POWER SYSTEM ANALYSIS

Lecture 7

BALANCED FAULTS

Dr. Ahmad Al-Subhi

Outline:
7a. Balanced Three Phase Faults: Overview.
7b. Numerical Examples on Balanced Faults.

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 POWER SYSTEM ANALYSIS

Lecture 7a

BALANCED THREE PHASE FAULTS:

OVERVIEW

Dr. Ahmad Al-Subhi

• Defined as the simultaneous short circuit across all three
phases.

L-L-L fault

L-L-L-G fault

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• It occurs infrequently (~ 5 %).
• In general, it is the most severe fault type.
• However, under certain conditions, the line-to-ground fault
or double line-to-ground fault currents may exceed three-
phase symmetrical fault currents.
• The circuit breaker rated MVA braking capacity is selected
based on the three phase short circuit MVA.

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• If the fault impedance is zero, the fault is called bolted fault
or solid fault.

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• Easy to analyze and calculate.
• Since the network is balanced, it can be solved on per phase
basis.
• Other two phases carry identical currents in magnitude with
120 degree phase shift.

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- Synchronous generator reactance under short circuit
conditions:
• The reactance of the synchronous generator under short
circuit conditions is a time-varying quantity.
• Therefore, for network analysis, three reactances are
defined:

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• Subtransient reactance Xd”: first few cycles of the short
circuit current.
• Transient reactance Xd’: next cycles (around 0.5 second or
30 cycles).
• Steady state reactance Xd: it is the synchronous machine
reactance at steady state.
• It should be noted that: Xd’’ < Xd’ < Xd
• These reactances are usually provided by the synchronous
machines manufacturers.

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• Selecting which reactance to use depends on at which
period the operating state is, depending on the speed of the
circuit breakers and whether momentary or interrupting
fault current is calculated.

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• In calculations of fault currents on a transmission system it
is usual to use the subtransient reactance of the generators
and to ignore the effects of induction motors, which are
connected to lower voltage networks.
• To determine the initial symmetrical rms current, the
subtransient reactances of the synchronous generators and
motors are used.
• To determine the interrupting capacity of circuit breakers,
the subtransient reactance for generators and transient
reactance for the synchronous motors are used.

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• It is appropriate to use subtransient reactance for
synchronous motors if fast-acting circuit breakers are used.
• In stability studies where the problem is to determine
whether a fault will cause a machine to lose synchronism
with the rest of the system if the fault is removed after a
certain time interval, transient reactance is used.

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- Short circuit capacity: (called also fault level)
• It is the rated RMS value of current that a CB can break at
the rated voltage.
• The short-circuit capacity (SCC) at a bus is a common
measure of the strength of a bus.
• The short-circuit capacity or the short-circuit MVA (or
kVA) at bus k is defined as the product of the magnitudes of
the rated bus voltage and fault current.
• It is used for determining the bus-bar dimension and the
circuit breaker interrupting capacity.

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• SCC is given by:
Fault current at bus k in
Pre-fault line to line Ampere
voltage at bus k in volts

SCC  3  VLL  I f

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Example :
A power system is initially on no load with generators
operating at their rated voltage with their emfs in phase. A
three-phase balanced fault with a value of –j2 pu occurs at the
receiving end of the transmission line. Determine the short-
circuit MVA. Assume the pre-fault base voltage at the faulted
bus is 400 kV and the base power is 100 MVA and the base
voltage is 400 kV.
Solution:
SCC  3  VLL  I f

Prepared by: Dr. Ahmad Al-Subhi - YIC

POWER SYSTEM ANALYSIS

Lecture 7

BALANCED FAULTS

Dr. Ahmad Al-Subhi

Outline:
7a. Balanced Three Phase Faults: Overview.
7b. Numerical Examples on Balanced Faults.

Prepared by: Dr. Ahmad Al-Subhi - YIC

POWER SYSTEM ANALYSIS

Lecture 7b

NUMERICAL EXAMPLES ON
BALANCED FAULTS

Dr. Ahmad Al-Subhi

In systems where three phase faults occur, the fault current can
be calculated using:

Pre-fault bus voltage in pu

(found using LF or assumed 1.00 pu)

Vk (0)
If 
Z  Zf
fault impedance
This impedance is:
• Zth , or
• Zkk in Zbus

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Example 1:
A single-line diagram consisting of a synchronous generator
feeding a synchronous motor through a transmission line is
shown below. All impedances indicated in the diagram are
expressed in per unit on a common 100-MVA base. A
symmetrical three-phase fault with a fault impedance of j0.12
pu occurs at the motor terminals.

Neglecting pre-fault currents and assuming that the generator is

operating at its rated voltage, calculate:
(i) Subtransient fault current.
(ii) Bus voltages and line currents during fault.

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(1) Fault current.

(2) Bus voltages.

(3) Line currents.

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(1) Fault current.

