Electrical Power and Energy Systems 108 (2019) 61–71

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Electrical Power and Energy Systems

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijepes

A new optimization design for grounding grid T

a,⁎ b b,⁎ a b
Haize Hu , Richeng Luo , Mengge Fang , Shuiling Zeng , Feiyu Hu
a
Jishou University, College of Information Science and Engineering, China
b
Changsha University of Science and Technology, School of Electrical and Information Engineering, China

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: In this paper, a new approach for designing groudging grid is proposed. The design is based on constracting an
Annular grounding grid auxiliary annular grounding grid and transforming the lingtning rod’s grounding poing from main grounding
Counterattack grid to auxiliary grounding grid. Modal analysis and softwave simulataes is employed to obtain the transformed
Lightning protection lightning current (and the voltage) and the reduced ressitance. The dual port model is used to calculate the
Grounding resistance
impedance value of the grounding grid. The calculation results of the model are compared with the standard
Dual port
ATP-EMTP
grounding body model EMF. At the same time, the relationship between the induced voltage of each point of the
grounding grid and the distance of the lightning current injection point is studied by using the dual port model.
The reduced resistance is simulated by building annular grounging grid model and square grounging grid model
and making a comparison in performance betwen them. Farther, when there is a lingtning event, instead of
providing a low impedance path by the main grounding grid, the design provide anther path by the auxilary
grounding grid, which can transfer the lightning current into the auxilary grounding grid. All the model analysis
and simulation results are presented and discussed in the paper.

1. Introduction
Grounding grid is very important for the lightning protection design
of the substation. When the substation has a lightning accident or an
internal fault of the power system, the grounding grid can provide a low
impedance path to high current [1]. As the most important parameter
of the grounding system, the grounding resistance has always been the
focus of researchers' research. At present, the research on grounding
grid mainly focuses on four aspects, namely grounding grid model re-
search, grounding resistance measurement and detection research,
grounding resistance calculation research and grounding grid over-
voltage research.
The construction of the research model directly determines the di-
rection of research, and various grounding models research is pre-
sented. Each set of parallel guides is considered a multi-conductor
transmission line, and modal analysis is used to obtain a two-port grid
of each set of parallel conductors in the grid [2]. In order to prevent the
loss of the grounding grid signal in the sensor grid, a traffic model based
on the back-balanced multi-sensor grid cooperation model is proposed
[3]. The modified transmission line equation [4] is processed using the
wire antenna theory and modified transmission line model. IEEE
grounding technique and finite element method (FEM) is empliyed to
the grounding grid simulation [5]. An optimization model for designing
substation grounding grid is proposed to solve the mixed integer linear
programming problem [6]. Based on the quasi-static composite image
method and Green's function, a mathematical hybrid method for ac-
curately calculating the lightning response of grounding system buried
in multi-layer earth model is proposed [7].
The measurement of the grounding resistance is also the focus of the
grounding grid research, and the test results directly reflect the good
condition of the grounding grid. Low amplitude pulse current is pro-
posed to evaluate grounding grid transient characteristics [8]. A field
detection method and a torque method are used to propose a numerical
detection method for the steel grounding grid [9]. In order to locate and
detect damaged grounding conductors, a method for testing the in-
tegrity of the grounding grid in the general framework of the IEEE
standard is proposed [10]. A simple interpretation method of ground
current splitting FOP curve with measurement is proposed [11].
Due to the complex environment of the grounding grid, the calcu-
lation of the grounding resistance cannot be based on a single standard.
In order to solve the drawing loss of the grounding grid, a shape
function is introduced to describe the magnetic field distribution per-
pendicular to the grounded grid surface [12]. The calculation of the
pulse coefficient is performed by the response of the current injection
electrode connected to the grounding grid to the subsequent return
stroke of the lightning strike, and the low resistivity soil (for example,

