Z NOT 43402 IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 10, No. 2, April 1995 GONG s0T | PLT | VEPZ 707 Grounding Resistance of Buried Electrodes in Multi-Layer Earth Predicted by - Simple Voltage Measurements along Earth Surface - A Theoretical Discussion Y.L. Chow,:Member, IEEE, J.3..Yang, Member IEEE, and K.1D. Srivastava*, Fellow, IEEE Depariment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N21.3G1. * Department of Electrical Engineering, 11804 2 University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, VOT 1WS. Abstract “The earth is modeled as inhomogencous conducting medium ‘with multiple horizontal layers. For known layer conducti- vities and thickness, the vollage distribution and grounding, resistance have been computed efficiently using an equivalent imagemethod. Inthis paper, the reverse sequence is proposed. ‘Without explicitly knowing the layer conductivities, thickness and number of layers, the equivalent images are determined by the voltage measurement resulls along the carth surface, Then these images are linearly translated to compute the underground voltage profiles and grounding resistance of buried electrodes. Such surface measurements are simpleand inexpensive, and should give very accurate results based on theexperience of applying these images inthemicrowavearca. I. Introduction ‘Anaccuratcandinexpensiveapproach to predictthe grounding, resistance of buried electrodes is highly desirable in designing, power sub-stations and transmission towers. ‘This is not an ‘easy task duc to the following two difficulties. Firstly, the carth is an inhomogencous conducting medium with many different layers. ‘The layer thickness and conductivities are usually unknown and may vary from season to season. It is expensive to measure the multi-layer earth structure by goo- logical coring. Secondly, even with the layer thickness and conductivities known, it takes extensive analysis and computation efforts with, say a very high speed computer, to determine the grounding resistance of an electrode through a 92 SM 608-0 PURD A paper recommended and approved by the IEEE Substations Committee of the IEEE Pover Engineering Society for presentation at the TEEE/PES 1992 Sumer Meeting, Seattle, HA, July 1992, Nanuseript submitted January’ 31, 1992; for printing June 23, 1992 dyin Re ue classical image method [1-3] or a spectral integration method [4,5]. This paper bypasses these two difficulties by introducing a novel equivalent image method. “Theequivatent image method was developed in [6}, following ‘a series of 22 papers in the microwave area, e.g. (7) to ‘calculate the vollage distribution and grounding resistance of buried electrodes in multi-layer earth. Also.asimitar method was found in [8] with a different numerical algorithm. Compared to the classical image method used in {1-3} it has been shown in [6] that the equivalent image method improves the computational efficiency by 1-2 orders of magnitude for 4-layer earth model. Up to this point, the equivalent image method can be used only when the layer thickness and conductivities are known. In this paper, without knowing the layer thickness and con- ductivities of the multi-layer earth, the grounding resistance of buried clecirodes is predicted based on a reversed application of the equivalent image method and a simple voltage measurement along earth surface. This is nccom- plished based on the following observations. Firstly, all the ccarth-layer effects are uniquely determined by the equivalent image coefficients. In other words, one does not need to know the detailed earth-layer structure if one could obtain those image coefficients through other means such as surface measurements. Secondly, the image coefficients are inde- pendent of the electrode depth and the measurement depth. ‘This means that once the image coefficients are obtained, the voltage profiles inside the earth layer and the grounding resistance of buried electrodes can be easily calculated. Compared 10 the geological coring for determining the carth parameters, the method proposed in this paper is much easier and less expensive, As an introduction of the equivalent image method to the power community, it is appropriate to discuss the classical image method in the section below. toh. NG708 IL. The Classical Image Method and the Moment Method for Arbitrary Electrodes Ina homogeneous conducting medium, a point current source with unit strength gives the following current density J at a distance ry, duc to spherical symmetry, a QM Jee yh (Oat Ohm’s