See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/3276436

Lightning Impulse Performances of Grounding Grids for Substations

Considering Soil Ionization

Article in IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery · May 2008

DOI: 10.1109/TPWRD.2007.915194 · Source: IEEE Xplore

CITATIONS READS
76 1,222

5 authors, including:

R. Zeng He Jinliang
Tsinghua University Tsinghua University
366 PUBLICATIONS 4,541 CITATIONS 802 PUBLICATIONS 13,138 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Bo Zhang
Chinese Academy of Sciences
654 PUBLICATIONS 17,775 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Lightning current waveform and leader channel parameter Estiamtion from Lightning EMFs View project

Key Fundamental Study on Large-Capacity HVDC Power Cable and Gas-Insulated Line View project

All content following this page was uploaded by R. Zeng on 11 May 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 23, NO. 2, APRIL 2008
Lightning Impulse Performances of Grounding Grids
for Substations Considering Soil Ionization
Rong Zeng, Senior Member, IEEE, Xuehai Gong, Jinliang He, Fellow, IEEE, Bo Zhang, and Yanqing Gao
Abstract—When lightning strikes a substation or a transmission
tower near the substation, high current generated by the stroke
would flow into the grounding grid of the substation and dissipate
in the soil. The transient characteristic of the grounding grid is very
important to the safe and reliable operation of the power system. A
circuit model with a lumped time-variable parameter is proposed
to calculate the transient characteristics of a grounding grid under
lightning current. The ionization phenomena around the ground
conductors in the soil are simulated by means of time-variable pa-
rameters under appropriate conditions. The influences of different
parameters on the transient characteristics of the grounding grid
subjected to lightning impulse current are analyzed and the effec-
tive usage area of the grounding grid under lightning is discussed.
Index Terms—Grounding grid, lightning impulse, soil ionization,
transient characteristic.
I. INTRODUCTION
HE performance of grounding systems subject to high im-
T pulse current plays an important role in the safe and re-
liable operation of the power system. The lightning protection
effects of substations are related to the impulse characteristics of
grounding devices for transmission-line towers and grounding
grids for the substation. In order to obtain a correct design of an
electrical system, with respect to the protection of installations
against anomalous events, it is fundamental to predict the im-
pulse performance of a grounding system.
As already proven by many researchers, the characteristic of
grounding systems subject to high impulse current is dramati-
cally different from that at the low frequency [1]–[4]. Since in-
ductive behavior can become more important with respect to
resistive behavior and, in addition, these large currents can gen-
erate soil ionization, which makes the impulse response typi-
cally nonlinear.
A grounding grid consists of a significant array of conduc-
tors buried below ground level whose primary purpose is that
Manuscript received November 1, 2004; revised July 5, 2006 and March 11,
2007. This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foun-
dation of China under Grants 50407002, 50425721, and 50737001, and in part
by the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China under Grant
2004CB217906. Paper no. TPWRD-00620-2004.
R. Zeng, J. He, and B. Zhang are with the State Key Lab of Power Systems,
Department of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084,
China (e-mail: zengrong@tsinghua. edu.cn, hejl@tsinghua.edu.cn).
X. Gong is with the North China Electrical Power Research Institute, Beijing
100045, China.
Y. Q. Gao is with the Beijing International Electric Power Development and
Investment Company, Beijing 100037, China.
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPWRD.2007.915194
0885-8977/$25.00 © 2008 IEEE
Authorized licensed use limited to: Tsinghua University Library. Downloaded on January 20, 2009 at 20:04 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
667
of the safety-limiting touch and step potentials and dispersing
fault currents into the earth.
There have been many papers on the performance of
grounding systems. And several models have been proposed
to analyze and predict the behavior of grounding systems
when they are excited by impulse currents based on circuit
approaches, or on electromagnetic-field approaches [5]–[16].
However, the dynamic and nonlinear ionization phenomenon is
often omitted because this complicated physical phenomenon is
too difficult to be modeled [5]–[10]. The nonlinear time-varying
transient behavior depends upon many electrical and geomet-
rical parameters. And the evolution of soil ionization in the
frequency domain is very difficult to predict [11]–[15]. The
soil ionization of a single grounding electrode was simulated
by fractal theory [16]. Fractal theory can only simulate the
development of ionization. It is difficult to analyze the transient
performance of a complex grounding grid. Many measurement
results were also obtained [2], [4], [17].
In this paper, we proposed an effective method for the
transient performance analysis of a grounding grid, which is
a numerical calculation approach based on the circuit model
of distributed time-variable parameters. It accurately takes
into consideration nonlinear effects of breakdown in the soil
surrounding the grounding conductors. The soil was assumed
to be homogenous and isotropic in this paper.
II. TRANSIENT ANALYSIS MODEL OF GROUNDING GRID
When high impulse currents excite a grounding system, the
transient electromagnetic fields will be generated in the soil
around the grounding conductors. The electric-field strength in
the soil will rise with the increment of the impulse current ampli-
tude. When the electric-field strength surrounding the grounding
conductor exceeds its critical value , soil breakdown around
the conductor will occur. It will make the potential fall around
the grounding conductor smaller. And it will convert the af-
fected portion of the soil from an insulator to a conductor.
Due to the nature of the studied phenomenon, a time-domain
analysis is more suitable to analyze the grounding system
considering the soil ionization. Several authors have studied
the soil ionization by using the transmission-line approach
[11]–[14], but the mutual couplings among conductors were
not taken into account. In this paper, we proposed an effective
method for transient performance analysis of a grounding grid
based on the circuit model of distributed time-variable param-
eters, which can take the mutual couplings among conductors
into account.
668 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 23, NO. 2, APRIL 2008

Fig. 1. Modeling of a grounding electrode.