⁎
Corresponding authors at: Lightning protection and grounding technology.
E-mail addresses: 1696916533@qq.com (H. Hu), 1098086603@qq.com (M. Fang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijepes.2018.12.041
Received 23 August 2018; Received in revised form 23 October 2018; Accepted 26 December 2018
Available online 06 January 2019
0142-0615/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
H. Hu et al. Electrical Power and Energy Systems 108 (2019) 61–71

woodland) can be amplified [13]. Based on the image theory and the di
U = i2 R2 − i1 (R1 + R 0) − L
synthetic asymptote method, an accurate calculation method for the dt (3)
grounding grid resistance of substation buried in two-layer soil is pro- If the cable ends are free of load (for i1 = 0), results in the following
posed [14,15]. A grounding resistance calculation algorithm based on expression.
the boundary element method (or current simulation method) is pro-
posed to evaluate the commonly used grounding resistance formula U = i2 R2 (4)
[16]. When the cable is grounded at multiple points, the following formula is
The overvoltage level directly reflects the performance of the sub- obtained.
station grounding grid. Grids with unequal spacing are used to improve n−1
grid requirements and reduce step voltage, contact voltage, and ground U= ∑ i2i R2i
grid overvoltage [17]. Based on the non-uniform transmission line k=1 (5)
calculation method, a practical method for ground potential detection
where n is the number of cable grounding, k is the kth cable.
for estimating the effective length/area of different ground structures is
proposed [18]. The new theoretical analysis method is used to calculate
2.2. Contact voltage and step voltage counterattack analysis
the analytical formula of the maximum step voltage of the substation
grounding grid [19]. By compaannulus seven different standards, the
Fig. 2 shows a model of step voltage, where the parameters r is the
maximum tolerated current of the grounding grid is calculated and the
human foot and T is the stride distance. setting r = 0.08 m and
safety performance of the ground potential is evaluated [20].
T = 0.8 m to calculate the step resistance. In this case, we obtian the
At present, although there are many researches on grounding, the
following expressions.
problem of grounding grid corrosion has always been the focus of
conquering. The perennial operation of the substation will lead to ρ ρ ρ 2r
R0 = − = ⎛1 − ⎞
corrosion of the grounding grid, which resulting in the grounding re- 4r 2πT 4r ⎝ πT ⎠ (6)
sistance of the substation grounding grid larger than the standard. In
As T is much larger than r, the effect of r can usually be neglected, and
the process of grounding grid reconstruction, there are various pro-
the resistance is approximately as Eq. (7).
blems such as difficulty in excavation, difficulty in replacing the
grounding body, and difficulty in reducing the grounding resistance ρ
R0 ≈ ≈ 3ρ
(especially in high soil resistivity environment). In order to solve these 4r (7)
problems, an auxiliary annulus grounding grid transformation measure Fig. 3 shows the step voltage calculations circuit. When one walks on
is proposed. the ground, the contact resistance R0 between the two feet and the
resistance Rb of the human body are connected in series. According to
the equivalent circuit, the calulation of step voltage is obtained by Eq.
2. Grounding grid counterattack characteristic impact analysis
(8).
Under the lightning impulse current, the effective ground area of the Rb Rb
Uk = Ek = Ek
ground grid is reduced. Under the inrush current, the grounding grid Rb + 2R 0 Rb + 6ρ (8)
does not flow into the infinity like the DC current, and does not pro-
Fig. 4 shows the contact voltage calulation circuit. When one stands on
pagate to the finite distance like the power frequency current. Due to
the ground and touches a grounded metal conductor by hand, the
the inductance, lightning current can only be scattered in a small area,
contact resistance between the two feet and the soil is parallel. The
so the voltage drop in a small area is large. Under the impact current,
following Eq. (9) is derived.
the grounding gradient and the potential difference between the two
points is more larger than under the power frequency current. What’s Rb Rb
Uj = Ek = Ej
more, due to the skin effect of the high-frequency current, the effective Rb + 0.5R 0 Rb + 1.5ρ (9)
scattered area of the inrush current is reduced, the grounding grid is not
fully utilized. Because of the lightning current flowing in a range not far 3. Auxiliary annular grounding grid
from the ground, the potential gradient is increasing.
What is spoken of as auxiliary grounding grid is building a new
2.1. Cable counterattack analysis grounding grid and connect with the main grounding grid.

