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Sheath voltage calculations in long medium voltage power cables

Article · June 2011

DOI: 10.1109/PTC.2011.6019234

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 Paper accepted for presentation at the 2011 IEEE Trondheim PowerTech
Sheath Voltage Calculations in Long Medium
Voltage Power Cables
K. V. Gouramanis, Member, IEEE, Ch. G. Kaloudas, Student Member, IEEE, T. A. Papadopoulos,
Member, IEEE, G. K. Papagiannis, Senior Member, IEEE, K. Stasinos, Non-Member, IEEE
Abstract—This paper investigates the operation of single core
underground medium voltage cables connected in parallel. The
examination is based on an existing power cable arrangement
connecting a 38 MW wind farm with the transmission grid. The
cable arrangement consists of nine single core cables connected in
parallel to form a triple 3-phase system. Several connection
scenarios such as the earthing of the cable sheaths at one or both
ends and the application of sheath cross-bondings are examined.
Various simulation parameters are also investigated such as the
grounding resistance of the cable sheaths and the number of the
cable sheath transpositions. The respective voltages and currents
induced on the cable sheaths are calculated under steady-state
and short circuit conditions.
Index Terms—ATP/EMTP, cross-bonding, sheath currents,
underground power cables.
I. INTRODUCTION
T HE research interest on single core power cables is
increasing over the last years, due to their continuous use
in many Medium Voltage (MV) and High Voltage (HV)
installations. Typical cases where the utilization of
underground single core cables has met significant growth are
the wind farms. In a wind farm underground MV power cables
are used both in the internal electric grid and for the
connection to the transmission grid. The deployment of
single-core cables over long distances has renewed the interest
on research fields, such as the induced voltages and currents
on the cable sheaths for various operational conditions.
The simulation of MV cables including different cable
sheath configurations has been examined in the literature
[1] - [5]. Several configurations have been proposed, resulting
in varying sheath voltage profiles. In the most common
configuration, usually applied in cables with small lengths, the
cable sheaths are grounded at one or at both cable ends in
order to reduce the sheath voltages. In cases of cables with
longer lengths, the proposed configuration is the cross-
bonding of cable sheaths. Using cross-bonding, sheaths are
properly transposed, thus the sheath induced voltages are
minimized. The number of the sheath cross-bondings is
K.V. Gouramanis, Ch. G. Kaloudas, T. A. Papadopoulos, G. K.
Papagiannis are with Power Systems Laboratory, Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki
GR-54124, Greece (corresponding author G.K. Papagiannis:
grigoris@eng.auth.gr, telephone: +30 2310 996388, fax: +30 2310 996302,
P.O. Box 486).
K. Stasinos is with the Rokas Renewables – C. Rokas Group, Halandri,
Athens, Greece (e-mail: KStasino@rokasgroup.gr).
978-1-4244-8417-1/11/$26.00 ©2011
difficult to be predefined and must be calculated for each
specific cable arrangement.
In its initial form, IEEE Std. 575 suggested the application
of approximate equations in order to calculate the induced
voltages and currents at cable sheaths. In the new revised form
IEEE Std. 575-1988 [6] suggests that the induced voltages
must be calculated for each case using proper simulations.
According to [6] sheath voltages must not exceed 65-90 V
throughout the whole length of the cables under normal
operating conditions. On the other hand, according to the
IEEE Std. 80-2000 [7] the maximum sheath voltage at the
cable ends should not exceed 50 V.
Therefore, it is clear that, although there are general
guidelines concerning the sheath configuration depending on
the cable length, each installation must be individually
examined, especially in cases with long cable lengths. In this
paper the induced voltages and currents at the cable sheaths
are investigated under various cable arrangements and
operating characteristics. The cable arrangement under
configuration is a real one used for the interconnection of a
38 MW wind park to the MV/HV substation of the Greek
mainland transmission grid.
