largely influenced by the friction between the
outside surface of the cable and the support between cleats. It is essential that the cable should be
supported so that it moves only in the horizontal plane using a low friction support and allowing
adequate air movement around the cable to avoid de-rating.
As a practical rule the cleat spacing should be:
De
l= (m)
20
where:
De = outside diameter of the cable (mm)
The initial deflection of the cable fo should be fixed following the same rules as given in paragraph for
cable moving in a vertical plane.
As already mentioned the cable thermal expansion in a flexible configuration give rise to small axial
thrust, while the initial sag is increased.
Simple formulae can be used to calculate these parameters, assuming that the initial configuration is a
sinusoid.
4 ⋅ α c ⋅ ∆Tc ⋅ l 2
f = f 02 +
π
2
4⋅π 2 ⋅ E ⋅ J f − f0
C= ⋅
l2 f
Short circuit forces are of much greater significance in cable installations of the flexible type because
of the wider cleat spacing used compared with rigidly restrained cables.
It is normally necessary to provide straps around the three cables at intervals between the cleats to
hold the cables together during a short circuit. It therefore becomes necessary to consider the spacing
of these straps and the strength of the strap necessary to withstand the forces involved.
As in the case of rigidly restrained cables, the length of cable between restraints will be subjected to a
uniformly distributed side loading and assuming a phase/phase short circuit this is given by:
µ o ⋅ l2
F= (kg/m)
2 ⋅ π ⋅ S ⋅ 9.81
where:
µo = magnetic permeability of air = 1256.10-6 (H/m)
I = short circuit current (rms) (A)
S = cable spacing (m)
This force results in a bending moment in the sheath adjacent to the restraint of:
F ⋅ l1
2
M= (kg.m)
12
where:
l1 = distance between restraints (m)
Since it is usually necessary to fit at least one restraining clamp around the cables between the cleats, l1
corresponds to the distance between these clamps or between a cleat and a clamp.
−3
M ⋅ D s ⋅10
ε=
2 ⋅ (EJ ) *
where the symbols have the same meaning as before and to avoid noticeable permanent deformation of
the cable the value of the sheath strain ε must be limited to an acceptably low level.
The strength of the strap can be calculated from the equation for F above but since this ignores the
instantaneous value of current, which may substantially exceed the rms value and also ignores
resonance effects which may occur, a factor of safety of 2 should be allowed so that the minimum
strength of the strap is given by:
2.F.l1 (kg)
From the same viewpoint as for horizontal snaking installations, the formulas in Table 4 are used with
or without metal sheaths.
Item Method
Triplex cable - Straight installation
- Fastened with cleats at several m intervals
Single-core cable
Shaft height
6-10m or less - Straight installation
- Fastened with cleats at several m intervals
Shaft height
6-10m or more - Snaking installation (6-8m pitch)
- Fastened with cleats at snake inflection points
(For some sizes, movable cleat supports are also
used at snake crests.)
Shafts where cleats - One-point fastening using tension member cable
can not be used - Steadying cleats are used (in special installations case).
In other situations according to different practices or due to other constraints, the ducts are not filled
and three different design concepts may be adopted.
A range of articles describing design and calculation of forced cooling of cable installations are
available in Electra and IEEE.
Joint box
Joint box
Initial form
m Straight part
R = R0 −
2 tan(θ / 2) − θ
Rigidly restrained cable systems are characterised by the presence of a substantial mechanical thrust in
the conductor when the cable is heated, whilst flexible systems have a low value of conductor thrust.
At the interface between these systems the conductor will tend to move from the rigidly restrained
section into the flexible section. The amount of the movement depends on the cable characteristics and
particularly on internal friction between the conductor and the other cable components. The movement
may extend over a few meters on both sides of the transition section and may cause damage or
disturbance to the insulation and unacceptable sheath strains, if appropriate precautions are not taken.
In order to reduce the movement and its effect on cable integrity, it is good practice to install the cable
in a series of rigidly fixed curves at the extremity of the buried section, in order to provide a high
frictional resistance to the movement of the conductor within the cable.
If a joint is installed at the transition section, the behaviour of the joint itself must be carefully
considered in relation with the above mentioned phenomena of movement and axial thrust of the
conductor.
In the most common joint design there is no mechanical restriction to the conductor movements,
whereas in other designs a mechanical block of the conductor is provided.
It should be verified that the movements or the mechanical thrust do not exceed acceptable limits.
4.1.3.3 Transition between flexible and rigid systems (buried)
This case can be found where cables are partly laid in ducts and partly directly buried or laid in filled
troughs.
As already stated before, at the interface between rigid and flexible systems, the conductor will tend to
move from the rigidly restrained section into the flexible section ; Ducts of appropriate size are then
required in order to allow a kind of snaking inside the conduit.
One must be aware that the movement of the whole cable inside the duct may extend on both sides of
the duct section. If a joint is installed at the transition section, the behaviour of the joint must be
The following equations are applicable to single cables, nose pulled into trenches or into long ducts or
pipes.