law requires E = al, where o is the conductivity. By integration of the electric field, the potential a a distance r, 2) Ver) ¥ axon, which agrees with the Coulomb's law in electrostatic field. For an arbitrarily shaped electrode in homogeneous con- ducting medium, assuming the surface potential to be Vp, the current density flowing outward from the electrode surface can be solved through the following integral equation, Moe ff, Gtearo em" ® where G(r,r’) = 1/4xarg is the potential generated by a point current of unit strength, as given in (2), and J,(r') is the ‘unknown current density around the electrode. The integral equation (3) can be converted inio a matrix equation by segmenting the electrode surface and using moment method. As a result, the unknown J, is solved numerically from the matrix equation. ‘The total current flowing outward from the clectrode is calculated through the following integration, be J Jeo ® ‘Therefore the resistance of the above electrode can be easily calculated, % 6) R=F The function G(r,r') in the integral equation (3) is known as the Green’s function giving the potential of a point current source with unit length. For an infinite and homogeneous ‘conducting medium, the Green's function is given in (2). If the medium is changed in structure, the potential distribution from a point source and therefore the Green's function, is hanged, For example, if a point current of unit strength is buried in a semi-infinite conducting medium as shown in Fig. 1, then the Green’s function in the conducting half space is obviously asum of the Coulomb's potentials, ©) where thedistancer,andr’,aremeasured from the observation point to the original source and its image respectively. Air 6-0 image FFig.1 A point current souree in half space conducting medium If the earth has two layers of different conductivities, and 2 point charge of unit strength is buried in the top layer, asshown in Fig. 2, the multiple reflection by the interfaces at z = Oand 2 = hy give infinite number of images of decreasing strengths. Following (6) the potential distribution in the easily accessible {op layer is evidently a sum of the Coulomb's potentials from the source and the infinite series of images. The Green's function in the top layer is written in the following infinite summation form, ift Grr) aa ines)” where rae VOE GED + ty VOTE GE rg VOTE + tu VOTH HE. ZIP gy paVE=ETFO=¥F 5 2-2 K =(,-0)o, +0) It may be noted that in Fig. 2, each set of four images of the nih order has the same strength K" and same displacements 22’ [rom the z, locations.Ist order images KI KI Fig.2.A point current source in two-layer earth, with only the zeroth and first order classical images shown. III. The Equivalent Image Method ‘The above infinite series requires 50-500 sets of four images to converge, depending on the earth-layer conductivities. It has been shown analytically based on a spectral domain analysis (6] that the above infinite series can be reduced to an accurate and short series of equivalent images, ic., Nea where the distances r,, 10, have the same forms as in (8) ‘except thal the image location , is changed to, z,=b, (10) In (®) and (10), a, and 6, are image coefficients determined by the layer thickness and conductivities 0,03. ‘The above ‘eduction is substantial ands first derived for Green's function of oscillating electric dipole in layered dielectric [9]. Forsuch ‘cases, a, and 6, are usually complex, and the images required > (9) are called complex images, 2s opposed to the classical images in (7). For static field as in the present problem, 4, and b, are frequently real, only in rare cases that they become complex (IF generated, these complex images are ‘always in conjugate pairs for a real static field [7]). In view Of this, the images are called the equivalent images. 709 ‘The Green's function (9) was derived for the two-layer case of Fig.2. Ifthe earth has multiple layers as shown in Fig. 3, it can be shown that (9) remains in the same form as long as the source and observation points are located in the top layer. In other words, expression (9) is applicable regardless of the uniform ornon-uniform layers under the 2 = i, interface. The image coefficients a, and b, are, of course, affected by the ‘multiple layers; and they are yet to be determined. a] | equivalent images 1 @ zeroth order image % Fig.3 A point current source and its images in multi-layer earth. IL is also observed in (9) that once the image coefficients a, and b, of the multi-layer earth are determined, they are independent of the