Guidelines to deal with engineering aspects in

practice
A chapter in the course Ampacity and engineering aspects

Frank de Wild & Sander Meijer

7 & 8 June 2012

DNV KEMA course on Power Cable Ampactiy and Engineering Aspects, June 2012; © publication in total or in part and / or reproduction
in whatever way of the contents of this course is not allowed unless permission has been explicitly given by previous letter.
Contents
ƒ Introduction
ƒ Life curve
ƒ New cables
ƒ Existing cables

DNV KEMA course on Power Cable Ampactiy and Engineering Aspects, June 2012; © publication in total or in part and / or reproduction
in whatever way of the contents of this course is not allowed unless permission has been explicitly given by previous letter.
Introduction
ƒ Engineering aspects are many, and important in different phases of a cable’s life
ƒ In this last part of the course:
- What concerns can be dealt with in what phase?
- What considerations are important?
- What guidelines can we give?

DNV KEMA course on Power Cable Ampactiy and Engineering Aspects, June 2012; © publication in total or in part and / or reproduction
in whatever way of the contents of this course is not allowed unless permission has been explicitly given by previous letter.
Cable Life Curve

Demolition

Out of use

Operation

Commisioning
Delivery
Design Completion
Project start
Production of components
Engineering
Preparation
DNV KEMA course on Power Cable Ampactiy and Engineering Aspects, June 2012; © publication in total or in part and / or reproduction
in whatever way of the contents of this course is not allowed unless permission has been explicitly given by previous letter.
New cables
The subject of engineering is important during:
ƒ Preparation
ƒ Engineering
ƒ Realisation
ƒ Commissioning
ƒ (Operation)

DNV KEMA course on Power Cable Ampactiy and Engineering Aspects, June 2012; © publication in total or in part and / or reproduction
in whatever way of the contents of this course is not allowed unless permission has been explicitly given by previous letter.
Preparation phase
ƒ In what kind of network configuration will the cable be installed?
- Meshed grid
- Partly undergrounding of overhead line
- Generator cable
- Interconnector

ƒ Different stresses should be considered

- Electrical, thermal, mechanical, environmental
- Electrical stresses mainly caused by overvoltages due to lightning and switching
- Stresses lead to ageing of the cable system ultimately leading to failure

ƒ The engineers task is to design the cable system in such a way that all applicable
stresses are identified and taken into account in the cable system design
- Testing should proof the cable system design to meet the requirements

ƒ Quality should be build-in

DNV KEMA course on Power Cable Ampactiy and Engineering Aspects, June 2012; © publication in total or in part and / or reproduction
in whatever way of the contents of this course is not allowed unless permission has been explicitly given by previous letter.
Preparation phase
ƒ It must be clear what the required ampacity is
- continuous
- dynamic (in case of faults)

ƒ (Required life of the connection)

ƒ Responsibility for the soil thermal properties (determination of > 50% of the
ampacity) <> contract

DNV KEMA course on Power Cable Ampactiy and Engineering Aspects, June 2012; © publication in total or in part and / or reproduction
in whatever way of the contents of this course is not allowed unless permission has been explicitly given by previous letter.
Engineering phase
Cable installation requires thorough preparation
ƒ Desk top study cable route
- Shortest possible route
- Affected by obstacles
- …

ƒ Property ownership
- Legal issues
- Roads, property boundaries, overhead lines, etc. are often followed
- …

ƒ Cable design constraints

- Bending radius of the cable vs corners in the routing
- Location of joints, trying to minimize the number of joints,
- surrounding environment
- …

DNV KEMA course on Power Cable Ampactiy and Engineering Aspects, June 2012; © publication in total or in part and / or reproduction
in whatever way of the contents of this course is not allowed unless permission has been explicitly given by previous letter.
Engineering phase
ƒ Access road
- During installation of the cable
- During operational life easy access to joint pits
- …