Several cable arrangements have been investigated, such as
grounding of the cable sheaths through various
groundingresistances and the application of sheath cross-
bonding at various positions, in order to reduce the sheath
induced voltages. These arrangements have been examined for
steady-state operation of the cable system and during
short-circuits. The Alternative Transients Program -
Electromagnetic Transients Program (ATP/EMTP) [8] has
been used for the calculation, while cable arrangements are
simulated using cable models with lumped parameters in the
time domain.
II. MODELING OF MV CABLES
The cable installation examined has a total length of
18360 m, connecting the wind park of Arachneo in Greece
with the local 20kV/150kV substation of the Public Power
Corporation (PPC), as shown in Fig. 1. The wind park has 19
double fed induction generators, 2 MW each, with the
corresponding step-up transformers and connection cables. A
group of nine medium voltage (MV) single core cables type
A2XSY/12/20KV, 630mm2 is installed in an underground
arrangement of triple 3-phase circuits S1, S2 and S3 with the
cables in trefoil formation in each circuit, as shown in Fig. 2.
The cable ditch has a total depth of 1.4 m. Each cable consists

of an aluminum core with XLPE insulation and copper sheath
with PVC outer insulation, as shown in Fig.3. The cable
geometrical and electric data are shown in Table I.
Fig. 1. System under study.
Fig. 2. Configuration of 9 underground single core cables in three trefoil
formations.
Fig. 3. MV single core cable used for the interconnection of the wind park
with the substation.
The cable parameters have been calculated using the
CABLE CONSTANTS/PARAMETERS supporting routine of
the ATP/EMTP [8] taking into account the topology of the
configuration, the skin effect and the influence of earth. In
order to simulate the 18360 m long cable arrangement,
Pi-equivalents with lumped parameters were implemented.
Each Pi-equivalent represents 306 m of cable length and
therefore the whole cable is simulated using 60 cascaded
Pi-equivalents.
2
TABLE I
DATA OF EACH SINGLE CORE CABLE
Core radius, r1 0.015 m
Main insulation radius, r2 0.0223 m
Sheath radius, r3 0.02255 m
Outer insulation radius, r4 0.02505 m
Core resistivity 3.7566 x 10-8 ȍ.m
Sheath resistivity 2.19 x 10-8 ȍ.m
Inner insulator, İr 2.3
Outer insulator, İr 6
All relative permeability, ȝr 1.0
Cable length Ɛ is measured starting from a zero value at the
cable connection point to the PPC substation side and retains a
18360 m value at the corresponding point at the wind park
side.
The use of cable equivalents with lumped parameters
(Pi-equivalents) for simulation of the cable arrangement has
been chosen for the cases under consideration instead of the
JMarti frequency domain or the time domain Bergeron model.
There are certain drawbacks on the use of the JMarti
frequency domain (FD) model for cable arrangements [9] ] -
[10]. Due to this fact, combined with the complexity of the
application, the JMarti model for the case of the mutually
coupled nine cable cores and nine cable sheaths was not
chosen for the simulation.
Furthermore, all calculations of the cable arrangements are
conducted solely for steady-state conditions at power
frequency, since the transient behavior is not examined. Thus,
the use of the lumped parameter equivalents is adequate and
this model is preferred in respect to the Bergeron time domain
model. The validation of the model used in the simulations is
accomplished also with the comparison of the results to the
corresponding by relative references [2], [11], which showed a
very good agreement.
III. STEADY-STATE CALCULATIONS
For the steady-state calculation the worst case scenario
corresponding to the maximum power flow from the wind
park to the electric grid is assumed. Two 3-phase symmetrical
voltage sources connected at the terminals of the cascaded
Pi-equivalent cable model represent 20 kV busbars of the wind
farms and of the PPC substation, as shown in Fig. 4. The
voltage source data are calculated according to the results of a
load flow study, using the NEPLAN software [12] for the
maximum power flow conditions. Simulations have been
conducted and the voltage distribution along the cable sheaths
has been calculated using the ATP/EMTP [8] software.