The cable shield of the substation, buried in the ground is mostly
grounded by two or more points. When the lightning strikes the light-
ning rod, lightning current flows into the earth through the cable core
and the sheath. The method for estimating the counter-overvoltage
generated between the sheath and the core wire is equivalented to Eq.
(1).
dφ
U = i2 R2 − i1 (R1 + R 0) −
dt (1)
where i1 is the current of the cable core, i2 is the cable sheath current;
Φis the cable sheath magnetic flux, R1 and R2 are the cable core and
sheath resistance, respectively. R0 is the load resistance (see Fig. 1).
The magnetic flux Φ is the product of the current flowing through
the cable core (i1) and the inductance of the cable sheath (L1).
φ = i1 L1 (2)
Substituting Eq. (2) into Eq. (1) gives us Eq. (3).
3.1. Annular grounding grid
Experimental shous that shielding coefficient of the annular
grounding grid is much better than that of the square. The annular
grounding grid has a shielding factor of 1.05, which is less than that 1.6
the square has. With the same meterials, the area of the annular
grounding grid is 4/π larger than the square grounding grid is. Under
certain condition, there is no doubt that the larger the area os the
grounging is, the smaller the resistance will be. The calulation of the
annular grounding resistance is obtained by Eq. (10)
R=
ρ ⎛
1−
4h ⎞
+
ρ
4b ⎝ bπ ⎠ L (10)
Fig. 5 shows the structure of annular grounding grid. Each annular is
evenly divided into 8 equal parts, and represented by a double-type
equivalent circuit (as shown in Fig. 6).
The calculation of each parameter in Fig. 6 is given by Eqs.
(11)–(14).

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H. Hu et al. Electrical Power and Energy Systems 108 (2019) 61–71

I1 R1

R0

Electric cable

i ch
Grounding grid

Fig. 1. Cable counterattack.

T I I

r r Rb Uj
R1
Fig. 2. Step voltage.
R0/2

I I R2+R0
R1
Rb
R2 R0
Rb UR
R0

R3

R 0 /2
Rb
R1 R2+R0
Fig. 4. Contact voltage calculation.
R0 R0

R1 R2 R3
Fig. 3. Step voltage calculation.

πl
G= 2l
ρ (ln − 1) (11)
2rh

C = ε0 εr ρG (12)

μl ⎛ 2l
L1 = ln − 1⎞
2π ⎝ r ⎠ (13)

D 2

M1,2
⎡
μ l D
= 0 ⎢ −
D 2
1 + ⎛ ⎞ + ln
1+ 1+ ()
l
⎤
⎥
2π ⎢ l ⎝l⎠ D ⎥
⎢ l ⎥
⎣ ⎦ (14)
where l, r, h represent the length of the grounding body, the equivalent
radius and the buried depth of the grounding body; respectively. D is
the spacing between the grounding bodies; ρ, ε0, εr, and μ0 are soil re- Fig. 5. Annular grounding grid structure.
sistivity, vacuum dielectric constant, soil relative permittivity, and soil
permeability coefficient, respectively. According to IEEE procedures,
when the spacing between the conductors of the grounding body is
greater than or equal to 10 m, the effect of the mutual inductance

