2014 International Conference and Exposition on Electrical and Power Engineering (EPE 2014), 16-18 October, Iasi, Romania
CAD/CAE Modeling of the Human Exposure to
Electric Field Inside a High Voltage Substation
Calin Munteanu, Marius Purcar,
Dan Bursasiu
Department of Electrotecnhics and Measurements
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Calin.Munteanu@ethm.utcluj.ro
Abstract — This paper presents the computer aided design (CAD)
and computer aided engineering (CAE) modeling of Cluj-Sud
110 kV high voltage substation in order to examine the influence
of substation constructive elements and apparatus (e.g. phase
conductors, bypass bus bars, breakers and towers) on the spatial
electric field distribution. The substation belongs to FDEE
Electrica distribuţie Transilvania Nord SA. In a first step the
detailed three dimensional (3D) CAD models of the substation
components are constructed and assembled in the CAD
environment SolidWorks. Then the exact 3D coordinates of the
terminals are automatically retrieved and the electric field
distribution is computed on the 3D CAD model using a CAE
software developed. The electric field distribution is represented
on horizontal and transversal slices at the 3D CAD model in
order to highlight the high intensity field zones and compare
them with respect to the actual legislation norms of human
exposure.
Keywords-High voltage substation, CAD/CAE modeling,
electromagnetic field, human exposure.
I. INTRODUCTION
The knowledge of the electric field distribution is very
important inside and in the vicinity of high voltage equipment
(HV) facilities because it must not exceed the level exposures
proposed by the environmental standards and health
regulations [1] and [2]. Therefore, for both situations like
designing from scratch a new substation or regular work
interventions in an existing substation, the electric field
estimation inside the plant and its immediate surrounding is
very important.
HV substations represent complex constructions which
hold a large number of electric lines and equipment. Both the
electric lines and equipment have a high impact on the electric
field intensity and distribution. Earlier attempts to model the
electric filed distribution inside the HV substations have been
presented in [3], [4] and [5]. In all of these papers the authors
make use of charge simulation method (CSM). CSM has the
advantage of being extremely effective for the computation of
the electric field on large models and but is mainly suitable for
open areas. The method calculates in a first stage an electric
fictitious charge distribution based on an already known
This work was supported by FDEE ELECTRICA DISTRIBUŢIE
TRANSILVANIA NORD SA - SDEE Cluj Branch within the frame of the
19166 research contract.
978-1-4799-5849-8/14/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE
Emil Merdan
FDEE Electrica Distribuţie Transilvania Nord SA
Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Emil.Merdan@tnd.electrica.ro
Vasile Farcas
SDEE Electrica Cluj
Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Vasile.Farcas@tnd.electrica.ro
potential distribution and geometrical configuration of the
model. Once the charge distribution is determined, the full
electric potential and electric field are relatively simply
calculated, at well-chosen points, using the superposition
principle. Another attempts to calculate the human exposure to
the electric field have been made by in [6]. The authors use a
hybrid CSM/ boundary element method to calculate the
exposure of the human body to the electric field generated by
110kV transmission line.
This paper uses a similar method to CSM but it considers
for the first time a complete and detailed 3D SolidWorks model
[7] of all constitutive elements of Cluj-Sud HV substation. The
electric field distribution is computed based on the all metallic
conductors of a known potential using a CAE software
developed by the authors. Based on this software the author
published in [8]-[11] extensive analyses on the electric field
distribution computations and comparisons with the
measurements in the HV substations. None of these works was
able to perform the computations on a full 3D CAD model.
The computation approach used in this paper allows
representation of the electric field distribution on horizontal
and transversal slices directly on the 3D CAD model. Hence, it
is easy to highlight the high intensity field zones and discuss
the human exposure with respect to the actual legislation.
II. 3D MODEL – CAD
Every equipment (e.g. Fig. 1) in the substation has been
geometrically constructed in SolidWorks [7] based on the
technical descriptions [12] and/or the measurements on site.
476
 Figure 1. Picture of the HV breaker (left) and 3D SolidWorks model of the where ρ k is the electric charge density. The electric charge
HV breaker (right).
density is assumed to be constant on a small piece of the
SolidWorks is a solid modeling system that allows conductor segment located for example between the segment
parametric design. As the 3D models of the substation limits Lk-1 and Lk. The position vectors from the source
components are fully parameterized and standardized they can segment and its image with respect to earth respectively to the
be reused in the design of new or existing plants. computation point are represented by r1k and r2k. The complex
exponent term in equation (1) allows computation of the
The conductors of known potential (phase conductors, main electric field intensity based on the conductor phase.
bus bars, towers, bypass bus bars, etc.) can be easily read and
separated from the nonconductor structures directly from the IV. RESULTS
3D SolidWorks model in the electric field computation A complete overview of the 3D SolidWorks model of the
algorithm. Cluj-Sud 110 kV high voltage substation is shown in Fig 3.
III. ELECTRIC FIELD COMPUTATION - CAE
The basic principle of the electric field computation
algorithm is to model (approach) the whole structure of the
substation with straight finite conductor segments. The
conductor lines of various shapes are discretized with straight
line segments in xyz coordinate system, see Fig. 2.