The examined cable arrangements are:
• Arrangement a, with cable sheaths grounded at one
end,
• Arrangement b, with cable sheaths grounded at both
ends,
• Arrangement c, with sheath cross-bonding at two or
five points combined with sheath grounding at both
cable ends

• Arrangement d, where cable sheaths are grounded at
intermediate points along the cable length.
In all cases the use of different grounding resistances has
been also examined. All the above cable arrangements are
shown in Fig. 5, for one of the three 3-phase cable systems.
For each configuration and examined case the induced
voltages and currents at the cable sheaths are calculated.
Fig. 4. Steady-state simulation model.
Fig. 5. Examined cable arrangements.
Figs. 6 – 9 illustrate the voltage distribution at the cable
sheaths for each of the examined arrangements. It is shown,
that in the cases of cable sheath grounding either at one or at
both ends, without cross-bonding, the induced voltages at the
cable sheaths can be significant, especially at the cable
terminals, depending on the value of the grounding
resistances. Typical values for grounding resistances at 1 Ohm
or 2 Ohm have been examined, since such low grounding
resistances are common in substations. For higher values of
grounding resistances the voltage at the cable ends can reach
very high values. Furthermore, when cable sheaths are
3
grounded at both ends the induced currents become relatively
high, reaching up to 90 A for grounding resistance equal to 1
Ohm, thus causing increased cable losses.
The application of cross-bonding significantly reduces the
induced sheath voltage to a maximum of 120 V for 2
cross-bondings and 60 V for 5 cross-bondings, respectively, as
shown in Figs 8 and 9. Voltages at the cable terminals are also
small, below 50 V in accordance to [7]. The respective
induced sheath currents are minimized and are in all cases
below 10 A, thus reducing the respective cable losses.
Fig. 6. Induced voltage at the cable sheaths. Sheaths are grounded only at one
end (PPC side) using different grounding resistances.
Fig. 7. Induced voltage at cable sheaths. Sheaths are grounded at both ends
using different grounding resistances.
Fig. 8. Induced voltage at sheaths. Cable sheaths are grounded at both ends
using different grounding resistances and sheaths are cross-bonded at two
points (every 6120 m).
In cases where cross-bonding is used, the value of the
grounding resistance has minor effects on the induced sheath
voltages, compared to the non cross-bonded case, especially at
the cable terminals. These are the points with the higher risk
for human safety, since they are accessible by the technical
personnel.

Fig. 9. Induced voltage at sheaths. Cable sheaths are grounded at both ends
using different grounding resistances and sheaths are cross-bonded at five
points (every 3060 m).
Fig. 10 illustrates the voltage profiles at the cable sheaths,
when sheaths are grounded at both ends with a 2 Ohm
grounding resistance and also at 12 equidistant points along
the cable length (every 1530 m), using different grounding
resistances. It is shown that unless a very low grounding
resistance, for example 2 Ohm or less, is achieved at all
intermediate grounding points the sheath voltage is high.
However, to attain such values for the grounding resistances
along the cable routing is not at all easy. Furthermore, this
arrangement also causes higher sheath currents in respect to
the cross-bonding case, due to the high number of internal
loops formed by the numerous grounding points. The sheath
current has been calculated equal to 35 A for the case of
2 Ohm grounding resistances.
Fig. 10. Induced voltage at sheaths. Cable sheaths are grounded at both ends
using grounding resistances equal to 2 Ohm and at 12 points along the cable
with varying grounding resistances.
Finally, the influence of the number of cables in the
arrangement is investigated. The system under study
comprises a group of nine single core cables. Modeling of the
cable system with only 3 or 6 cables results in significant
differences in the calculated voltages, compared to those of
the full cable system model. Fig. 11 shows the different
voltage profiles along the cable sheaths for sheaths grounded
at both ends with 2 Ohm grounding resistance. Cable systems
consisting of 3, 6 and 9 cables are examined. The voltages
induced by the adjacent cables, due to the system asymmetries
result in higher sheath voltages with increasing cable system
complexity.