source depth 2’ and the observation depth za long as z and z’ are both in the first layer. ‘These image coeificients can be obtained by performing a simple surface voltage measurement, as discussed in section V. IV. Justification of the Fast Convergence of Equivalent Image Method It is not difficult to understand why the Green's function in (9) needs only 3 10 4 equivalent images. The important region ‘of the Green's function is where the field is strong. In Fig. 2, the strong field is near the origin and is mostly influenced by the source and its zeroth order image. The ficld is weakly influenced by the distant higher orderimages. It isknown by the classical spherical harmonic method {10} that the higher order image fields near the origin mustaddioa multipoleseries of the form,10 : ul V= 3A?" oe ‘The coefficients A, are small accounting for the weak influ- ence. Furthermore, the series r is fast convergent because of the small r values near the origin. Therefore only 6 to 8 terms of the series may be needed. These 6 10 8 mulipole terms can evidently be approximated by the fields from half of the number (3 or 4) of equivalent images at different locations and strengths. ‘The equivalent images are based on the rigorous spectral domain analysis [6]. They therefore give very accurate fields (error<1%) with only a smali number of images, even for a three or four layer earth. Other less rigorous analysis such as that by Oslon and Stankeeva through optical analogy [11] are ‘ot likely to give such rapid convergence and such accuracy. V. The Image Coefficients Obtained from Sur- face Voltage Measurements (A Reversed Application of the Equivalent Image Method) Now that the image coefficients a, and b, are independent of zand2’, the easiest way of performing measurement for obtaining the image coefficients is to have both the electrode ‘and the observation point on the earth surface, i.e. 2 = 2' = 0. Asa result, the Green's function (9) is simplified as follows: (zy ) ses Consider two small hemisphere electrodes on the earth surface with acurrent/ injectedinto the earth, as shown in Fig. 4. The Potential difference between the two electrodes is given as follows: » RoeR (13) FC Nyon, FT) er] where Ry is the radius of the hemisphere, and R is the Center-to-center distance between the two her Ifthe number of images istaken as3 in the Green's function (12), there are seven unknowns (o be determined, ic, 01, 4, and by(n = 1,2,3). Asasuiggestion, foursmall hemispheric electrodes (probes) may be chosen to perform the voltage ‘measurements. As shown in Fig. 5, these four probes arc along a straight line with relative coordinates of 0, 1,4,6, 0 that six non-redundant equally spaced distances can be mea- sured from pairing among the four probes. When measuring the voltage between two probes, the other two probes arc open-circuited. This experimental setup is different from the widely used Wenner’s configuration [4]{16][17}. Asamatter of interest, such electrode locations with non-redundant Pairing distances are well known among radio-astronomers for antenna locations in a compound interferometers [13]. Based ‘on the interferometer studies, more than four hemispheric electrodes can be used to generate more than three images, ‘except that there must be at least one redundant pairing distance. Air O=0 R Fig4 Two hemisphere electrodes on the earth surface, SR OR Fig.5 Four non-uniformly spaced hemisphere electrodes. Itmay be added that the electrode spacings shouldbe such that the largest pairing distanceapproximates the largest dimension of the intended electrode, This is done so as to arrive at a Green's function appropriate to the size of the electrode. With N = 3, the following six equations are generated from the surface voltage measurement, (4) Gr Mpen GOT) pan] man, mn= 104where R,,=R,Ryy = 3K etc, as shown in Fig. 5. ‘The seventh equation is given by the current conservation, i.e, (us) ‘The seven equations in (14) and (15) form a non-linear equation set with seven unknowns. Using a non-linear optimization algorithm similar to that of (12), the seven unknown coefficients o, and a, and b, (n = 1,2,3) are deter- mined. Therefore the potential at any point in the top layer ‘can be calculated using (9). Consequently the grounding resistance of an electrode can be calculated using (3)-(5) ‘without explicitly knowing the thickness and conductivity of cach layer. 