ƒ Laying depth
- Above or below other infrastructure/ other obstacles
- Use of ground (city, agriculture, ..)
- Ampacity vs magnetic fields
- Protection against third party damage
- Characterization of soil
- …

ƒ System configuration
- Trefoil vs flat formation (touching or not touching)
- Ampacity vs magnetic fields
- Earthing method
- …
DNV KEMA course on Power Cable Ampactiy and Engineering Aspects, June 2012; © publication in total or in part and / or reproduction
in whatever way of the contents of this course is not allowed unless permission has been explicitly given by previous letter.
Engineering phase
ƒ Installing a cable system takes a lot of preparation
- Routing
- Legal aspects
- Access during operation
- Laying criteria
- Design criteria
- Environmental constraints
- …

ƒ Installing cable system

- Open excavation
- Horizontal directional drilling
- Tunnel
- Ducts/pipes
- Joints directly buried vs concrete housing
- Terminations on support, in tower, directly in GIS/transformer/…
- …

DNV KEMA course on Power Cable Ampactiy and Engineering Aspects, June 2012; © publication in total or in part and / or reproduction
in whatever way of the contents of this course is not allowed unless permission has been explicitly given by previous letter.
Engineering phase
ƒ Points for consideration:
- Are all functional requirements clearly set?
- Magnetic fields
- Current rating
- Voltage withstanding capabilities
- Short circuit rating
- Forces
- RAM
- lifetime
- Et cetera

- Can it be built without major difficulties?

- Check/test the functional requirements, and define how
- As part of this, check the engineering calculations, and assumptions!

- How to optimize the design? Many aspects have multiple influences

- How critical is the design for thermal bottlenecks?

DNV KEMA course on Power Cable Ampactiy and Engineering Aspects, June 2012; © publication in total or in part and / or reproduction
in whatever way of the contents of this course is not allowed unless permission has been explicitly given by previous letter.
Engineering phase
ƒ Points for consideration:
- Magnetic fields are becoming a more important engineering factor
- Requirements are country specific – check them carefully
- Cable installation has significant impact
- Spacing
- Depth
- Trefoil
- Interference on other infrastructures
- Parallel cable systems
- Pipes
- Countermeasures usually have a negative impact on the ampacity

DNV KEMA course on Power Cable Ampactiy and Engineering Aspects, June 2012; © publication in total or in part and / or reproduction
in whatever way of the contents of this course is not allowed unless permission has been explicitly given by previous letter.
Manufacturing of components
ƒ Backfill
- Check the thermal properties of the backfill used

ƒ Cables, pipes, installations

- Are they “as engineered”?

ƒ RAM
- Perform QA/QC actions to keep track of product quality
- Is the testing successful as expected? If not, does it threaten the system’s RAM?

DNV KEMA course on Power Cable Ampactiy and Engineering Aspects, June 2012; © publication in total or in part and / or reproduction
in whatever way of the contents of this course is not allowed unless permission has been explicitly given by previous letter.
Realisation phase
ƒ Backfill /replacing soil
- Check the degree of compaction and the value of thermal resistivity in the field
- Check the realisation of special constructions

ƒ General
- Take care not to create new thermal bottlenecks

DNV KEMA course on Power Cable Ampactiy and Engineering Aspects, June 2012; © publication in total or in part and / or reproduction
in whatever way of the contents of this course is not allowed unless permission has been explicitly given by previous letter.
Commissioning phase
ƒ Make sure by now all functional requirements are checked
- Magnetic fields
- Current rating
- Voltage withstanding capabilities
- Short circuit rating
- Forces
- RAM
- lifetime
- Et cetera

ƒ Ampacity
- If needed, perform temperature measurements in the field in combination with calculations to
verify the cable circuit loading possibilities
- Calculate what..if scenarios for emergency situations

