‫جامعة الملك سعود‬ king Saud university

‫كلية الهندسة‬college of engineering

‫قسم الهندسة الكهربائية‬ Electrical engineering department

EE455. Section Number: 76572

Experiment Number Experiment # 1

Experiment Title Grounding Resistance Measurements

Date of Experiment 31/jan/2021

18/6/1442
Date of final report 3/feb/2021
25/6/1442

Student’s Name ABDULRAHMAN SAMI BAZARAA

ID Number 437106384

Instructor’s Name ABDULRAHMAN ALI ALARAINI

Grade
INTRODUCTION:

This experiment contains three main procedures, first, we will measure the
resistance of dry and treated soil, then we will measure the resistance between
two electrodes by using three methods, finally we will test and check the
grounding resistance of the (HV LAB).

OBJECTIVES:

1- To measure soil resistivity.

2- To measure the grounding resistance for rod and hemispherical electrodes.
3- To measure the grounding resistance of a typical grounding system.

Procedure #1

Sphere electrode diameter: 6.25cm …. distance between the electrodes: 80cm

Table (1): the resistance of dry and treated soil.

Soil sample type Resistance value (𝛺) comments
Treated and wet 1420 Low resistance due to sand
treatment using water and salt etc.
Dry High resistance We can't measure the resistance
due to multimeter limit of 2KΩ.

Comments:

• The wet soil is treated using water and salt etc, to make the
resistance low as possible.
• We can't measure the dry soil resistance due to it high resistance.
Procedure #2

First, we will measure the resistance using two electrodes with same
diameters which is 21 cm

Table (2): the resistance of 21cm diameter rods in treated soil.

Rode depth (cm) Resistance (𝛺)
5 1245
10 1088
15 588
20 464
30 271

Comments:

• If we increase the depth of the rods, the resistance will decrease.

Then we will measure the resistance using two electrodes with same
diameters which is 48 cm

Table (3): the resistance of 48cm diameter rods in treated soil.

Rode depth (cm) Resistance (𝛺)

5 766
10 515
15 352
20 245
30 139

Comments:

• If we increase the depth and diameter of the rods, the resistance will
decrease.
Finally, we connect both rods in parallel and we measure the value of the
resistance at 30 cm depth

Table (4): the resistance of both rods in treated soil by using parallel connection.

Rode depth (cm) Resistance (𝛺)

30 116

Comments:
• If we increase the depth and connect the rods in parallel the
resistance, we be very low.

Procedure #3

In this procedure we will measure the HV lab grounding resistance by

using fall of potential method.

Distance X (m) Resistance (𝛺)

5 0.11
10 0.15
15 0.18
20 0.22
25 0.23
30 0.4
38 1.33

The grounding resistance of HV lab is ≈ 0.22 𝛺

• Using micro-ohmmeter, we measure different samples of bonding

resistance between two points

As a result, for good bonding the resistance is 58.7 u 𝛺.

As a result, for bad bonding the resistance is 64.51 u 𝛺.
As a result, for poor bonding the resistance is 1.2098 m 𝛺.
Questions

1) Why do we need to measure grounding resistance and soil resistivity?

Measuring the grounding resistance and soil resistivity help to design perfect
grounding network, also to keep the soil resistivity within a limited range to
insure high level of safety.

2) Using the measured value of grounding resistance for hemispheres,

calculate the resistivity of sand sample (Eq - 15.1)

ꝭ
𝑅= → ꝭ = 𝑅 ∗ ᴨ ∗ 𝑟 = 1420 ∗ ᴨ ∗ 0.03125 = 139.41 𝛺. 𝑚
ᴨ∗𝑟

3) Calculate the sand resistivity using the cylindrical rod equations (Eq –
15.2) for one case

ꝭ 4ℎ 𝑅∗ᴨ∗ℎ 766 ∗ 0.05 ∗ ᴨ

𝑅= [ ln ( ) − 1 ] → ꝭ = = = 107.406 𝛺. 𝑚
ᴨ∗ℎ 𝑟 4ℎ 4 ∗ 0.05
[ ln ( 𝑟 ) − 1 ] (𝑙𝑛( 0.024 ) − 1)

4) Compare the above two values and comment on the reasons for
differences, if any.

There is difference between the two resistivity values due to the type of
electrode used also many factors such as length, depth, radius.
5) ln one figure plot variation of Rg against depth of rod for the three
cases studied. Give your comments on the effect of rod depth, rod
diameter and number of rods on Rs.

Fig(1): grounding resistance (Rg) Vs depth

From fig(1) we can notice that if we increase the radius the grounding resistance
will decrease, also if we increase the depth of the electrode the resistance will
decrease, moreover if we connect the electrode in parallel the resistance will
decrease.

6) How can we measure the grounding resistance of a substation?

By using fall of potential method as we use in HV lab to measure the grounding

resistance.
7) For step (g), plot variation of R with X and find the grounding
resistance Rg of the HV lab

Fig(2): HV lab grounding resistance

8) List possible problems of high grounding resistance

grounding resistance must be low in case of any fault in the system happen the
high current will go to the ground. In order to keep people and equipment safe
we must have low grounding resistance.

• Discuss and state the problems resulted from bad bonding in grounding
system

Bonding is joining things together such as join two conductors together, wire
and metal plate, and electronic component in motherboard. Bad bonding could
cause serious damage to equipment and human, there are some examples of
good, bad, and poor bonding samples mentioned at procedure #3.
Conclusion:

• The multimeter in HV lab can measure the resistance up to 2k 𝛺.

• If we increase the rods diameter and depth the resistance will decrease.
• If we connect the rods in parallel in parallel, we will get the lowest
resistance.
• Grounding resistance should be low as possible to keep equipment and
human safe.
• The grounding resistance of HV lab should be less than 0.2 𝛺.