The route should be first divided into specific sections of straight, curved, uphill slope and downhill
slope. The pulling tension required for each section is then calculated, starting at the drum and taking
the exit tension for each section as the entry tension for the next. The formulae are as follows:
Straight pull
T2 = T1 + W ⋅ K ⋅ L (kg)
where:
T2 = exit tension (kg)
T1 = entry tension (kg)
W = cable weight (kg/m)
L = length of section (m)
K = coefficient of friction for that section (m)
T2
R
T1
ϑ
where:
θ = angle subtended by the bend (radians)
R = bend radius (m)
Vertical bend
T3
ϑ R
R T2
ϑ
T1
T2 = T1 ⋅ e K .θ −
W⋅R
1+ K 2
[ ( )(
2 ⋅ K ⋅ sin θ − 1 − K 2 e K .θ − cos θ )] (kg)
T1
ϑ
R
ϑ T2
R
T3
Figure 24 : Vertical bend (pulling down)
T2 = Te
1
K ⋅θ
+
W⋅R
1+ K
2 [ ( )(
2 ⋅ K ⋅ sinθ − 1 − K 2 e K .θ − cosθ )] (kg)
T3 = T2e K .θ −
W⋅ R
1+ K
2 [ ( )(
2 ⋅ K ⋅ e K ⋅θ ⋅ sinθ + 1 − K 2 1 − e K ⋅θ ⋅ cosθ )] (kg)
Upward slope
L T2
ϑ
T1
Figure 25 : Upward slope
T1
ϑ
T2
L
In the formulae given above the value of K, the coefficient of friction, for the part of the route in
question will depend on the material of the cable outer sheath and the surface with which it is in
contact.
It is essential to have good reference values for the friction coefficient to have reliable values, while
simplified formulae can be used to calculate the pulling tension.
Having established the pulling tension required it must be checked that this tension is within the
acceptable limits for the cable.
To avoid relative movement between conductor and sheath with possible disturbance of the insulation it
is essential to fit a cable pulling grip which is anchored to the conductor or conductors and to the sheath
at the leading end of the cable. A pulling grip is also fitted at the trailing end of aluminium sheath
cables. However it is assumed that the tension is withstood by the conductor.
As reference the following values could be considered:
In any case, the maximum permitted levels of conductor tension have to be checked with the cable
supplier.
T ⋅d
F=
R (kg)
where:
F = compression force on roller (kg)
T = tension in cable (kg)
R = bend radius (m)
d = distance between rollers (m)
If iron skid plates are used at the bend, the compression force between cable and skid plate is given by
T
F=
R (kg/m)
The maximum permissible values of F are different and dependant on the type of sheath and insulation.
These values have to be checked with the cable manufacturers.
• By magnetic belts
When laying a cable in a tunnel, many electric powered
caterpillars are placed in the tunnel. Caterpillars are operated
synchronously to pull the cable in the tunnel. Recently, in order to
shorten the construction period and lower the cost by decreasing
the number of joints, the cable span becomes longer and longer.
For quick and steady cable drawing of such long cables, a cable
transfer system with magnetic belts may be used.
The Locomotive has a maximum draw bar pulling capacity of 30 kN and can lay cable at 2 km/h, with
a top travelling speed when not working of 4 km/h. The maximum tensile load imposed on the cable
during handling is only about 1 kN allowing for lightweight cable brackets to be utilised.
The photo shows the Locomotive with trolleys in left foreground. The simulated tunnel and brackets
are to the right.
• Ducts
Factors that need to be considered for the cable system design and cable design :
With the cable installed in ducts the system design depends upon whether the ducts are filled or
unfilled.
If the ducts are filled, usually with bentonite, the cable is effectively restrained and the system
design is considered as a rigid system.
If the ducts are unfilled then the cable can move to an extent, dependant upon the relative
proportions of the cable and the duct. The system is therefore generally described as a flexible
system however where the movement of the cable is limited by the size of the duct then it is
important to be aware that the cable will develop thrust due to thermomechanical stress.
2. Pulling tension
Since the only practical method of installing cables through a fully ducted system is by “nose”
pulling it is essential that the necessary design studies are completed to calculate the pulling
tensions that will be required to install the cable and to check that the cable limits are not
exceeded. If necessary the route and system will have to be modified to ensure the pulling
tensions are within the cable design limits.
It must be recognised that cables installed in ducted systems will develop thrust. In manholes
the system design needs to take this into consideration to avoid problems with the accessories.
4. Cross bonding
Transposing of cables in a ducted system is more difficult to execute than for other laying
techniques and the system design needs to provide for this.
Due to the poorer thermal performance of the unfilled duct the cable rating will be lower and
therefore it may be necessary to increase the cross sectional area of the cable conductor to
carry the required current.
6. Metallic Sheath
With the cable unrestrained the sheath fatigue performance over the life of the cable needs to
be carefully considered and the cable system design and cable design need to be reviewed to
ensure the integrity of the metallic sheath.
7. Cable Oversheath
It is essential that the installation method avoids damage to the cable oversheath and as an
added precaution it is normal for a more robust material to be used such as MDPE rather than
PVC. Dependant upon the cable route and type of ducts it may be necessary to increase the
thickness of the cable oversheath to provide greater protection during the installation phase.
• Direct Burial
Direct burial is the most commonly used cable laying technique and since the cable is restrained
throughout the route the system is always a rigid system.
Factors that need to be considered for the cable system design and cable design: -
1. Route details
Careful planning of the route is required to ensure that the rating and long-term performance of
the cable circuit can be assured. Details of any obstacles along the route need to be provided to
allow the system to be designed to avoid these.
The route details will allow an assessment to be made of the positioning of joint bays and
location of installation equipment, drums etc to allow the optimum solution to be engineered.
2. Environment
Knowledge of the environment through which the route is passing is essential. The thermal
resistivity and make up of the indigenous soil should be understood to allow the cable cross
section, cable spacing, depth of laying, backfill requirements and bonding arrangements to be
defined to achieve the required rating.