Figure 3. 3D SolidWorks model of the 110kV Cluj Sud high voltage

substation.

In Fig. 4 is presented the schematic overview of the

electrical circuits used to build the computational model. On
the same figure the access personnel lanes are marked with
letters from A to F.

Figure 2. Discretization of the substation struture by straight finite conductor

segments.

Each discretization segment of the final equivalent

geometrical structure of the substation will contribute to the
electric field global computation equation. The computation
algorithm developed in this paper is based on a semi-analytical
computation method and consists in two main steps:
• First, each conductor of the substation is considered thin
compared to its length in order to evaluate the charge
density distributions based on the classical analytical
formulations [13]; as the conductors are equipotential
surfaces, the charge density distributions is evaluated in
such way that every conductor segment will kept to the
already known constant potential;
• Second, the total electric field strength is determined by Figure 4. The schematic overview of the electrical circuits and the access
superposing the contribution of each conductor personnel lanes A to F.
discretization segment using a general vector formula [13]:
The exposure limits to electromagnetic fields are quantified
2 mπ by two EU documents [1] and [2]. Both above mentioned
j n Lk ⎛ r1k r2 k ⎞
∑ρ ∫
e 3
E= ⎜ − 3 ⎟dl , (1) documents have been transposed in the Romanian legislation
k
4πε Lk −1 ⎜⎝ r13k r2 k ⎟
⎠ resulting two governmental documents [14] and [15].
k =1
According to these documents, the occupational exposure limit

477
to the electric field is 10 kV/m at 50Hz. This limit was In Fig. 5 is represented the strength of the electric field at
particularly checked during the performed analyses. 1.8 m (top) and 3 m above the ground (bottom).

Figure 5. Electric field distribution 1.8 m above the ground (top) and 3 m above the ground (bottom).

478
 The highest field values were found in the neighborhood of
the line bays, bus-bars circuit breakers and disconnectors, Fig.
6 shows the areas where the 10 kV/m limit is exceeded, e.g.
around bus-bars circuit breakers. It can be noticed that there are
large areas inside substation where the occupational exposure
limit is exceeded but only at 3 m above the ground. This
exposure should be taken into account in case of the works and
interventions when the substation equipments are on.
Figure 6. Detail of the electric field ditribution around the bus-bars circuit
breakers 1.8m (left) and 3m (right) above the ground.
Moving back to Fig. 4 and analyzing the electric field
distribution along the lanes, the highest values noticed are
along the lane B. The highest value of the electric field strength
along the lane B is 6.5 kV/m and it occurs in the neighborhood
of the interrupters, see Fig. 7, but it still does not exceed the
professional exposure limits.
Figure 7. Electric field distribution at 1.8m along the lane B.
CONCLUSIONS
Knowledge of the electric field distribution allowed the
identification of high electric field areas inside the substation.
The electric field is high near the terminals and wires
connecting the equipment, but it is within acceptable
parameters along the access areas, showing no risk for the
service personnel.
479
Electromagnetic field simulation can provide benchmarks
for specific measurements in operational points that can be
extremely useful in tracking and solving any possible faults in
the proper functioning of the real model.
Being standardized and fully parameterized the 3D
SolidWorks models of the substation components can be
reused in the design of existing or new high voltage
substations. These 3D CAD models will lead to fast
computations and analyses of the electric field distribution in
the HV substations.
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