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H. Hu et al.
Fig. 6. Grounding body equivalent circuit.
between the conductors on resistance is small.
3.2. Transfer overvoltage design
By an auxiliary grounding grid is meant laying an auxiliary
grounding grid within 1–2 km from the substation, and connected to the
main grounding grid with flat steel. The external auxiliary grounding
grid can effectively reduce the magnitude of resisitance, and the re-
duction efficiency η is solved by Eq. (15).
Z2 − Z 1
η= × 100%
Z0 (15)
where Z0 is the resistance of the original main grounding grid, Z1 is the
resistance of the auxiliary conductor, Z2 is the resistance after the ex-
ternal auxiliary grounding grid. Consider annulus the economics of the
same materials used and the difficulty of construction, auxiliary circular
grounding grid is utilized in the design.
Figs. 7 and 8 show the design circuit and construction of the aux-
iliary grounding grid.
At the same time, in order to reduce the occurrence of the coun-
terattack accident, the direct lightning protection equipment (lightning
rod, terminal tower lightning protection line and lightning arrester) is
connected to the auxiliary environmental grounding grid through the
down conductor, so that the lightning current is discharged through the
auxiliary grounding grid (show as Fig. 9). As a result, the grounding
potential voltage is significanty reduced, which would avoid the
lightning current threating the workers and power equipment of the
substation (see Figs. 10 and 11).
Fig. 7. Auxiliary grounding grid design.
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Electrical Power and Energy Systems 108 (2019) 61–71
Fig. 8. Auxiliary grounding construction.
4. Dual port grounding model and calculation
4.1. Model analysis
The substation grounding grid is mainly composed of a cross-
stacked unit grounding body, including a horizontal grounding unit and
a vertical grounding unit. Generally, when analyzing the grounding
grid, it is assumed to be in a uniform soil environment, and when cal-
culating the grounding resistance value, it is necessary to assume that
the length of the unit grounding body is much larger than the wave-
length of the grounding material. When a short-circuit fault current or a
lightning current flows into the grounding grid, a complex electric field
environment is formed on the grounding grid, and different unit
grounding body units are no longer independent individuals, and have
a certain influence on each other. The effect is mainly due to the fact
that current flows in the unit conductors, thereby generating an electric
field that interacts with each other. According to the angle analysis of
the influence of the electric field, only the mutually balanced electric
fields have an influence on the other unit conductors. There are mainly
two types of unit conductors in the grounding grid, which are the
current injection point unit conductor M and the unit conductor N
through which the current flows. The current injection point unit
conductor is mainly a vertical body (all unidirectional current injec-
tion), and the current flowing through the unit conductor includes
vertical and horizontal bodies (including bidirectional current inflow).
Fault current or lightning current flows into the earth through the
grounding grid, and the electromagnetic coupling mainly reflected
between the unit conductors is also crucial for the calculation of the
impedance. There are two directions of current in each of the unit
conductors. It can be assumed that there are two excitations in the
conductor, which is equivalent to a dual port in the middle, and this
port is short-circuited when there is no excitation current. First of all,
we study the simplest electromagnetic coupling situation. If a current in
a unit conductor 1 flows through, a corresponding electric field En will
be generated around, and the induced voltage Un will be generated in
another unit conductor 2 (without flowing through the current)
through this electric field. The magnitude of the induced voltage is
mainly determined by the electrical impedance between the two, and
the impedance is calculated as follows:
Un
Z12 =
In (16)
Secondly, we study the influence of fault current or lightning current
injected into the unit conductor on other unit conductors. Similarly, we
assume that the current flowing through the unit conductor is Im, and
the induced voltage generated on other unit conductors is determined
by the impedance between the two. The impedance calculation method
H. Hu et al. Electrical Power and Energy Systems 108 (2019) 61–71

Connecting conductor

Main grounding grid Auxiliary grounding grid

Fig. 9. Transfer overvoltage.

is as follows: 4.2. Model calculation

Un The calculation target is mainly the voltage U at each point on the

′ =
Z12
Im (17) grounding grid and the current I flowing through the unit conductor.
The calculation method of voltage and current at any point on the
Based on the linear sum and superposition principle, the interaction grounding network is as follows [21,28]:
between unit conductors can be described as:
d2
- U = ZYU = AU
dp2 (19)
⎡ Z11 Z12 Z13 ⋯ Z1N ⎤ ⎡ I1 ⎤
⎢ Z21 Z22 Z23 ⋯ Z2N ⎥ ⎢ I2 ⎥
⎢ Z31 Z32 Z33 ⋯ Z3N ⎥ ⎢ I3 ⎥ d2
⎢· - I = ZYI = A′I
· · · · ⎥ ⎢· ⎥ dp2 (20)
⎢· · · · · ⎥ ⎢· ⎥
⎢· · · · · ⎥ ⎢· ⎥
⎢ ZN 1 where Z and Y are the series impedance and the parallel admittance
⎣ ZN 2 ZN 3 ⋯ ZNN ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎦ ⎣ IN ⎦ value of the unit conductor, U and I are the voltage at point p and the
′ I1+
⎡ Z11 Z12′ I2+ Z13′ I3+ ⋯ + Z1′M IM ⎤ current flowing through the unit conductor, respectively, A = ZY, A' =
⎢ Z21
′ I1+ Z22′ I2+ Z23′ I3+ ⋯ + Z2′M IM +⎥ YZ. The content of this formula has been analyzed in detail in [22,23].
⎢ ⎥
′ ′ I2+ ′ I3+ + Z3′M IM +⎥ According to the literature, the diagonal matrix is used to calculate.
= ⎢ Z31 I1+ Z32 Z33 ⋯
⎢· · · ⋯ · ⎥ Assuming that the diagonal matrices of A and A' areΛand Λ', respec-
⎢· · · ⋯ · ⎥ tively, the following formula is given:
⎢· · · ⋯ · ⎥
⎣ ZN′ 1 I1+
⎢ ZN′ 2 I2+ ZN′ 3 I3+ ⋯ + ZNM′ IM ⎥⎦ (18)
U (p) = e (−ψp) U1 + e (ψp) U2 (21)