3. Cable Oversheath
The cable oversheath acts as a corrosion barrier for the cable metallic sheath. Depending upon
the location and environment additional precautions may be necessary to provide an oversheath
that is resistant to local ground contaminants or lifeforms such as termites and rodents that
could damage the normal oversheath materials.
• Tunnels
By their nature, tunnels allow the cable system and cable design to be optimised and enables the
designer to adopt the most cost effective form of design for the support systems and the use of long
cable lengths to minimise the number of joints within the system.
In all cases it is essential that the long term performance of the system is not compromised and the
risks associated with each stage of the process must be fully assessed and understood.
Factors that need to be taken into consideration for the system and cable designs :
1. Flexible or rigid
Tunnel installations are normally installed as flexible systems although in some circumstances
the systems may be installed in troughing or cement bound sand surround making a rigid
system.
2. Support System
3. Cable Lengths
4. Sheath Voltages
5. Bonding
6. Metallic Sheath
7. Oversheath
It is common for cables installed within tunnels to be required to have enhanced fire
performance capability. This can be provided by low flame type materials or by the addition of
addition flame retardant coatings applied after installation.
8. Fire Performance of the system
The possibility of fire within a tunnel is extremely serious and the system design and
components of the system need to be assessed to minimise risk to personnel and assets in the
event of a breakdown within the cable system.
This is a significant issue for SCFF cables installed within a tunnel and often such cables are
surrounded by cement bound sand to reduce the risk of damage which could lead to cable
failure.
• Troughs
This installation technique is fundamentally identical to that of direct burial and as such the system and
cable designs are the same as for the direct burial technique.
• Bridges
Factors that need to be taken into consideration for the system and cable designs :
1. Flexible or Rigid
Cables installed in or on bridges may be installed as flexible or rigid systems in general the
system design is dependent upon the particular requirements of the route.
2. Transition Design
Careful consideration has to be given to the design and installation of facilities within the route
to cater for the movement of the bridge structure due to thermal expansion or other possible
movement. There is generally a need to design a transition area between the fixed portion of
Installation of cables in shafts introduces the problem of potential differential movement between the
cable core and metallic sheath. The severity of the problem being directly related to the depth of the
shaft.
Cable can be installed in either flexible or rigid systems although generally the cables are rigidly fixed at
the top and bottom of the shaft.
In either case particular attention needs to be paid to ensuring the clamping system is designed to
prevent any slippage of the core within the cable sheath.
The system and cable design is more complicated for the fluid filled cable since the hydraulic system
design needs to be taken into account. Again dependent upon the depth of the shaft it may be
necessary to include special reinforcing of the cable metallic sheath to withstand the hydraulic
pressures or to introduce stop joints within the shaft to ensure the maximum acceptable hydraulic
pressures are not exceeded.
Factors that need to be taken into consideration for the system and cable designs :
1. Flexible or Rigid
2. Cleating
3. Metallic Sheath
4. Oversheath
• Horizontal Drilling
For this technique the cables are usually installed within ducts that are installed during the drilling
process.
In this instance the system design and cable design adaptations are as described for the ducted
installation technique (see above).
• Pipe Jacking
The installation technique adopted is dependent upon the diameter of the pipe jack and can be any of a
number of alternative techniques.
For example the cable may be installed in ducts pulled trough the pipe jack after completion of the pipe
jacking operation, alternatively the cables may be installed in air on steelwork installed after the pipe
jacking process is complete.
The system design chosen may therefore be flexible or rigid with the decision being based upon the
installation technique selected for the particular application.
• Microtunnels
The installation technique adopted is therefore generally that of ducts pulled into the microtunnel after
completion of the tunnelling process
• Mechanical Laying
For this technique the cable is installed in a direct buried environment and therefore the system is a
rigid system.
This technique is best suited to light cables which allow longer lengths to be installed.
Whilst it is possible to surround the cable with cement bound sand the process is not as controllable as
other techniques, such as direct burial and therefore the cable design needs to take this into account.
This may effect the sizing of the conductor due to a degree of uncertainty regarding the thermal
resistivity of the backfill material.
In addition the metallic sheath and cable oversheath design may be adapted to provide a light cable
design which will allow longer cable lengths to be transported and installed but which will be robust
enough to withstand the rigours of this installation technique without effecting the performance of the
system in the long term.
Factors that need to be taken into consideration for system and cable design :
1. lightweight construction
2. oversheath
3. rating
4. bonding/sheath voltages.
• Embedding
For this technique the cables are usually installed in ducts which are embedded into the ground during
the embedding process.
Generally therefore the system design and cable design are as for the ducted technique.
Factors that need to be taken into consideration for system and cable design :
1. Flexible or Rigid
2. Thrust at transitions and joint positions
3. Duct Sealing
4. Cleaning and Assessment of asset
5. Pulling Tensions
6. Overall dimensions
7. Lengths
8. Oversheath
• Drying of Soil
For highly loaded cables drying of the surrounding soil is a strong possibility and the cable rating
calculations need to take this into account with the conductor cross sectional area being selected on this
basis. The difference between a fully dry backfill and the same material with even a very small
moisture content is dramatic. For example research has shown that a 2% moisture content reduces the
thermal resistivity of normal backfill such as sand or cement bound sand by 50%.
Failure to recognise this possibility will result in the cable exceeding its design temperature limits due to
the dramatic increase in the thermal resistivity of the surrounding material. This will lead to eventual
failure of the cable.
