IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 13, No.

6; December 2006 1217

Design Optimization of High Voltage Bushing

Using Electric Field Computations
S. Monga, R. S. Gorur
Electrical Engineering Department
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287, USA

P. Hansen and W. Massey

SPAWAR Systems Center
San Diego, CA, USA

ABSTRACT
This paper illustrates the use of electric field computation to optimize the design of gas
filled high voltage composite bushings. The United States Navy employs these bushings
in high power very low frequency/low frequency transmitting stations. Commercially
available 2D and 3D computational packages based on the boundary element method
were employed to analyze the electric fields. The optimized design uses both internal
and external elements for electric stress grading at critical parts of the bushing. It has
been shown that the location and magnitude of the maximum electric field have been
optimized which should result in a substantially higher corona free operating voltage.
Index Terms — High voltage, bushing, boundary element method, corona ring,
electric field grading, voltage contour, corona inception voltage

1 INTRODUCTION With latest advances in computer technology and availability

THE United States (US) Navy operates a number of very
low frequency/low frequency (VLF/LF) transmitting stations
that support communications to deployed submarines.
Porcelain housed, SF6 filled bushings have been used in these
transmitters [1]. Typically the frequency of operation is 30
kHz. The bushing dimensions are quite different from the
bushings used by the utility industry; hence these non-standard
components are expensive and incur long lead times for
ordering spares. There is additional incentive to look for
alternate designs due to potential for an explosive failure of the
porcelain bushings and subsequent shrapnel hazard to
neighboring equipment and personnel. Given the success of
composite hollow insulators for apparatus insulation in utility
applications, the Navy is exploring the use of composite
materials for their bushings.
The performance of composite materials is known to be
degraded with sustained corona and discharge activity [2]. One
way of reducing corona is to limit the operating voltage to a
value below the corona inception voltage [3]. The antennas
operate at voltages in excess of 100 kVrms up to 250 kVrms and
it is critical to determine the highest operating voltage for
these bushings to provide safe and reliable operation. These
bushings are used outdoors; hence, moisture and
contamination play an important role in the performance of the
bushing.
Manuscript received on 21 September 2005, in final form 10 March 2006.
of modern computation packages, high electric field regions in
a high voltage (HV) bushing design can be identified. Various
geometric modifications can be made to the design to reduce
electric field in high stress areas [4]. Software packages based
on the boundary element, finite element and finite difference
methods are commercially available. For the purpose of this
research, a 2-D (ELECTRO) and a 3-D (COULOMB)
boundary element method based software packages were used
based on user-friendliness of the software, as well as past
experience in modeling outdoor insulators [5-9].
Field calculations using 2-D model were much faster than
the 3-D model (hours vs. days). A 2-D model in particular was
useful in our study due to the rotationally symmetric geometry
of the HV bushing. The 3-D version of the optimized design
has been developed based on the 2-D model and is presently
being used to study the effect of water droplets on electric
field.
2 OPTIMIZATION OF HV BUSHING
The external dimensions of the bushing are shown in Figure
1. The Navy previously had designed and constructed a
bushing using composite tubes having a diameter of 600 mm
(24”). These bushings were tested at the Navy’s Edgar T.
Beauchamp HV Test Facility [1] and determined to have a safe
operating voltage of about 150 kVrms. Bushing tubes with 750
mm diameter (30”), the largest available at the time were
ordered by the US Navy with the goal of increasing the

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1218 S. Monga et al.: Design Optimization of High Voltage Bushing Using Electric Field Computations