DNV KEMA course on Power Cable Ampactiy and Engineering Aspects, June 2012; © publication in total or in part and / or reproduction
in whatever way of the contents of this course is not allowed unless permission has been explicitly given by previous letter.
Existing cables

DNV KEMA course on Power Cable Ampactiy and Engineering Aspects, June 2012; © publication in total or in part and / or reproduction
in whatever way of the contents of this course is not allowed unless permission has been explicitly given by previous letter.
Cable Life Curve

Demolition

Out of service

Operation

Commissioning
Delivery
Design Realisation
Projec tstart
Production of components
Engineering
Preparation
DNV KEMA course on Power Cable Ampactiy and Engineering Aspects, June 2012; © publication in total or in part and / or reproduction
in whatever way of the contents of this course is not allowed unless permission has been explicitly given by previous letter.
Existing cables
ƒ Engineering and installation phases have been completed
ƒ Cable has a history
- In the past less options available for identifying the ampacity
- In the past quite often assumptions were made on the thermal resistivity value of the soil and
less attention was being paid to bottlenecks

ƒ What are the real loading possibilities?

DNV KEMA course on Power Cable Ampactiy and Engineering Aspects, June 2012; © publication in total or in part and / or reproduction
in whatever way of the contents of this course is not allowed unless permission has been explicitly given by previous letter.
Operation
ƒ In order to increase or check the ampacity of the circuit:
- Identify circuit conditions
- Select relevant starting points (conductor temperature, sheath temperature, required life time
etc.)
- Perform a cable route survey to find bottlenecks
- Remove bottlenecks
- Identify soil thermal properties
- Re-establish the ampacity

DNV KEMA course on Power Cable Ampactiy and Engineering Aspects, June 2012; © publication in total or in part and / or reproduction
in whatever way of the contents of this course is not allowed unless permission has been explicitly given by previous letter.
Operation
Various options to establish the ampacity:
ƒ Stationary rating calculations

Increasing complexity
- Based on IEC

Increasing ‘reality’
- Based on IEC+

ƒ Emergency or cyclic rating calculations

- Based on IEC 60853

ƒ Scenario analysis
(off line dynamic rating calculations)
ƒ On line dynamic rating systems

ƒ Important cable circuits or capacity bottlenecks?

- Consider the next step in the above option list!

DNV KEMA course on Power Cable Ampactiy and Engineering Aspects, June 2012; © publication in total or in part and / or reproduction
in whatever way of the contents of this course is not allowed unless permission has been explicitly given by previous letter.
Operational
ƒ Reliability, availability and maintenance should be traced during operational life
ƒ Outcomes can be valuable input for the design and engineering phase
ƒ Influencing factors in RAM
- Loading and over-loading capabilities
- Short circuit rating
- Any change in operational conditions since engineering (increase of short circuit current, ..)
- Earthing philosophy
- Installation issues (change of soil over time, ...)
- Selection of accessories
- Grid configuration (redundancy)

ƒ Quality Assurance and Quality Control by proper maintenance actions

DNV KEMA course on Power Cable Ampactiy and Engineering Aspects, June 2012; © publication in total or in part and / or reproduction
in whatever way of the contents of this course is not allowed unless permission has been explicitly given by previous letter.
Conclusions
ƒ Much can be achieved:
- Optimal designs
- Optimal utilisation

ƒ Keep track of engineering aspects!

- During the engineering phases of a project, but also during operation of the network

DNV KEMA course on Power Cable Ampactiy and Engineering Aspects, June 2012; © publication in total or in part and / or reproduction
in whatever way of the contents of this course is not allowed unless permission has been explicitly given by previous letter.
End
Thank you for your attention!

More information:
Frank.deWild@dnvkema.com
Sander.Meijer@dnvkema.com
DNV KEMA course on Power Cable Ampactiy and Engineering Aspects, June 2012; © publication in total or in part and / or reproduction
in whatever way of the contents of this course is not allowed unless permission has been explicitly given by previous letter.