Factors that need to be taken into consideration for system and cable design :
Water drainage may have a number of effects upon the cable system. It is possible that over time
water draining into the cable route could wash away the cable system backfill material compromising
the cable rating.
Inadequate drainage could lead to the cable and accessories being immersed continuously in water and
special precautions need to be taken to ensure that adequate sealing is provided to prevent moisture
ingress into the cable and accessories such as joints and link boxes.
Factors that need to be taken into consideration for system and cable design :
1. Special backfill requirements
2. Sealing for joints and other accessories
• Temperature of the Soil/Environment
The temperature of the medium surrounding the cable circuit is a fundamental factor in determining the
rating of the cable system.
It is essential therefore that the temperature profile is known throughout the route.
Under extreme conditions of either high or more normally low temperature installation of the cable may
not be possible and work may have to be planned at a time when the ambient environment
temperatures are within acceptable limits.
Factors that need to be taken into consideration for the cable system design:
The hardness of the soil in the main effects the construction of the route and may influence the route
plan and selection of installation technique.
Where unstable soil conditions are expected then the installation design needs to allow for this. This can
take the form of the use of civil construction techniques to stabilise the soil in the vicinity of the cable
circuit.
Where settlement of the route is expected to take place then the installation system design can make
provision for this along the route. This is especially important at points of known discontinuity where
there is the potential for shear stress to be imposed on the cable system.
• Thermal Resistivity of the Soil
The thermal resistivity of the soil surrounding the cable circuit has a direct effect upon the rating of the
cable circuit.
It is therefore important that this information is available to allow the system design to proceed.
Where the surrounding soil is found to have a high thermal resistivity then it may be necessary to
excavate beyond the normal area required to install the cable and replace with material with a more
suitable thermal resistivity.
Factors that need to be taken into consideration for the cable system design:
In general high voltage cables are installed at depths which are not normally effected by frost. During
operation frost will have little effect on the cable circuit although frosts occurring during period of de-
energisation could lead to cracking and disturbance of the backfill surrounding the cable. This could
lead to voids being generated which would effect the thermal performance of the cable surround in a
direct buried situation.
Frost during installation may mean that the ambient temperature is below the minimum installation
temperature. In which case installation of the cable will have to be delayed until a temperature increase
occurs.
1. Depth of laying
2. Backfill
3. Oversheath material
• Archaeology
Evidence of archaeological remains along a planned cable route would not influence the cable design
but would influence the technique used for constructing the route.
This could in turn effect the cable design in line with comments previously made depending upon the
installation technique selected.
• Presence of Termites
Termites will attack the outer sheath covering and compromise the corrosion protection system for the
metallic sheath.
The outer sheath material needs to be impervious to termite attack or provided with suitable chemical
deterrents if possible. Otherwise an alternative installation techniques such as ducted techniques will be
required.
• Laying in National Park
The cable system design is influenced by the installation technique used to overcome any restrictions
placed as a prerequisite to approval of a cable route through the National Park.
The factors that need to be taken into consideration are dependent upon the technique selected as
indicated before.
• Duration of the Work
The duration of work has no influence upon the cable system design but may influence the choice of
installation technique.
SCFF cables require longer to install since the hydraulic procedures are an additional complexity when
compared with extruded cables. However selection of the type of cable to be used is not normally
influenced by this factor.
The factors that need to be taken into consideration are dependent upon the technique selected as
indicated before.
• Maintenance and Repairing Process
Cable systems are designed for 40 years operation and are generally very reliable. Maintenance
procedures for extruded cable systems are generally limited to inspection of the cable and associated
equipment and periodic checking of the integrity of the cable oversheath and bonding systems. The
introduction of partial discharge monitoring techniques should allow the condition of the cable system to
be assessed over time.
Considerations need to be made at the design stage as to how the system will be maintained and to
ensure access and provisions are made such that the maintenance regime can be carried out.
Although cable systems are very reliable the need for repair cannot be discounted and again this needs
to be considered at the design stage. Whilst not directly effecting the cable design or installation system
design the need to cater for a future repair will influence the choice of installation technique with the
resulting effect on the cable system design as mentioned earlier.
• Cable Removal after Operation.
The factors associated with removal are very similar to the issue of cable repair noted above.
In rural areas, however, the constraints regarding time-limits on disruption due to execution of the
works, and with respect to available space, are much less important than in urban areas.
Therefore, in rural areas the more traditional laying methods are most frequently applied, such as ducts
and direct burial (of which costs are lower than those used in urban areas).
At special crossings, placing on bridges and directional drilling methods may be applied, though special
laying methods are not the general philosophy for cable laying in rural areas.
As regards laying depth there is not much difference between cable laying in urban or in rural areas,
since a minimum depth is usually set by regulations, as we will see later (chapter 5.5.).
5.2 Right of way
The rights of way are usually settled by joint agreement between the utility and a private owner or the
utility and one or several public authorities (Roads, Railways, Bridges, …).
When using a public authority property, the construction techniques used are generally agreed with the
partners, before beginning the works. Then, it has to be decided under whose responsibility the works
have to be done, the utility or the public authority.
5.3 Magnetic fields
Reference: "Magnetic field in HV cable systems: systems without ferromagnetic component" – Electra
CIGRE – Technical Brochure n°104 - Joint Task Force 36.01/21 - June 1996.
Although the delicate question of magnetic fields is usually discussed regarding overhead power lines,
increasingly attention is being paid to magnetic fields when selecting the configuration of the cables and
the routes of buried links.