operating voltage and range of transmission. While it is 2.1 CONFIGURATION 1: NO FIELD SHAPER
entirely possible that the use of uniform field profile electrodes The 2-D model of the bushing geometry, without the field
(such as the Rogowski profile) could achieve the same goal of shaper is shown in Figure 2. The housing was considered as a
reducing the electric field in critical areas, the manufacturers uniform diameter sleeve and the shed projections were
of the bushing deemed that this was not an economically eliminated to reduce modeling complexity. This is justified
feasible solution. Hence basic bushing configuration shown in because the highest values of the electric field occur on the
Figure 1 was used as the starting point and the goal of the shank region, which is represented in the simplified geometry.
present project was to design optimum grading hardware for The removal of sheds has a minimal effect on the electric field.
the larger bushing tubes. A voltage of 1 per unit was used for analysis. The electric field
As the first step, a 2-D model of the bushing was developed. profile along the segment AB (silicone rubber surface) is
Then various electric field grading elements like external shown in Figure 3. The magnitude of the surface electric field
corona rings and internal electric field shaper were added to at the HV end and the ground end of the bushing is given in
the initial geometry to obtain an optimum model of the Table 1. The maximum electric field occurs at the triple point
bushing. Repeated analysis was done with each element in interface of the HV electrode, housing and air media. This
different positions to obtain the optimum location giving the triple point location is known be a weak point in insulating
minimum value of electric field on the external surface of the systems. The high field can give rise to corona and cause
bushing. As more elements were added there is interaction flashover. Permanent damage to the housing material is a
between elements and the position of all elements had to be distinct possibility.
adjusted. Thus the optimization process involved hundreds of
iterations. In the discussion below only the final results for
each configuration are given. Finally using the optimum 2-D
model as an input, a 3-D model of the bushing was developed.
For the 2-D and 3-D models, the number of elements used
typically was 2000 and 8500 respectively. For the 3-D model
rectangular shaped elements were employed. For the 2-D
model the shape of the element is not relevant as surfaces are
represented by lines and the package divides the lines into
smaller segments. The distribution of the elements over the
modeling region was done by the package. The above number
of elements was needed in order to ensure that the modeling
error in the electric field was less than 5%. The program
requires the identification of the electrodes and their voltages
(can be expressed in per unit), permittivity and/or conductivity
of the various dielectric components. In the present project the
dielectric materials were assumed to have a very low
conductivity, hence the electric field and voltage distribution is
determined by the various capacitances and not the resistances.
For each configuration the surface electric field at HV end, Figure 2. 2-D bushing model without field shaper.
ground end and the location and magnitude of the maximum
electric field was determined and are listed in Table 1.

Figure 1. Schematic of the bushing. Figure 3. Electric field profile along segment AB, configuration 1.

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IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 13, No. 6; December 2006 1219

2.2 CONFIGURATION 2: WITH FIELD SHAPER

A field shaper was added to reduce the electric field at the
ground end. The initial dimensions of the internal field shaper
were derived from experience with the 24” bushings
previously tested by the Navy. Various shapes and positions of
field shaper were tested during trial simulations. The
dimensions of the internal field shaper are shown in Figure 4.
The resulting electric field profile along segment AB is shown
in Figure 5. The electric field is drastically reduced at the
ground end due to the internal field shaper and is shown in
Figure 6. The redistribution of the equipotential lines near the
triple junction of the ground electrode-air-housing junction is
significant. This serves to eliminate corona from this critical
junction. The field shaper causes the electric field lines to be
more crowded internally but this happens in a high pressure
dielectric medium which has significantly higher corona
inception voltage and electrical breakdown strength than the
external surface of the housing. At the HV electrode there is
not much impact due to the field shaper. The triple point Figure 4. Dimensions of the internal field shaper
junction at the HV electrode is once again the location of the
highest electric field. There is a need to move the high field
away from this critical junction.

2.3 CONFIGURATION 3: WITH FIELD SHAPER AND

AN EXTERNAL TOP CORONA RING
An external top corona ring was added at the HV end. The
purpose of this corona ring was to reduce electric field at the
HV end. The dimensions for the external top corona ring are
shown in Figure 7. The resulting electric field profile along
segment AB is shown in Figure 8. Figure 9 shows the
equipotential plot with and without the top external corona
ring. It can be seen that the ring reduces the electric field at
the HV end by pushing the field lines away from the top
silicone surface. The best performance would be obtained
when the electric field is spread uniformly along the surface of
the bushing, and Fig. 8 indicates that this has not yet been
achieved, suggesting that further improvement is possible. Figure 5. Electric field profile along segment AB, configuration 2.

Figure 6. Equipotential plot near the ground end showing improvement in field distribution with the addition of field shaper (left) compared to the
Configuration 1 without field shaper (right). The ground electrode is at 0.0 potential and HV electrode is at 1.0 potential.