I (p) = Y0 (e (−ψp) U1 − e (ψp) U2) (22)

N
Grounding grid current
injection point M
P

Fig. 10. Dual port grounding grid model.

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H. Hu et al. Electrical Power and Energy Systems 108 (2019) 61–71

kV

600 Dual ports model

EMF model

450 Measurements

300

150

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 us

Fig. 11. Calculation result of voltage at point P.

where Ψ = Λ − 1Λ' 1/2Λ = A1/2 = (ZY)1/2, Y0 = Z − 1Ψ = (Y/Z)1/

2, then there is the following formula in the dual port model:
10
⎡ IM ⎤ = ⎡Y0 coth(Ψl) − Y0 csch(Ψl) ⎤ ⎡UM ⎤
8 ⎣ IN ⎦ ⎢ ⎣ − Y0 csch(Ψl) Y0 coth(Ψl) ⎥ ⎦ ⎣ UN ⎦ (23)

6
Simplify the above formula, the results are as follows:
*102kV

4 ⎡ IM ⎤ = ⎡ B1 B2 ⎤ ⎡UM ⎤
⎣ IN ⎦ ⎢ ⎣ B3 B4 ⎦⎥ ⎣ UN ⎦ (24)
2
where B1 = B4 = Y0coth(Ψl), B2 = B3 = −Y0csch(Ψl). In order to cal-
0 culate the grounding resistance of the grounding grid unit conductor,
1 the impedance Z and admittance Y of the unit conductor should first be
3 determined. In the calculation process, it is still necessary to assume
2
0 1 that the grounding grid is in a uniform resistivity and dielectric con-
0
-1 stant. The impedance Z and admittance Y in the model calculation are
"Y"Axis(m) -1 -2 as follows:
"X"Axis(m)

Fig. 12. Grounding grid voltage. Y = G + jωC (25)

Z = R + jωL (26)

kV

600 Dual ports model

EMF model

450 l=0m Measurements

300
l=10

150 l=20

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 us

Fig. 13. Voltage and distance.

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H. Hu et al. Electrical Power and Energy Systems 108 (2019) 61–71

10

6
*102kV
4

50 75
25 50
0 25
0
-25 -25
-50 -50
"Y"Axis(m) "X"Axis(m)

Fig. 14. Voltage and distance of the grounding.

where ε is the dielectric constant, σ is the soil peimittivity. When the

skin effect of the resistor is considered, the resistance is calculated as
follows:
ρ
R (ω) =
Fig. 15. π equivalent circuit. dδ (29)

where δ is the skin depth, ρ is the conductor resistivity, d is the con-

where G, C, R, and L are the conductance, capacitance, resistance, and ductor perimeter. For the calculation of the inductance value, the fol-
inductance matrix per unit length respectively and ω the angular fre- lowing formula is mainly used for calculation:
quency under consideration. Considering the influence of electro-
1 1 ε
magnetic coupling, the calculation of the conductance G is as follows: LC = ⇒ L = 2 C −1 = r C −1
v2 v c0 (30)
R R1N ⎤−1 where c0 is the speed of light in the free space a nd εr is the soil per-
G = ⎡ 11
⎣ R1N R11 ⎦ (27) mittivity.

where the R11 and R12 are their own resistance and mutual resistance.
According to the literature [22,29], the vertical grounding conductor 4.3. Comparative analysis of results
does not consider the electromagnetic coupling between each other,
only the electromagnetic coupling between the horizontal conductors. The calculation results of the dual port model grounding body
When the value of the conductance has been calculated, the resistivity model are compared with the EMF model. The EMF model has been
and conductance in the soil are used to calculate the capacitance value proposed as a standard model for grounding network research in the
as follows: literature [24–27]. A lightning current is injected into the grounding
grid (the intermediate point P of the grounding grid in the position).
C=
ε
G The lightning current parameter is 1.2/50 μs of the standard lightning
σ (28) current waveform and the amplitude is 3 kA. The comparison results of

Fig. 16. Auxiliary grounding grid simulation circuit.