Indeed, in more and more countries now exist recommendations, limits and possibly even standards as
to the level of magnetic fields. These concerns may eventually dictate changes in planned routes, but,
above all, they may increase the burial depth or implicate some precaution disposition.
We shall bear in mind that buried cables (contrary to overhead lines) do not generate electric fields
outside their metallic screen. As such sheaths are earthed, an electric field only exists between the
conductor and the sheath.
Several three phase single core cable configurations can be considered.
A lot of factors have a influence on the magnetic field, e.g. phase spacing, burial depth, load current
amplitude, phase arrangement in systems of several three-phase circuits, distance between them and
induced currents in the sheaths (which are strongly affected by a lot of factors).
The currents in cables are assumed to be balanced, i.e. IA = I < 0°, IB = I < -120 °,
IC = I < -240 °, and the frequency is 50 Hz. The current will be fixed to a reference value of I =
1000A.
The two diagrams below represent the magnetic flux density along a horizontal line at 1 metre above
the ground surface, considering various burial-depths and spacings of the phases.
The highest magnetic field value immediately occurs above the cables. The distance from the cables (h
+ d) as well as the phase spacing appear to have an important influence on the flux density whose
values are higher for low burial depths and high phase spacings. Moreover, it particularly appears that,
for a fixed phase spacing, burial depth has no effect on the flux density at horizontal distances from the
system centre line that are greater than several times this depth. Further, the reduction of magnetic
field away from the centre line is higher for a low burial depth.
Two systems of three single core cables in flat formation can also be considered, assuming the same
current of 1000 A in both circuits. Their geometrical parameters are phase spacing (s), burial depth (h)
and distance between systems (g). Height above ground (h) is also defined.
It can be seen that increasing system spacing respectively decreases or increases the magnetic field
for ABC-ABC and ABC-CBA configurations.
We must also mention that the magnetic field is often higher at locations where junctions are made, i.e.
where connections are made between power cable screens and the ground wires (if any), especially if
these connections are made in an aboveground junction box (for paralleling of the screens).
Judicious connection of the screens and ground wires (connection between portions of the buried link
made underground instead of in an aboveground junction box) or connection made in a buried junction
box can significantly reduce the value of the magnetic field.
Two systems of three single core cables in trefoil formation are also considered.
The next figure shows again the profiles of the magnetic fields for the configurations ABC-ABC and
ABC-CBA considering various heights above the cables, at the set parameters g, d and s.
The next figure shows again the profiles of the magnetic fields along a horizontal line 1 metre above
ground level, for the two configurations and with various spacings.
Unlike in the horizontal arrangement, here we can see that the increase of spacing between the two
systems results in a lower magnetic field in the two configurations ABC-ABC and ABC-CBA.
5.3.3 Vertical arrangement
A system of three single core cables in vertical formation can also be considered. Its geometrical
parameters are phase spacing (s) and burial depth (d). Height above ground is also defined (h) :
Line X
h
d
Sv
Sv
25 st=0.08m
(Brms) [10e-6T/kA]
20 st=0.12m
s=0.12m
15
s=0.3m
10 sv=0.12m
sv=0.3m
5
0
-10 -5 0 5 10
Distance from center line (x) [m]
Figure 42 : B rms profiles for flat, trefoil and vertical formations with various s flat, s trefoil and
s vertical
The values of magnetic field for the vertical configuration are lower but close to the flat configuration.
They rapidly match when departing from the vertical axis.
It results that the trefoil formation clearly remains the most advantageous option with respect to
magnetic field.
Two systems of three single-core cables in vertical formation are also considered.
Line X
h
d
Sv
Sv
60
(brms) [10e-6T/kA]
Figure 44 : B rms profiles for two cable system configurations with fixed h, d,
g and s = s t = s v = 0.3m
It appears that in the ABC-ABC assumption the magnetic field of the vertical formation is higher in the
middle of the 2 systems that it is with the flat formation.
Conversely, for the ABC-CBA configuration, the magnetic field is clearly less in vertical formation
than in flat and trefoil formations. At higher distances of the centre line, it appears that the decreasing
of the values of magnetic field for the trefoil configuration is slower.
In order to establish a parallel between the buried links and the overhead lines we imagined the three
overhead line conductors to be in vertical and flat formations.
25
(Brms) [10e-6T/kA]
st=0.12m
20 sv=0.12m
s=0.12m
15 s=0.3m
line v-config
10
line h-config
5
0
-10 -5 0 5 10
Distance from center line (x) [m]
Figure 39 : B rms profiles for flat, trefoil and vertical formations (buried links)
B rms profiles for flat and vertical formations (overhead lines)
The graph clearly indicates that the magnetic field of overhead line and buried link are of the same
order on the axis, the difference being that the magnetic field of the overhead line diminishes much
more slowly than that of the buried link. With the buried link the magnetic field becomes very low at
only a few metres apart from the link axis.
It also appears that for a given formation the magnetic field values of a buried link may be higher in a
buried link compared to an overhead line.
However, the information supplied by the graph cannot be considered totally reliable, because magnetic
fields are known to be sensitive to many parameters (order of the phases, number of circuits, current in
the screens or groundwire(s), configuration of the cables, …) which may significantly affect the values.
For example, if the value of h decreases, the value of the magnetic field will be increase for
underground cables and decrease for overhead lines.
5.3.5 Conclusion
As a conclusion it must be said that, whatever the cables formation, the magnetic fields induced by
buried links are lower than those specified in the national or international recommendations generally
accepted.