4a, +4, +a) =-2 tis found that ifthe conductivity o, ofthe first laycrisknown, the condition of (15) can be deleted. This frequently gives better convergence. It may also be noticed that the electrodes suggested here are hemispheres which are cast into spheres by their zeroth order images. The usual rod electrodes with corresponding images can also be used. ‘The equivalence of a rod and a spherical ‘conductor is rather simple and has been discussed in [14,15]. VI. Computer Results For known earth-layer conductivities and thickness, the carth-surface voltage distribution duc toa buried electrode and ils grounding resistance can be calculated using the equivalent {mage method described in section III. "The accuracy and the ‘simplicity of the equivalent (complex) image method [6] has been confirmed through the theoretical resulls of [2] and the ‘measurement results of [8]. Reference [6] gives the usual sequence of analysis when the number of laycrs and conduc- tivities are known, The reverse sequence proposed in this Paper is as simple in concept as the usual sequence. The ‘accuracy of the reverse sequence may deteriorate somewhat ‘due to the convergence of non-linear optimization algorithms. However, thisinaccuracy hasnot beca observed in theexample Of Fig. 7 discussed later. For physical insight into the proposed method, one may investigate the effects of underground layers on the carth- ‘rface voliage distribution. Fig. 6 shows the normalized \oteen’s function (4n0,G) versus the radial distance p in logarithm scale. The logarithm scale is chosen because the homogeneous medium Green's function (2) gives a ~45° Straight line as shown in Fig, 6, which provides a reference for Othermulti-layer situations. It isseen in Fig. 6 that ifthe earth 's homogeneous (i.e., half-space conducting medium), the normalized Green's function is a parallel straight line with ni Tespoct 10 the case of infinite homogeneous conducting medium. When there exist underground conducting layers, the normalized Green's functions deviate from a straight line, ‘as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 6. If the underground layers have higher conductivity than the top layer, the nor- malized Green's function decays faster than the case of homogeneous earth with top layer conductivity. Conversely, ifthe underground layers have lower conductivity than the top layer, the normalized Green's function decays slower than the ‘case of homogencous earth with top layer conductivity. tis evident from Fig. 6 thal the effects of layer conductivities and thickness are indeed reflected in the earth-surface voltage distributions. <= Ininite conducting medium, 00,005 “a aif space ponding. media 60.006 SES Risger serun‘s'maco0s'ssaosos 0. ‘003, 124=.10,04=.01, 006,9r=.0026.04".00188. 5 Jogio(477046) & D 5 18 “10-08 00 OS Lb 1b 20 Ee aD gie(p) (6 in meters) Fig.6 The normalized Green's function versus the radial distance p on the earth surface, z = 2' = Om ‘Totest the effectiveness of obtaining equivalent images from ‘carth-surface voltage measurement, one curve in Fig. 6 with four conducting. layers (0, = 0.005, 0, = 0.02, 0, = 0.1,0, = 0.01) ischosen toactasthe surface voltage measurement resulls. Six datapoints are taken along the curve to form six non-redundant equations. Along with (15), the six equations are solved through a non-linear ‘optimization algorithm for the unknown image coefficients 4,»b,(n = 1,2,3) and the unknown conductivity 0,.. It tumed ‘out thal the equivalent image coefficients a,,b,(n = 1,2,3)are not necessarily the same as those calculated using the known carth-layer conductivities and thickness; it isa known fact that the results of an optimization process are not necessarily ‘unique, depending on the initial choices of unknown values. However, the uniqueness theorem [18] points out that the voltage profiles along carth-surface and sub-surfaces, 2s well as the grounding resistance, are unique regardless of them2 nonunique set of image coefficients obtained from the non- linear optimization. To confirm this uniqueness, the nor- malized Green's function at @ certain underground depth (z=2' = 3m) is calculated using the image coefficients and conductivity obtained from optimization process and the surface voliage measurements. Theexact normalized Green's function is also calculated using the image coefficients obtained from the known conductivities and thickness in the forward sequence. The resulis are plotted in Fig. 7. It is found that although the image coefficients are quite different inthe above calculations, one can hardly tell the difference in the normalized Green's function. This implies that both sets ofimage coefficients can be used in (9) and (3)-(5) to caleulate the voltage profiles and grounding resistance. 