4
Fig. 11. Induced voltage at the sheaths when the cable sheaths are grounded
at both ends with 2 Ohm grounding resistances, for cable systems consisting
of 3, 6 and 9 cables.
IV. SHORT CIRCUIT CALCULATIONS
The cable model is also used in order to calculate the cable
sheath voltages during 3-phase and single phase short-circuits
(SC). As the worst case scenario, a 3-phase or single phase to
ground fault in the PPC or the wind park busbars has been
considered. The SC currents in the cable cores have been
simulated using proper current sources equal to the expected
SC current, as calculated according to the IEC 60909 [13]. A
3-phase SC at the grid side is simulated using a current source
representing the total fault current at the wind farm busbar,
connected at the wind farm side of the cable and all phases
short circuited at the grid side cable end. For the simulation of
a single-phase short circuit, a current source is connected at
the faulted cable phase. In this case, the other two phases are
assumed to be open-circuited at both ends. The simulation
model used is illustrated in Fig. 12.
Fig. 12. Simulation model used for a short-circuit at the grid side.
A. Three-phase Short Circuits
All results calculated for the 3-phase symmetrical SC are
quite similar in form to the corresponding derived from the
steady-state analysis. The grounding of cable sheaths at one or
at both ends does not sufficiently reduce the induced sheath
voltage when dealing with long cable lengths. Furthermore,
the grounding at both cable ends leads to significant currents
at the cable sheaths. The application of two or five
cross-bondings for the examined 18360 m long cable

arrangement reduces the sheath voltage to a maximum of 500
V and 300 V respectively, as shown in Figs. 13 and 14. In Fig.
14, the maximum sheath voltage for the case of cross-bonding
at 5 points seems to depend significantly on the value of the
grounding resistance, due mainly to the high currents that flow
in the sheaths during the short-circuit.
Fig. 13. Induced voltage at cable sheaths. Cable sheaths grounded at both
ends and cross-bonded at two points (every 6120 m). 3-Phase Short Circuit at
the Wind Park side.
Fig. 14. Induced voltage at sheaths. Cable sheaths grounded at both ends and
cross-bonded at five points (every 3060 m). 3-Phase Short Circuit at the Wind
Park side.
In order to further reduce the induced voltage additional
measures such as Sheath Voltage Limiters (SVLs) must be
used [14]. The SVLs are non linear devices connected
between the sheaths and earth, usually installed at the points of
the sheath cross-bonding. Under normal operating conditions,
the SVLs behave as an open circuit. When the sheath voltage
increases over the rated SVL voltage, the SVL grounds the
sheath at the installation point to reduce the overvoltage. Since
in this analysis the transient behavior of the short circuit and
the SVLs is not examined, the SVLs when energized are
treated as grounding points with specified grounding
resistances.
Fig. 15 shows the sheath voltage for the case of five SVLs
connected at the five sheath cross-bonding points. The
respective sheath voltage profile of the arrangement without
the SVLs is shown in Fig. 14. In Fig. 15, the voltage profiles
represent different combinations of grounding resistances,
where Rearth,ext corresponds to the grounding resistance at the
cable ends and Rearth,int to the grounding resistance at the
SVLs. As shown, the voltage is reduced to a maximum of
300V depending on the value of the grounding resistances.
5
Fig. 15. Induced voltage at sheaths for a 3-phase short circuit when sheath
cross-bonding and SVLs are used.
B. Single-phase Short Circuits
Similar calculations have been conducted for single-phase
short circuits, as determined by [13]. Simulation results show
that when single-phase SCs occur, the cross-bonding of the
cable sheaths does not affect the induced voltage. This is
expected since during a single-phase SC the 3-phase cables do
not carry symmetrical fault currents. Therefore, the
transposition applied to the sheaths does not eliminate the
induced voltage as it is not equally induced from the three
phases.