Also, there are now several ways in which the magnetic fields of buried links can be further reduced,
for instance by placing steel or aluminium sheets around the cables in the trench, or by placing the
cables in steel pipes.
In this respect, we can mention the work done by the Joint Task Force 36-01/21 "Magnetic field
calculation in underground cable systems with ferromagnetic components" (Electra n° 174,
October 1994).
5.4 Existing services
The proximity of buried power lines to other services in ducts, sewers, cables and other utilities'
networks is these days practically unavoidable, particularly in urban areas.
• Trees
Trees and cables may have an impact on each other.
If cables have to be laid very close to threes, excavation must be extremely careful (at extra cost and
time) so as not to damage the root systems of the trees, and, later
when the buried power link is in service, the drying of the soil may affect the growth of the trees (and
possibly eventually kill the trees);
the drying of the soil may also negatively affect the carrying capacity of the cables.
Also, the root systems of the tree may get entwined around the cables, making difficult later
intervention on the line.
Accordingly it is recommended (or imposed by local authorities) that sufficient distance be adopted (at
least 2.5 m) between the link and the trees, or that the cables be placed in ducts.
• Railways
The phenomenon most feared in the vicinity of railway or tramway substations is that of corrosion of
the metal screens around the buried power line (which corrosion may be incurred even at considerable
distance from these substations).
Corrosion develops when a direct current strays from the screen and flows through the soil to a direct-
current source.
In order to protect a metal screen like a gas pipe against this type of corrosion, the utilities install
cathodic protection stations to bring the ducts to a sufficiently negative potential compared to the soil,
so that no current can escape from it. The direct connection of a steel structure to a cathodic
protection station protects this structure against any electrochemical corrosion.
Although in the past the metal screens of HV lines have been connected to such cathodic protection
stations but the method has the disadvantage that the electrical utilities can depend on other companies’
installations.
Moreover, a very simple passive protection method of the metal screens exists, which consists of make
use of the normally existing plastic outer sheath (medium or high-density polyethylene). This sheath
thanks to its high electric resistivity impedes the leakage of any currents to the soil.
However, it will be able to provide this protection only as long as the sheath is not damaged. Indeed if a
defect appears, the density of DC current through the outer sheath defect could reach very high values
and causes very rapidly important damage to the metallic sheath. This implies regular inspection (at
least annually) of the dielectric strength of this sheath.
Lateral protections are rarely used because the depth of the cables is considered to be (nearly) enough
large to avoid aggressions due to works carried by the most other Utilities.
Joint pits when in plain soil are protected similarly to the cables, but their protection extends at least
over the entire surface of the joints.
When joints are made for instance in prefabricated pits or in tunnels, these joints are naturally protected
by these structures that house them. Only the access to these structures needs to be designed against
intrusion by unauthorised persons.
Also, in certain cases, particularly safety measures may be required (such as lining) in order to protect
a link situated in a tunnel from other cables or pipes running in that tunnel.
It is clear that placing slabs or markers is not possible when using trenchless laying techniques.
Moreover, it is not easy to give the exact route in the x, y, z axis. Nevertheless, it has to be noticed that
For instance, the results of techniques such as horizontal drilling or tunnel thrust jacking are practically
‘invisible’ to the outside world.
Conversely, when trenches are dug (direct burial, ducts, tunnels built with the open cut method, etc.)
the natural environment may be substantially altered.
It is important not to underestimate the environmental impact during the construction itself, and
therefore it is wise to consider it already at the preliminary study stage, before it becomes the main
visible point for the population.
The ultimate objective is to restore an environment identical to what it was before the installation of the
HV link.
In order to analyse the environmental effects arising from the construction and operation of a power
link, a distinction is made, following the usual practice in this kind of studies, between the physical
medium (soil, water, air), the biological medium (flora, fauna), the social medium (population, economic
sectors, …) and the landscape.
• Water
- alteration of the water quality by materials or products during the construction work (embedding)
- alteration of the water quality by pollutants (embedding, bentonite injected during horizontal
drilling)
• Air
- release of pollutants to atmosphere during the construction work
- noise generated by plant and machinery during the work
- vibrations generated by plant and machinery during the work (tunnel, …)
- generation of magnetic fields
• Flora
- direct destruction of the vegetation cover
- indirect destruction of the nearby plant communities
- damage to unique or interesting species
• Fauna (embedding)
- direct disturbances to benthic communities
- indirect damage arising from changes to the water ecosystem
• Socio-economic aspects
- difficulties caused to parking and access to shops etc. during the work (direct burial, …)
- temporary effects on tourism trade during the construction work
- rights of way affected during the construction work
- effects on fisheries (embedding)
• Landscape
- Alteration of the landscape during the construction phase.
It clearly appears that most of the disturbances can be prevented or mitigated at the outset, i.e. during
the studies. The use of particular installation techniques can also harm to the environment by
propagation of polluted materials (for example, horizontal drilling going through a gas or oil pipe) but the
major impact arises most of the time during the construction phase and can be mitigated by using, for
instance, less disturbing plant and equipment (low noise, low vibration equipment or measures during
digging of shafts) and by informing and consulting with the local authorities and population.
However, it should be borne in mind that using SCFF cables may under certain accidental
circumstances (leaks) cause some impact to the environment by the fluid leaking into the subsoil.
Finally, it is worth noting that more and more international or local guidelines stipulate that the cables be
removed at the end of their service life and that the materials be recycled.