30 & & logie(470,G) 18 “10 "98 oo 08 10 16 Jogu(e) (o in meters) ao ae a Fig.7 The normalized Green's function versus the radial distance p inside the first layer of earth, z =z’ = 3m Its pointed out that for easy accessibility, the electrodes are assumed to be buried in the first layer of the multi-layer earth. If the electrodes penetrate the underground layers, the for- ‘mulations have to be modified. Itisobserved theoretically in Fig. 6, as well as in [6] supported by the experiments on toroidal electrodes [2][8}, that usually three to four equivalent images are sufficient to accurately ‘construct the Green's function in (12). The image number is independent on the number of layers and the soil condition. ‘This means that in generating the equivalent images from surface voltage measurements, one does not need tohave any information on the earth layers, except (perhaps) the con- ductivity 0 of the first layer. The generation of equivalent mages is always possible from our experience. ‘VII. Conclusion ‘Theearth-layer conductivities, thickness and number of layers ‘are not easy to measure, which makes it difficult 1o predict the grounding resistance of buried electrodes. In this paper, instead of trying to measurethe earth-layer parameters, anovel ‘approach is proposed to predict the grounding resistance of buried electrodes in multi-layer earth. The approach is based ‘on an equivalent image method and simple voltage measure ment along earth surface. These images are then applied, through moment method, tocalculatethe underground voliage profiles and grounding resistance of buried electrodes. A simple experimental configuration of obtaining 7 unknowns from 4 small hemispheric electrodes (probes) is suggested. “Thus this approach is an accurate and inexpensive way of characterizing buried electrodes of arbitrary shape in design- {ng power sub-stations and transmission towers. Itisto point out that asmall number of hemispheric electrodes (probes) may be left on the earth surface over a long time to ‘monitor the seasonal moisture changes of the earth layers, and to monitor the possible effects on the grounding resistance of buried electrodes. IL is also to point out that the equivalent image method used in this paper is only a special (static) case of the general complex image method for oscillating dipoles [9]. This implies that with a dynamic field modification, the equivalent image method can also be applied to predict the transient responsesof buriedelectrodes under short circuit and lightning situations. ‘The paper introduces the equivalent (complex) image method to the power community. The equivalent (complex) image method has been well established in the microwave area both theoretically and experimentally. Asboththemicrowave field and the high voltage field satisfy Laplace and Helmholtz equations, there is no doubt that the method should be valid for both fields. In addition to the three papers mentioned earlier {6,7,9], 19 ‘more papers have been published on the equivalent (complex) image method to date. Many of these papers are in the microwave area. Their introduction to the power area, therefore, may not be used by engineers immediately but should be interesting and fruitful for their adaptation and further research.Acknowledgements: The authors wish to thank Mr. J. for his help in programming and the reviewers for their ‘constructive criticisms, especially in pointing out the exis- tence of [11] to the authors. ‘The authors acknowledge the financial support of this work from the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada through their operating grants. References: a oth P.J. Lagace, J.L. Houle, Y. Gervais and D. Mukhedkar, "Computer aided design of a toroidal ground electrodes in a two layer soil", IEEE Trans. on Power Delivery, Vol.2, No.3, July, 1987, pp.744-749. P.J. Lagace, J.L. Houle, Y. Gervais and D. Mukhedkar, “Evaluation of the voltage distribution around toroidal HVDCground electrodes in N-layersoils", IEEE Trans. ‘on Power Delivery, Vol.3, No.4, Oct..1988, pp.1573- 1579, P.J. Lagace, D. Mukhedkar, H.H. Hoang, 11. Greiss, valuation of the effect of vertical faults on the voltage distribution around HVDC electrodes using a super- computer", IEEE Trans. on Power Delivery, Vol5, No.3, July,1990, pp.1309-1313. T. Takahashi and T. Kawase, "Analysis of apparent resistivity in a mulli-layer earth structure", IEEE Trans. on Power Delivery, Vol.5, No.2, Aptil,1990, pp.604- 610. T. Takahashi and