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H. Hu et al. Electrical Power and Energy Systems 108 (2019) 61–71

Fig. 17. Main grounding grid.

Fig. 18. Current waveform 1. Fig. 20. Current waveform 2.

the dual port model calculation results and the EMF model calculation
results and detection values for the grounding grid lightning current
injection point P are shown in the following figure:
The calculation results using the dual-port model are about 480 kV,
while the results calculated by the EMF model are about 510 kV. The
difference between the two models is about 6.3%, and the calculation
results under both models are smaller than the measurement. The above
figure is the calculation result of the injection point voltage. For the
entire grounding grid model, the voltage calculation result generated by
each point is as shown in the following Fig. 12:
As the lightning current propagates on the grounding grid and leaks
into the earth, the relationship between the induced voltage generated
on the grounding grid and the lightning current injection point (l) is
shown in Figs. 13 and 14.
It can be seen from the results of the graph that as l increases (l = 0,
l = 10, l = 20, respectively), the lightning current induced on the
grounding network shows a downward trend.
5. ATP-EMTP simulation analysis
In this paper, the electromagnetic transient simulation software
ATP-EMTP is used to simulate the grounding grid project of Fig. 8.
Because the distance between the parallel grounding bodies of the unit
is more than 10 m in the process of designing the grounding grid, ac-
cording to the literature [25], When the spacing between the grounding
bodies is greater than 10 m, the mutual impedance difference between

Fig. 19. Auxiliary square circuit.

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H. Hu et al. Electrical Power and Energy Systems 108 (2019) 61–71

Fig. 21. Auxiliary annulus simulation circuit.

Fig 22. Current waveform 3. Fig. 24. Ground point current of the main grounding grid.

them is small and negligible. In order to simplify the simulation process,
the simulation content only considers the influence of the self-im-
pedance of the unit grounding body.
The electromagnetic auxiliary transient software ATP-EMTP soft-
ware is used to simulate and verify the annulus auxiliary grounding
grid. In the previous section, we know that the mutual inductance in the
conductor can be ignored. The simulation is performed by using the π-
row equivalent circuit (as shown in Fig. 15), and the annular grounding
grid simulation circuit is shown in Fig. 16.
5.1. Grounding resistance simulation
The main grounding grid (consist of 36 grounding bodies) uses
square grounding grid to simulate the substation. The single grounding
body conductance GO is set to 0.02, the capacitance Co is 0.002 μF, and
the self-inductance Lo is 0.05 mH. At the same time, the simulation
circuit is supplemented with 24 V, 50 Hz AC power supply, and a cur-
rent measuannulus instrument is employed to measure the circuit cur-
rent. By running the ATP-EMTP, one can record the current waveform.
The magnitude of the current peak is used to identify the change in the
grounding resistance of the grounding grid, and the model and

Fig 23. Overvoltage simulation circuit.