When an engineer is at the beginning of a new project, the problem is always : how could it be
managed in order to be the most effective on the technical and economical points of view.
The following chart will help the inexperienced engineer in the management of his project. If you are in
an organisation accustomed with the underground cable system project management, it is clear that
some stages have to be jumped over.
It can be seen that the exercise is very much an integrated process with the impact of the various
stages being considered and steps taken to modify previous and subsequent stages of the process to
achieve an optimised end result.
6.1 Methodology
Operation voltage
Ampacity (normal operation, emergency) Type of soil
Load curve Soil temperature
Cable aim temperature during operation Maximum allowed temperature
Short circuit level and duration at soil-cable contact
Impulse levels Soil resistivity
Touch voltage Frost depth
Cost of kWh, cost of losses Environmental hazards (earthquake, flood,...)
Estimated length of the link
No
Stage 2
Figure 45 : Stage 1
Roads, railways,rivers,
National parks, archeological sites, Division of the global studied area
Thermal proximities (steam,...) in sections
Electrical proximities
Services
Trees
In each section
Choice of options
Soil stability Route section / Possible techniques
Soil hardness
Soil resistivity
Soil seismicity
Stage 3
Figure 46 : Stage 2
Stage 1 Stage 2
Yes
Stage 4
Figure 47 : Stage 3
Site "prejudice"
Construction cost
Site duration
Site prejudice cost
Site working time (24 h/24 h possible)
Maintenance and repair cost
Magnetic field
Operation cost
Laying depth
Link non availibility cost
Maintenance and repair process
Repair cost
Cable removal
Stage 5
Figure 48 : Stage 4
Stage 1
Laying technique
Installation technique : rigid or flexible
Pulling method
Pulling tension
Sidewall pressure
Drum transportation
Good
Administrative authorizations
Works
Commissioning
Figure 49 : Stage 5
A R1
C1
L1
L2 C2 R2
flooded
area
L3 C3
R3
river
national C4
park C5 bridges
R4
hill
C6
L4
L5 C7
B R5
Let us assume that we have a new project to design : Join substation A to substation B.
We will go through the flow chart to optimise the project.
Cable selection :
From the cable temperatures, we have to choose an extruded cable and premoulded joints.
Preliminary design of cross-section cable : 1600 mm² Al, 1 cable per phase with special backfill or 1600
mm² Cu, 1 cable per phase, with native soil.
No need of a cooling system
Earthing method : cross bonding, coming from the allowed sheath voltage.
Left :
Private land,
a river, 50 m wide and an area liable to flooding, 150 m wide,
a national park,
Right :
Public streets, but with heavy traffic,
numerous services in the urban streets but not in the rural road,
a bridge,
Public rural road,
Available civil works techniques in the country where the link has to be built : all,
Trench opening : 300 m at the same time in the city (urban streets),
Working hours : not allowed at night in the city (urban streets).
The different routes can be divided in seven sections : urban streets, river, national park, hill, bridge,
land, rural road.
The following table identifies the possible civil work techniques in each section :
At this stage of the study, it is necessary to identify the sizing point. According to the collected data, the
sizing point is the native soil with the bad resistivity. The cross section necessary to meet the ampacity
requirement is 1600 mm² Cu.
The laying technique to adopt in each section depends on the cost structure in the country where the
link has to be laid. Nevertheless, we propose an a priori choice without knowing in which country we
are.
• Private streets on route C : Duct filled with air, laid in special backfill at 2 m deep (bottom of the
trench). It will be necessary to have a reinforced block to cross the 225 kV link, as the depth is less
than the normally allowed one.
• Public streets on route L : Tunnel. It was not allowed by the local authority to open trench in these
streets, due to heavy traffic,
• River : Horizontal drilling with native soil and water inside the duct. Max depth : 7 m under the river
bed,
• National park : Mechanical laying with native soil. Trench bottom at 1.7 m deep,
• Hill : Direct burial with native soil. Trench bottom at 1.50 m deep,
• Bridge : Ducts filled with air,
• Land : duct laid in special backfill at 2 m deep as in the streets.
• Rural road : Direct burial with special backfill. Trench bottom at 1.50 m deep.
It must be noted that in case of native soil surrounding, the very vicinity of the cable is made of sand or
special backfill to avoid direct contact with stones or other materials that could hurt the cable.
The cables are systematically laid in trefoil formation, one cable per duct when any, except at the 225
kV link crossing where cables are in flat formation, to improve the heat diffusion, taking into account
the mutual heating of the two links..
Comments :
In the sloping hill, direct burial could be preferable to duct as the installation will be considered as rigid
and so, the creeping problem can be avoided.
The width of the area liable to flooding is 150 m large. Microtunnel is not the best technique in this case
as the maximum length is considered by experts to be around 100 m on the present site.
The land section, in accordance with the private land owners, will be done with ducts.
In private streets, the same technique will be applied (ducts), the only difference will be in the final
layer, good soil for land and asphalt for streets.
In the public streets, the tunnel has been chosen after discussions between utility and local authorities in
order to limit traffic problems.
In the national park, an important environmental impact study was realised by independent specialists
and it concluded that it was possible to cross it. According to the type of soil, land, animals, flowers
found in this park, the best solution was to use mechanical laying at a precise period (Fall for example).
The main criteria that convinced the specialists were : speed of the works, narrow width, no big soil
movements.
Cable checking :
It is important to state that, along the route, we can have changes in the cable cross section, and so
optimise the cable section, but it is not easy to joint two cable sections if the difference between cross
sections is too important.