T. Kawase, "Calculation of earth resistance for a deep-criven rod in a multi-layer earth structure", JEEE Trans. on Power Delivery, Vol.6,No.2, ‘April1991, pp.608-614. ‘Y.L. Chow, J.J. Yang and K.D. Srivastava, "Complex images of a grounding electrode in layered soils", Journal of Applied Physics, Jan. 15, 1992, pp.569-574. Y.L. Chow, J. Yang and G.E. Howard, "Complex images for electrostatic field computation in multilay- ‘ered media", IEEE Trans. on Microwave Theory and Tech, Vol.39, No.7, 1991, pp.1120-1125. D.Kovarsky, LJ. Pinto, C.E. Caroli and N. Santes, "Soil surface potentials induced by Itaipu HVDC ground return current, part I-theoretical evaluation, part II- measurements", IEEE Trans. on Power Delivery, Vol3, No.3, July, 1988, pp.1204-1216. Y.L.Chow, J.J.Yang, D.G.Fang and G.E. Howard,"A closed form spatial Green's function for the thick microstrip substrate", JEEE Trans. on Microwave Theory and Tech. VolMTT-39, No.3, 1991, pp.588- $92. 2] 8] (4) (5) 1} 0) (8) 19] 19) (uy (12) (13) 14] Us) 19} a7) (8) 73 JA. Stratton, Electromagnetic Theory, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1941, pp.172-173. AB. Oslon and ILN. Stankeeva, "Application of optical analogy to the calculation of electric fields inmulti-tayer media", Electric Technology in USSR, No.4, 1977, pp.68-75. Y.L. Chow, C. Charalambous, "Static-field computa- tions by the method of optimised simulated images", Proc. IEE, Vo1.126, No.1, 1979, pp.123-125. J.D. Kraus, Radio stronomy, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1966, pp.172-194. Y.L. Chow and M.M. Yovanovich, "The shape factor of the capacitance of a conductor", Journal of Applied Physics, Vol.53, No.12, 1982, pp.8470-8475. Y.L. Chow and K.D. Srivastava, "Non-uniform electric field induced voltage calculations (Revised)", Research Report to Canadian Electrical Association, 117 317, 1988. CF, Tagg, Earth Resistance, George Newnes Ltd., London, 1964. ILL. Marshall, Lightning Protection, Chapter 4, John Wiley Interscience, 1973, pp.36-79. W.K.II. Panofsky and M. Phillips, Classical Electricity and Magnetism, Addison Wesley Publication Com- pany, Reading, MA., 1955, pp.37-38.Discussion F. P. DAWALIBI, J. MA, Safe Engineering Services & technologies Itd., Montreal, Quebec, Canada. ‘The authors should be commended for describing a new and, ap- parently, powerful method to compute grounding performance in multilayer earths. ‘The method designated as the "equiva- lent complex image method" has already been described in the ricrowave literature but is not readily available to the power system community. ‘The authors are making an important con- tribution by drawing the attention of electrical power engineers to this method which has been enhanced by their own research ‘The paper discusses the advantages of the method but does not mention any ofits disadvantages or limitations. For exam pi itis not clear ifthe method remains applicable when ground cloctrodes penetrate more than one layer. Also, the authors do not state if generation of the complex images is always possi bie regardless of the real soil structure type which may not be horizontally stratified. The paper does not state clearly if only ‘8 few complex images are sufficient, regardless of the location ‘of the observation point. Finally, field measurement program needs to be carried out to validate experimentally the technique proposed by the authors. ‘The authors are invited to publish the results of the measurements in a future paper. ‘The authors suggest that a supercomputer is required to de- termine the grounding resistance of an electrode by computer modeling of « multi-layer earth structure. This is true only for the approaches involving multiply-infinite series. More ef ficient approaches exist and have been well documented in the seophysical literature. An enhanced form of the methodology presented by Osion and Stankeeva [11] can be implemented ef- fectively on a PC and is usualy slightly more time consuming than two-layer based methods. Another approach widely used in geophysics employs "flter* coefficients to dramatically re- duce computation time. This latter technique appears to be similar in nature to the method presented in this paper. The application of six filters per decade appears to provide a high ogree of accuracy even in soils with more than 4 layers. Our experience with multilayer soils suggests that the computation of ground resistance requires only a few images in order to achieve good accuracy if efficient image-based methods are im- plemented. Unfortunately, more