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1220 S. Monga et al.: Design Optimization of High Voltage Bushing Using Electric Field Computations

2.4 CONFIGURATION 4: WITH FIELD SHAPER, AB is shown in Figure 11. The addition of the external
TOP AND BOTTOM EXTERNAL CORONA RING bottom corona ring reduces the electric field at the ground
In an attempt to further reduce the electric field, an external end because the field lines are pushed away from the bottom
corona ring was added near the ground end shown in Figure silicone surface (segment AB).
10. The corresponding electric field profile along segment
Table 1. Results obtained during the optimization process

E-field
E-field
(V/cm) Max E field Location of Max E Field
Configuration, Geometry (V/cm)
Ground (V/cm)
HV end
end
1.675 x 10- Triple junction of HV
1. Without field shaper 2 3.01 x 10-2 3.01 x 10-2
electrode-air-housing
2. With field shaper 5.06 x 10-3 3.01 x 10-2 3.01 x 10-2 Same as above
3. With field shaper, top outer ring 6.61 x 10-3 5.30 x 10-3 6.8 x 10-3 70 cm from ground end

4. With field shaper, top and bottom outer ring

3.46 x 10-3 5.32 x 10-3 6.9 x 10-3 70 cm from ground end
5. With field shaper, top and bottom outer ring
and top inner ring 3.47 x 10-3 3.9 x 10-3 7 x 10-3 65 cm from ground end

6. With field shaper, two top outer rings, bottom

3.18 x 10-3 5.62 x 10-3 6.7 x 10-3 81-183 cm from ground end
outer ring and top inner ring (Optimum)

7. 3-dimensional bushing model (Optimum)

2.2 x 10-3 2.6 x 10-3 6.9 x 10-3 65-183 cm from ground end

Figure 7. Dimensions of the top external corona ring. Figure 8. Electric field profile along segment AB, configuration 3

Figure 9. Equipotential plot near the HV end showing improvement in field distribution with the addition of the top external corona ring (left)
compared to the Configuration 1 without the corona ring (right). The HV electrode is at 1.0 potential and ground electrode is at 0.0 potential.

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IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation
Figure 10. Dimensions of external bottom corona ring.
Figure 11. Electric field profile along segment AB, configuration 4.
2.5 CONFIGURATION 5: WITH FIELD SHAPER,
TOP AND BOTTOM EXTERNAL CORONA
RING, AND TOP INTERNAL CORONA RING
An internal corona ring was added at the high voltage end
shown in Figure 12. The corresponding electric field profile
along segment AB is shown in Figure 13. There is further
reduction in field at the high voltage end because of
addition of the top internal corona ring. Note that the field
along the surface is still not uniform.
Figure 12. Dimensions of internal top corona ring
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Vol. 13, No. 6; December 2006 1221
Figure 13. Electric field profile along segment AB, configuration 5
2.6 CONFIGURATION 6: WITH FIELD SHAPER,
TOP AND BOTTOM EXTERNAL CORONA
RING, TOP INTERNAL CORONA RING AND
SECOND TOP EXTERNAL CORONA RING
In the last step of optimization, another top external
corona ring was added to the bushing design shown in
Figure 14. The corresponding electric field profile along
segment AB (silicone rubber surface) is shown in Figure 15.
This design is considered to be the optimum in the sense
that the maximum electric field along the bushing surface is
minimized. Note that the electric field along the active
portion of the busing surface is nearly uniform. The electric
field values for this design were considerably reduced over
those of the initial design. The electric field is uniform
along the silicone rubber surface.
While obtaining an optimum 2-D model of the bushing,
various field shaping elements were added. In each step of
the optimization a gradual reduction in maximum electric
field on the bushing surface resulted. All the results
obtained during the optimization process are shown in
Table 1. The reduction achieved with respect to the
reference configuration (#1 with no field shaper) at every
step of optimization is shown in Table 2. The variation of
the electric field, during various steps of optimization, at
ground end and high voltage end is shown in Figures 16 and
17, respectively.
Figure 14. Dimensions of second external top corona ring
1222 S. Monga et al.: Design Optimization of High Voltage Bushing Using Electric Field Computations

2.7 CONFIGURATION 7: 3-D ANALYSIS OF

OPTIMUM BUSHING MODEL

Even though the bushing by itself is axisymmetric, the

symmetry is lost when it is placed in service due to the
presence of nearby grounded structures (building, towers)

Table 2. Step-by-Step improvement in the electric field at the critical

triple junctions.