As the length of our project is rather short, we decide to homogenise the cross section all along the
route, with 1600 mm² Cu.
This approach would make the impact of the cables an invariant, but in real projects it could be a way
to reduce the cost of links. A full optimisation can give a reduction that could be up to 10 %.
An other important aspect of the project is the time required to complete it. Of course, the
administrative and design items need time but do not affect the inhabitants living along the routes. On
the contrary, the required time to complete the civil works, the jointing and the period during when the
works will be realised is of first importance for them.
Some local authorities have strong demand on this specific point, so strong that it could determine the
route or the laying technique that will be finally chosen by the project manager.
On the left route, the specialists propose to cross the national park during the Fall season. We can also
imagine that works on the central route can only be done during the Summer season when most of the
inhabitants are on holidays, that is to say away from their houses, to be sure that the noise coming from
the works will not hurt their ears.
After the cable checking, you have to choose the final route among the three identified ones which
respective lengths are 6 km for left route, 5 km for central route and 7 km for right route and then
review the installation of the cable.
For a better understanding, lengths of the different routes could be identical, but it is rarely the case in
an actual project.
As soon as you know the costs of the different items, you can calculate the overall cost and choose the
best route. All the discussions with the local authorities are not recorded here, but are necessary to
officially finalise the route.
It is necessary at this stage of the project to check the completion time. A line is dedicated to this
specific point in the table so that the right decision could be taken before writing the tender.
Each of you can fill up Table 7 with the real costs of his country.
An analysis was done with French costs. Regarding this criteria, the left and the central routes are at
the same price, slightly in favour of the central one, and the right one not far from twice. If we had the
site completion time, the most favourable route becomes the left one.
This analysis is only valid for France.
It is of evidence that limitations due to administrative regulations, unknown in this study, can upset the
technical and economical ranking shown here.
To optimise the project, it is obvious that we won’t change the cable section at each new route section.
One or two changes are possible but not more. Depending on the route that will be chosen, an
optimisation is then necessary, the place of the manholes being for example one of the problems.
PIPE JACKING :
This technique consists in pushing into the soil prefabricated tubes having the exact diameter of the
final tube. The tubes are pushed from a work shaft. As the pipe jacking progresses the earth works are
done, either manually or mechanically, according to the requested diameter. The first tube is equipped
with a steel drum curb which bites into the subsoil while protecting the site workers clearing the earth.
This technique concerns diameters between 1000 and 3200 mm.
MICROTUNNEL :
This technique consists in pushing in the subsoil prefabricated tubes having the exact diameter of the
final tube. They are pushed from a work shaft. The earth works are systematically mechanised : a
microtunneller is put in front of the tubes. This remote controlled machine can dig small diameter pipe
jacking horizontally. By using the microtunneller tubes of a diameter between 300 mm and 1200 mm
can be put in place.
SHAFT :
vertical circular or rectangular excavation from which the tubes are pushed.
HORIZONTAL DRILLING :
Directly issued from oil drilling techniques, horizontal drilling is carried under rivers beds, railway tracks,
motorways,..., and is composed of four phases : drilling of the pilot hole from the bank for rivers or
from one side for motorways or railways tracks, casing the pilot hole, boring and pulling and laying of
the final tubes. Direct drilling is an other word that is used in some countries to design the same
technique.
EMBEDDING :
This technique consists of excavating a river bed from a barge or with an amphibious machine, burying
a tube or cables and filling up the trench.
BRIDGES :
The cables can be put in rail or road infrastructures. They can be placed in or outside bridges
structures. This avoids other techniques which remain costly and can be difficult to accomplish.
MECHANICAL LAYING :
This technique, entirely mechanical, consists in excavating a trench, and burying the cables
simultaneously in a continuous progression.
Trench
Backfill
Cable or duct
Bedding material
BEDDING MATERIAL :
Material which can be put at the bottom of the trench under the cables, the troughs or the ducts.
BACKFILL :
Material used to fill up the trench.
DUCT :
Tube in PVC, PE, concrete, steel,... in which high voltage cables are pulled.
PIPE :
Tube used for some laying techniques, i.e. pipe jacking, microtunnelling,…to open a hole in the soil for
the underground link. Cables are not pulled directly in the pipes ; Usually, ducts are pulled in the pipes,
and cables pulled in the ducts.
TROUGH :
Prefabricated concrete element, placed at the bottom of the trench, in which high voltage cables are
laid.
CABLE REMOVAL :
Action of removing the cables at the end of their operation.
RIGHT OF WAY :
High voltage cables are installed in Public or private areas. In these two cases, the electrical company
has to obtain a "right of way" which allows to excavate a trench, to bury high voltage cables and
operate the underground line.
RIGID INSTALLATION :
in a rigid system, the cable is held in such a manner that virtually no lateral movement occurs and the
cable absorbs the thermal expansion by developing a high internal compressive force. To ensure a
satisfactory performance, the cable must not buckle under this force giving rise to severe local sheath
strains.
caterpillar
cable
MANHOLE
Visitable bay where joints are laid. Usually, a manhole has two covers that allow the workers to enter
in.
JOINT BAY
Non visitable bay where joints are laid. Usually, these bays are backfilled after joint completion.
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Cependant, le CIGRÉ ne pourra en aucun cas être tenu responsable des préjudices ou dommages de quelque
nature que ce soit pouvant résulter d’une mauvaise utilisation des informations contenues dans cette brochure.
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