Fig. 16 illustrates the sheath voltage profile corresponding
to phase a and b of a 3-phase cable system. The single phase
short circuit occurs in phase a. In the examined cable
arrangement sheaths are grounded at both ends with a 2 Ohm
grounding resistance, while five cross-bondings are applied.
The voltage profile shows that the voltage at both sheaths is
equally significant, since the cross-bonding does not help in
the mitigation of the sheath induced voltages.
Fig. 16. Induced voltage at sheaths. Cable sheaths are grounded at both ends
with 2 Ohm grounding resistances and cross-bonded at five points.
Single-phase a SC at the Wind Park side .
On the contrary, the installation of SVLs at certain points of
the cable routing, practically at the points of the sheath
cross-bondings, has shown that the induced voltage at the
cable sheaths is reduced. Fig. 17 shows the induced voltage in
the case of a single-phase short-circuit at the wind farm side.
The induced voltage is reduced due to the five SVLs that are
connected at the cable sheaths. Additionally, sheaths are
grounded with different grounding resistances at both ends.
The voltage, depending on the grounding resistances, is lower
than 280 V in all cases. The respective voltage induced when
only cross-bondings are applied has been calculated equal to
600 V at the cable ends.

Fig. 17. Induced voltage at the cable sheaths in the case of a single-phase SC
when cross-bondings and SVLs are used.
V. CONCLUSIONS
The problems that may occur in parallel MV single core
cables with long lengths have been examined in this paper. It
is shown that significant voltages can be induced at the cable
sheaths if specific measures are not taken. The calculation of
the cable sheath voltages has been conducted using the
ATP/EMTP software. A real cable arrangement has been
investigated in order to determine the effects of various
parameters on the induced sheath voltages under steady-state
and short-circuit conditions.
It is shown that the sheath induced voltage at cables with
significant length can be reduced only by applying both sheath
cross-bonding and grounding at the cable ends combined with
small grounding resistances. Grounding resistances greatly
affect the induced voltages and therefore small grounding
resistances at least at the cable terminations at the substations
is crucial in order to reduce the sheath voltage at the cable
ends. The number and the location of the sheath cross-bonding
points depend on the cable length and configuration and must
be calculated for each case individually.
The application of sheath grounding only at the cable ends,
besides of the induced sheath voltages results also in high
sheath currents that increase the cable losses.
The application of sheath cross-bonding is not adequate in
cases of three-phase and singe-phase short circuits. In order to
reduce the sheath voltages the use of SVLs at the points of
cross-bonding is necessary. In both cases of three-phase and
single-phase short-circuits, it is shown that SLVs can reduce
the induced voltages considerably. In the case of single-phase
short-circuits the cross-bonding of the sheaths does not affect
the induced voltage due to the asymmetrical fault currents in
the 3-phase cable system.
VI. REFERENCES
[1] Nasser D. Tleis, Power Systems Modeling and Fault Analysis, Published
by Elsevier Ltd, 2008, pp 140-186.
[2] C. Adamson, H. Taha, L. M. Wedepohl, "Comparative Steady – State
Performance of Crossbonded Cable Systems", Proc. IEE, vol. 115, no.
8, pp. 1147-1155, Aug. 1968.
[3] E. H. Ball, E. Occhini, G. Luoni, "Sheath Overvoltages in High–Voltage
Cables Resulting from Special Sheath-Bonding Connections," IEEE
Trans. on Power Apparatus and Systems, vol. PAS-84, no. 10, pp. 974-
988, Oct. 1965.
[4] J.R. Riba Ruiz, Antoni Garcia, X. Alabern Morera, "Circulating sheath
currents in flat formation underground power lines," in Proc.