Ground end triple HV end triple

junction junction
Configuration and
Geometry Efield
Efield reference/Efield
reference/Efield
configuration
configuration
1. Without field shaper
(reference configuration) 1 (reference) 1 (reference)
Figure 15: Electric field profile along segment AB, configuration 6
(optimum) 2. With field shaper 3.31 1
3. With field shaper and
2.53 5.67
top outer ring
4. With field shaper, top
4.84 5.67
and bottom outer ring
5. With field shaper, top
and bottom outer ring 4.82 7.71
and top inner ring
6. With field shaper, two
top outer rings, bottom
5.26 5.35
outer ring and top inner
ring (Optimum design)
7. Three-dimensional
7.61 11.57
model (Optimum design)

and energized conductors. This justifies the need for the 3D

Figure 16. Variation of electric field at ground end for the different 2D
configurations 1-6.
Figure 17. Variation of electric field at high voltage end for the different
2D configurations 1-6.
In view of the results shown in Figures 8, 11, 13 and 15, the
configurations 3 or 4 could be considered as the optimized
design. In configurations 5 and 6, neither the location of the
maximum electric field nor its value change substantially
when compared with configurations 3 and 4. It is also
simpler to make the bushings with configuration 3. This
shows that adding more corona rings does not necessarily
improve the bushing overall performance.
modeling. A 3-D model of the bushing with dimensions of
the internal and external field shaping elements determined
from 2-D model, configuration 6, was analyzed. The
electric field profile for the 3-D model along AB (silicone
rubber surface) is shown in Figure 18. Comparing this with
the plot of Figure 15 illustrates that the agreement between
the 3-D and 2-D models is very good. The computations
with just the internal and surface details consumed about 10
hours when compared to the 10 minutes it took for the 2D
analysis. Therefore it was deemed more useful to complete
the optimization process of the bushing design with 2D
analysis and use this as the starting point for 3-D modeling.
With a comprehensive 3-D model, the bushing design can
be fine tuned and the asymmetry factors encountered during
service such as the presence of nearby grounded and
energized objects and presence of water droplets on the
surface can be evaluated. This research is planned for the
near future.
Figure 19 shows the test set-up for evaluating the
performance of the bushing prototype at high voltage for
both dry and wet conditions. The tests were performed at
the Navy’s Edgar T. Beauchamp HV Test Facility with a 30
kHz power supply. The bushing has a corona ring at the top
and an internal field shaper, but these dimensions are not
the same as the optimum design. There are no internal
corona rings at the top or bottom in the prototype bushing.
The bottom part of the bushing (which will be indoors in the