terms are required as soon as the distance of the observation point to the grounding electrode increases. Three to four complex image terms may no longer be sufficient if accurate results are needed for distant points Finally, because a typical real soil is seldom a true horizon- tally layered one and because of the numerous surface inbomo- ssencitis, it may be difficult to develop an appropriate set of Images without an extensive survey combined with some sort of averaging. Moreover, for adequate modelling of the grounding system, it may be necessary to establish the boundary between layers in order to properly segment ground conductors penetrat- ing soveral layers. ‘The authors’ opinion on these points will be greatly appre- ciated. We would like to encourage the authors in continuing their excellent work. Manuscript received July 23, 1992. W.A. CHISHOLM, EP. DICK and 1S, BARRETT, Ontario Hydro Research Division, Toronto, Ontario, Canads: The Sunde transform method has been applied by the authors with success using techniques and insight from microwave modelling. The approach is well suited 10 the power-frequency multilayer-soil grounding problem addressed here. The ability to describe field data using a few well-chosen image parameters offers considerable advantage in subsequent interpolation and computation. ‘The dis- ccussers would like the authors’ comments on the following points and possible extensions (1) Contact Resistance ‘The two-probe resistance measurements proposed in Section V ‘may be unsuitable in soil resistivity testing when the potential drop across the electrode-to-soil interface is uncertain. Usually, three- ‘or four-probe ‘are used to eliminate the effects of probe resistances. While the proposed electrode test geometry is elegant, its results could be particularly for small hhemi sphere radius. Do the authors have any suggestions for ‘minimizing these problems? Many existing measurements have been obtained using Wenner (four equally-spaced) probe arrays. Could the authors provide some guidance in eplying this data to ther method? (2) Electrode Shape It may not be practical to install an adequate hemisphere electrode. ‘The authors point out a rough equivalence of rod and hemisphere clectrodes of similar surface area. This also appears to be true for ‘other electrodes [A], since resistances of many electrode shapes ‘can be approximated by: Ry = oBpndest where sis the maximum extent of the electrode and A is the sur- face area. Could the authors comment on the sensitivity of the Green’s func- tion to electrode size or shape (rod or cylinder with depth equal to diameter)? Would the authors recommend any restriction on the maximum size ofthe electrode relative tothe electrode spacing? (3) Redundant Measurement Data In our experience, some difficulty may be encountered when more resistance measurements than necessary are collected for the ‘modelling process. Could the authors recommend a procedure to incorporate additional measurement data along with appropriate data weighting? ‘Do the authors agree thatthe probe spacings should span the range from the smallest segment (ground-rod length or mesh size of ‘ground grid) up to the total size ofthe full grounding array? (4) Complex Impedance In difficult grounding conditions (p=10*2-m, ¢,=10) for lightning ial, te deplcenent eure could ot be negloged ce complex impedance measurements re performed ata single fie quency, would an equal number of complex image strengths a, [B] _ at complex depth b be sufficient to describe the response? {It would be desirable to interpolate complex impedance data over the full frequency range as well as the distance range tested.‘Would the authors fix the b; and fit the a; as polynomials of fre- ‘quency, or would they recommend some other strategy’? (5) Boundary Conditions Pease explain the current conservation conditions used in deriving. ‘Equation (15). If we force Equation (12) to fit the Green's function for very large distance, that is G(c,")=2/4nowp, the result is rae (1 +25), which isa similar but different constraint. (6) Carson's Equations ‘Could the authors’ method also be applied to improve Carson's ‘approach for propagation and coupling in multi-layer soil? ns REFERENCES [A] "Lightning Surge Response of Ground Electrodes", IEEE Trans PWRD Vol No.2, April 1989, pp.1329. 1337. (B} "Complex Resistivity of the Earth”, LR. Wait, in Pro- asress in Electromagnetic Research, ed. Jin Au Kong (New York: Elsevier), 1989, Manuscript received August 13, 1992. Closure was not provided by the Author.