6
"International Conference on Renewable Energies and Power Quality
(ICREPQ'07)", Sevilla 28,29 and 30 Mach 2007
[5] N. Drossos G. Kyritsis D. Tsanakas S. Papathanassiou, "Examination Of
Alternative Formations For 150 KV Cables - Possibilities And
Advantages From The Use Of Trefoil Formation," in Proc. MedPower
2004, Nov. 2004, Lemessos.
[6] IEEE Guide for the Application of Sheath-Bonding Methods for
Single-Conductor Cables and the Calculation of Induced Voltages and
Currents in Cable Sheaths, ANSI/IEEE Std 575-1 988.
[7] IEEE Guide for Safety in AC Substation Grounding, ǿǼǼǼ 80-2000, 01-
May-2000.
[8] H. W. Dommel, ‘EMTP Theory Book’, Bonnevile Power Administratio
n, Portland, OR, 1982.
[9] L. Marti, "Simulation of Transients in Underground Cables with
Frequency – Dependent Modal Transformation Matrices," IEEE Trans.
on Power Delivery, vol. 3, no. 3, pp.1099-1110, Jul. 1988.
[10] L. Marti, "Simulation of Electromagnetic Transients in Underground
Cables using the EMTP," in Proc. 2nd IEE International Conf. on
Advances in Power System Control, Operating and Management, Hong
Kong, Dec. 1993.
[11] R. Benato, A. Paolucci, EHV AC Undergrounding Electrical Power:
Performance and Planning, Springer-Verlang, London, 2010.
[12] NEPLAN© User’s Guide V5 Tutorial.
[13] IEC 60909-0, Short-circuit currents in 3-phase a.c. systems – Part 0:
Calculation of currents, IEC First edition 2001-07.
[14] B. Parmigiani, D. Quaggia, E. Elli, S. Franchina, "Zinc Oxide Sheath
Voltage Limiter For HV and EHV Power Cable: Field Experience and
Laboratory Tests," IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. PWRD-
1, No. 1, January 1986.
VII. BIOGRAPHIES
Kostas Gouramanis was born in Athens, Greece, on September 22, 1979. He
received his diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Aristotle
University of Thessaloniki, Greece in 2003, and his Ph.D. degree from the
same university in 2007. He is currently working as a consultant in the areas
of industrial electrical installations, electrical energy saving, and renewable
energy sources. His research interests are in the fields of power electronics,
power quality and renewable energy sources.
Christos G. Kaloudas was born in Xanthi, Greece, on May 4, 1983. He
received his Dipl. Eng. Degree from the Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, in 2006.
Since 2006 he is a postgraduate student at the Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. His special
interests are power system modeling and computation of electromagnetic
transients.
Theofilos A. Papadopoulos was born in Thessaloniki, Greece, on March 10,
1980. He received his Dipl. Eng. Degree and Ph.D. from the Department of
Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Aristotle University of
Thessaloniki, in 2003 and 2008, respectively. He is currently a researcher at
the Power Systems Laboratory of the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. His special
interests are power system modeling, powerline communications and
computation of electromagnetic transients. Mr. Papadopoulos has received the
Basil Papadias Award for the best student paper, presented at the IEEE
PowerTech 07 Conference in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Grigoris K. Papagiannis was born in Thessaloniki, Greece, on September 23,
1956. He received his Dipl. Eng. Degree and his Ph.D. degree from the
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Aristotle
University of Thessaloniki, in 1979 and 1998 respectively. He is currently
Associate Professor at the Power Systems Laboratory of the Department of
Electrical and Computer Engineering of the Aristotle University of
Thessaloniki, Greece. His special interests are power system modeling,
computation of electromagnetic transients, distributed generation, powerline
communications and smart grids.
Kostantinos Stasinos received his Dipl. Eng. Degree from the Department of
Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Aristotle University of
Thessaloniki, in 2003. Since 2005 he is Electrical Works Coordinator in the
 7

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