Vk (0) 1
If   If 
Z  Zf Z  j 0.12

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Solution:
Method 1:

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 Z th  j 0.1154 pu

Vth 1
 If     j 4.2481 pu
Z f  Z j 0.12  j 0.1154

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Method 2:
Fault analysis can be also performed using Zbus matrix. For the
previous example, calculate the fault current using Zbus.

Solution:
First step is to build the Zbus matrix. It can be formed using:

• Zbus Building algorithm.

• Inversion of Ybus.

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 We will form Ybus matrix. Then, using MATLAB or using
calculator, we will find Zbus.Therefore:

 15 10 0 0 
 10  20 10 0 
Ybus  j 
 0 10  20 10 
 
 0 0 10  16.6667 
 
 Z bus  [Ybus ]-1   
 
 
For fault at bus 4,
this is the required Z
It is exactly same value of Zth
considering fault at bus 4

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Since the fault occurs at bus 4, we are interested in the value of
Z44.

The fault current is evaluated as follows:

Vk (0)
If 
Z kk  Z f
V4 (0) 1
    j 4.2481 pu
Z 44  Z f j 0.1154  j 0.12

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(ii) Bus voltages and line currents during fault.

Method 1:

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Currents from generator and motor:

Using current divider rule:

j 0.15
IG   ( j 4.2481)   j 0.9803 pu
j 0.15  j 0.5
 I M  I f  I G   j 3.2678 pu
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Bus voltages:

If bolted, V4=0
V4  I f  Z f   j 4.2481 j 0.12  0.5098 pu
V3  V4
IG   V3  V4  I G  j 0.1  0.6078 pu
j 0.1
V2  V3
IG   V2  V3  I G  j 0.1  0.7058 pu
j 0.1
V1  V2
IG   V1  V2  I G  j 0.1  0.8038 pu
j 0.1
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Method 2:

For a fault occurring at bus k, the bus voltages during the fault
are calculated using the following equation:

V j  V j (0)  Z jk I f

Proof in page 366 sadat

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Therefore, bus voltages during the fault are:

V1  V1 (0)  Z14 I f  1  ( j 0.0462)  ( j 4.2481)  0.8037 pu

V2  V2 (0)  Z 24 I f  1  ( j 0.0692)  ( j 4.2481)  0.7060 pu
V3  V3 (0)  Z 34 I f  1  ( j 0.0923)  ( j 4.2481)  0.6079 pu
V4  V4 (0)  Z 44 I f  1  ( j 0.1154)  ( j 4.2481)  0.5098 pu

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The currents flowing from bus i to bus j during the fault can be
found as follows:

Vi  V j
I ij 
zij

from SLD not from Zbus

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Line currents during the fault:

V1  V2 0.8037  0.7060
I12  I G     j 0.977 pu
z12 j 0.1
I 23  I 34  I12
 I M  I f  I G   j 3.271 pu

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Example 2:
The one-line diagram of a simple three-bus power system is
shown in the figure below. Each generator is represented by an
emf behind the transient reactance. All impedances are
expressed in per unit on a common MVA base. All resistances
and shunt capacitances are neglected. A three-phase fault occurs
at bus 3 through a fault impedance of Zf = j0.19 per unit.
Evaluate the fault current in per unit.

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Solution:
Method 1:
(a) To find Zth , all generators are short circuited:

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Objective:

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Converting the delta formed by buses 1-2-3 to an equivalent Y:

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Therefore:

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Finally, the fault current is:

Vth
If 
Z th  Z f
1
   j 2.5 pu
j 0.21  j 0.19

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Method 2:
Fault analysis can be also performed using Zbus matrix. For the
previous example, calculate the fault current using Zbus.

Solution:

-24.6667 1.3333 3.3333 

Ybus  j  1.3333 -16.8889 2.2222 
 
 3.3333 2.2222 - 5.5556 

0.045 0.0075 0.03 

 Z bus  [Ybus ]-1  j 0.0075 0.0638 0.03 
 
0.03 0.03 0.21
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Since the fault occurs at bus 3, we are interested in the value of
Z33. Therefore, the fault current is:

Vk (0)
If 
Z kk  Z f
V3 (0) 1
    j 2.5 pu
Z 33  Z f j 0.21  j 0.19

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Bus voltages during the fault are:

V1  V1 (0)  Z13 I f
 1  ( j 0.03)  ( j 2.5)  0.925 pu
V2  V2 (0)  Z 23 I f
 1  ( j 0.03)  ( j 2.5)  0.925 pu
V3  V3 (0)  Z 33 I f
 1  ( j 0.21)  ( j 2.5)  0.475 pu

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Line currents during the fault are:

V1  V2 0.925  0.925
I12    0 pu
z12 j 0.75
V1  V3 0.925  0.475
I13     j1.5 pu
z13 j 0.3
V2  V3 0.925  0.475
I 23     j1.0 pu
z23 j 0.45

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