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IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation
actual application) was covered by a tarp to keep it dry
during the wet test for the top part of the bushing. The
corona inception voltage under dry conditions exceeded 240
kVrms and the test was stopped as there is no intention of
operating the bushing above this voltage. Under wet
conditions corona was detected (by ultraviolet corona
cameras) on water drops dripping from the sheds at about
180 kV. This type of corona is not expected to cause any
problem as the water droplet does not stay in one location
for any length of time. Corona from water droplets on the
shank was observed only at about 230 kV. Corona was first
observed on the surface about 1/3 of the distance from the
bottom electrode. This was concurrent with the location of
the highest electric field in Fig. 8. Corona was not seen at
the critical triple point junctions at the top or ground
electrode, and this was again in agreement with the model
predictions. Based on these tests, it appears that a voltage of
200 kV would be a safe operating voltage.
Figure 18. Electric field profile along segment AB, configuration 7 (3-D
model)
Figure 19. Picture of 30” bushing prototype on test stand.
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Vol. 13, No. 6; December 2006 1223
Predicting the corona inception voltage from the
computational analysis is not straightforward due to various
factors such as the nonuniform field distribution, the effect
of water droplets on electric field enhancement, the unclear
relationship between corona at 30 kHz when compared with
60 Hz for which there is a large body of information
available. For this reason laboratory and field testing is
absolutely essential prior to placing new designs in service.
Despite these unknowns it has been shown that optimizing
design using electric field calculations is indeed a worthy
exercise.
3 CONCLUSIONS
(1) It has been demonstrated that the use of the 2-D model
can be used effectively for optimizing the design of HV
bushings. The optimum design consists of one corona ring
at the top and an internal metal electric field shaper. Adding
additional internal or external corona rings did not
significantly change the magnitude or the location of the
maximum electric field when compared to the optimized
design.
(2) Laboratory testing indicates good agreement with model
prediction in so far as critical parameters are concerned, i.e.,
a corona free operation at the critical triple junction of
electrode-air-dielectric is possible by internal and external
grading.
4 REFERENCES
[1] P. M. Hansen and A. D. Watt, “VLF/LF High Voltage Design and
Testing”, SPAWAR Systems Center San Diego, TR 1904,
Septermber 2003.
[2] R. S. Gorur, E. A. Cherney and J. T. Burnham, “Outdoor insulators”,
Ravi S. Gorur Inc., Phoenix, Arizona, USA, 1999.
[3] E. Kufel and W. S. Zaengel, High Voltage Engineering
Fundamentals, Pergamon press, 1988.
[4] A. H. Cookson, “Role of electrical insulation in the design and
operation of high voltage equipment”, IEEE 5th International
Conference on Properties and Applications of Dielectric Materials,
Korea, Vol. 1, pp. 1-5, 1997.
[5] T. N. Judge and J. L. Roldan, “Optimization of high voltage
equipment design using boundary element method based
electromagnetic analysis tools”, IEE High Voltage Engineering
Symposium, No. 467, 1999.
[6] C. Trinitis, “Field optimization of three dimensional high voltage
equipment”, IEE High Voltage Engineering Symposium, No. 467,
1999.
[7] P. B. Zhou, Numerical Analysis of Electromagnetic Fields”,
Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1993.
[8] S. S. Bamji, A. T. Bulinski and K. M. Prasad, “Electric field
calculations with the boundary element method”, IEEE Trans. Electr.
Insul., Vol. 28, pp. 420-424, 1993.
[9] H. Steinbigler, D. Haller and A. Wolf, “Comparative analysis of
methods for computing 2-D and 3-D electric fields”, IEEE Trans.
Electr. Insul., Vol. 26, pp. 529-537, June 1991.
Saurabh Monga was born in Chandigarh, India
in 1980. He received his undergraduate degree in
Electrical Engineering from Thapar institute of
engineering and technology, Patiala, India in
2002. He received his Master’s degree in
Electrical Engineering (Power Major) from
Arizona State University in 2005. He is currently
pursuing a career in the field of Energy Markets.
1224 S. Monga et al.: Design Optimization of High Voltage Bushing Using Electric Field Computations

Wendy Massey received a B.S. in electrical

Ravi Gorur (SM’ 91, F’ 99) is a professor in
engineering from Florida Institute of Technology,
the Electrical Engineering Department at
Melbourne in 1996 and an M.S. in electrical
Arizona State University (ASU). He is
engineering from the University of California San
responsible for numerous research projects in the
Diego in 1998. Ms. Massey joined SPAWAR
areas of insulators for electric power
Systems Center in San Diego, CA, following
transmission and distribution, sponsored by
graduation. During the first years, her work
utilities, government and industry. He has
focused on Frequency Selective Surface (FSS)
published a textbook on Outdoor Insulators and
radome and absorber designs for Navy ships. She
over 100 papers in IEEE Journals and
has also contributed to the modeling and simulation of antenna systems
Conferences. He chaired the IEEE Working
onboard the ships. For the last three years, her efforts have been in support
Groups on Insulator Contamination and Dielectric Aging, and the
of the shore-based high power VLF/LF transmitters for communication to
committee that prepared IEEE standard (P1523) on High Voltage Insulator
submarines. Ms. Massey holds 2 patents and published several Navy
Coatings. He is the US representative for CIGRE Study Committee D1. He
Center reports.
was elected to IEEE fellow in 1998 for contribution to aging of polymeric
materials used for Outdoor HV insulation. He has supervised about 50
graduate students (MS and Ph. D). He teaches a short course on high
voltage outdoor insulators that is offered annually at ASU, and at various
companies on demand.

Peder Hansen (SM ’96) received the B.S.,

M.S. and PhD in electrical engineering from
the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in
1965, 1966 and 1970 respectively. Dr. Hansen
started working in the area of VLF/LF in the
late 1970s. Since then most of his efforts have
been in support of shore-based high power
transmitters for communication to submarines.
He presently is working as the Chief
Technologist for VLF/LF transmitting systems.
His interests include high voltage design,
electrically small antennas, transmitting and receiving arrays, adaptive
processing as well as adaptive optimization of antennas and high voltage
configurations. Dr. Hansen is past Chairman of the San Diego Chapter of
the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society. He holds 11 patents, has
published 21 journal articles and more than 50 Navy Center reports,
including one book. He has been given numerous Navy awards, including
twice the Navy Meritorious Civil Service Medal.

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