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H. Hu et al.
Fig. 25. Ground point current of auxiliary grounding grid.
Fig. 26. Main grounding grid voltage of V11 point.
Fig. 27. Auxiliary grounding grid voltage of Vf21.
respectively results are shown in Figs. 17 and 18.
The auxiliary square grounding grid also uses a square grounding
grid that consists of 36 grounding bodies with the same parameters as
the main grounding grid. The main grounding grid and the square
auxiliary grounding grid are connected by wires, and the resistance is
ignored. The model and respectively results are shown in Figs. 19 and
20.
The auxiliary annulus grounding grid also uses a square grounding
grid that consists of 36 grounding bodies with the same parameters as
the main grounding grid. The main grounding grid and the annulus
auxiliary grounding grid are connected by wires, and the resistance is
ignored. The model and respectively results are shown in Figs. 21 and
22.
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Electrical Power and Energy Systems 108 (2019) 61–71
5.2. Transfer overvoltage simulation
In order to clearly see the overvoltage transfer of the grounding
grid, the simulation circuit was changed to a 3 × 3 main grounding grid
and an auxiliary square grounding grid (consists of 24 grounding
bodies). The Heidler type 15 lightning simulation generator is used as
the power, and the current probe and the voltage probe Volt are used to
detect the ground current and overvoltage of the main grounding grid
and the auxiliary grounding grid. Fig. 23 shows the simulation circuit.
The analog lightning generator uses current parameters and the
lightning current is set to 100 kA. The ground point current waveforms
of the main grounding grid (left) and the auxiliary grounding grid
(right) are shown in Figs. 24 and 25.
The ground point overvoltage of the main grounding grid and the
auxiliary grounding grid are shown in Figs. 26 and 27.
6. Simulation results discussion
The electromagnetic transient simulation software ATP-EMTP is
used to simulate the auxiliary annulus grounding grid to reduce the
resistance. The main grounding grid consist of 36 equivalent grounding
bodies was tested with 24 V AC power supply, and the simulation result
showed that the current value was 4.28 A. According to the ohm’s law,
the resistance equals voltage divided by current, it follows that the
calculation result of resistance is 5.61 Ω. In order to verify the char-
acteristics of the annulus grounding grid, an auxiliary square grounding
grid was built for comparison verification. The parameters of the aux-
iliary square grounding grid are the same as those of the main
grounding grid, which consist of 36 equivalent grounding bodies. The
simulation results show that the current is 8.57 A, and the grounding
resistance is calculated to be 2.8 Ω, which indicated that the auxiliary
grounding grid could effectively reduce grounding resistance. The
auxiliary annulus grounding grid is also constructed with 36 equivalent
grounding bodies, and the shape is the five circular grounding nets
mentioned above (each annulus is equally divided by 8). As the Fig. 17
shows, the simulation current was 9.53 A, therefore, the resistance was
2.52 Ω. Compared to the auxiliary square grounding grid resistance is
2.8 Ω, the auxiliary annulus grounding grid grounding resistance is
reduced more by 9.6%. At the same time, the simulation results of
overvoltage transfer show that the lightning current through the main
grounding grid is reduced from 100 kA to 60 kA, and overvoltage of the
ground point is reduced from 25 kV to 9 kV, which is reduced by 40%
and 60%, respectively.
7. Conclusion
A new design for reducing the distribution of voltage and lightning
current in grounding during lightning strikes has been described. The
design is based on constracting an auxiliary annular grounding grid and
transforming the lightning current. The counter-overvoltage, step and
touch voltage is analysised using the equivalent model. At the same
time, softwave simulation is employed to obtain the performance of
grid. The main conclutions of this work are sumarized below.
Corrosion of the grounding grid will cause the grounding resistance
to become larger, which will seriously threaten the operation of the
power system. By constructing the corresponding circuit model and
calculation, the grounding resistance and the current flowing through
are the key parameters affecting the counter voltage, step voltage and
touch voltage.
Dual port the model grounding grid can effectively reflect the
transient change of the lightning current injection for the grounding
grid impedance calculation. According to the model, the induced vol-
tage of the grounding grid gradually decreases as the distance from the
lightning current injection point increases.
Under the same main grounding grid and the same material,
Simulation comparison studies are described. The simulation results
H. Hu et al.
show that the auxiliary grounding grid can greatly reduce the
grounding resistance, and the auxiliary annular grounding grid is more
effective in reducing the resistance than the auxiliary square grounding
grid is.
Constructing the main grounding grid and the auxiliary grounding
grid model, the lightning current and overvoltage of the two grounding
grids are detected respectively. The simulation results show that if the
lightning current introduction point is transferred to the auxiliary
grounding grid, the lightning current will be largely consumed on the
auxiliary grounding grid, which can greatly reduce the lightning cur-
rent flowing through the main grounding grid. On the one hand, the
transfer current design reduces the counter-voltage, stride voltage and
contact voltage in the substation, on the other hand, it improves the
overall lightning-resistance level and reduces lightning strikes.
Acknowledgment
This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of
China (NO. 61363033).
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