Fig. 3. Mutual impedance diagram among any two segments of a grounding

grid.

grounding conductor, the inner self- inductance of a grounding

conductor can be neglected compared with the external self-in-
Fig. 2. Representation of a ground electrode with nonuniformly lumped ductance due to strong skin effect, so the self- inductance of
parameters.
the th segment can be calculated by

(1)
The inductive effect of grounding conductors will obstruct the
current to flow toward the terminal end of the conductors [18].
The current density in the soil, where it is much closer to the where is the length of the th segment of grounding electrode
feed point, is much larger. So the ionized zone of the soil around and is the permeability of free space.
the conductor is not columniform but pyramidal. With respect The resistance of the th segment with a length of can be
to the complexity of mathematical model, the used model in this calculated by
paper is shown in Fig. 1. The conductor is represented by a set of
cylindrical zones to simulate the soil ionization phenomena as
illustrated in Fig. 1. Obviously, this assumption is reasonable.
in Fig. 1 is the equivalent radius of the th segment, which is time
variable when an impulse current is injected into the grounding
electrode; and is the radius of the metal conductor. is chosen
to be large enough so that the electric field at the edge of the
ionized zone is below the critical value, which is time variable. (2)
A horizontal grounding electrode buried in soil under light-
ning impulse current can be considered a distributed network as
shown in Fig. 2. For a conductor segment, it is composed of se- where is the soil resistivity and is the burial depth of the
ries resistance , series inductance , shunt conductance , grounding electrode. The shunt capacitance of the th seg-
and shunt capacitance . ment with a length of and an ionization zone radius of in
The shunt capacitance and shunt conductance in Fig. 2 an infinite medium is
of the electrode tied to the diameter of the conductor are related
to the equivalent diameters of every conductor segment, so they (3)
are also time varying. The series resistance and series induc-
tance are not affected by soil ionization; this can be explained
as follows. The directions of the current flowing into soil on the
where is the permittivity of soil. When the electrode is buried
boundary between soil and conductors are normal to the surface
in a depth of , the capacitance is obtained by assuming two
of conductors. The longitudinal current is considered to flow in-
conductors with a distance of in an infinite medium, which is
side the conductors. The magnetic linkage interlinked with cur-
based on image theory. So the capacitance of a buried grounding
rents is unvaried with the equivalent diameter of the conductors.
conductor is equal to
According to the physical definition, the series resistance and
series inductance are unvaried with the equivalent diameter
(4)
of the grounding conductor. The soil ionization only affects the
shunt capacitance and shunt conductance .
The shunt conductance in Fig. 3 can be determined by [7]
The unit length series resistance, series inductance, shunt
capacitance, and shunt conductance of a grounding conductor
are given in [19]–[21]. If a lightning current is injected into a (5)

Authorized licensed use limited to: Tsinghua University Library. Downloaded on January 20, 2009 at 20:04 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
ZENG et al.: LIGHTNING IMPULSE PERFORMANCES OF GROUNDING GRIDS
Fig. 4. Paralleling conductor arrangements.
As is well known, the electric-field intensity on the boundary
of the ionized zone is the critical value of soil breakdown. The
equivalent radius for each segment can be obtained by
(6)
where is the current density leaked by the th segment and
is the current that has leaked into earth from the th segment.
If the current of each segment in every time step is known,
the equivalent radius can be determined from (6), which is time
varying. The parameters of each segment can be evaluated from
(3)–(5). Therefore, the impulse response of a grounding con-
ductor can be obtained with the application of nodal analysis
and a suitable iterative algorithm, which takes into account the
nonlinearity of electrical parameters. On the other hand, for a
grounding grid, the mutual impedance exists among any two
segments, the respective equivalent circuit is shown in Fig. 3.
The mutual impedance (resistance and capacitance) among
any two conductors can be calculated by
(7)
where is the length of the th conductor, is the image length
of the th conductor, is the length of the th conductor,
is the distance between two segments and in the integral
routine, and is the distance between two segments and
in the integral routine.
The mutual inductances among any two segments can be cal-
culated by formulas in [21]. For paralleling conductors of the
grounding grid as shown in Fig. 4, the mutual inductance of the
conductor arrangement in Fig. 4(a) can be calculated by
(8)
where , , , and can be calculated by (1) with the
length being equal to , , , shape, and amplitude of the impulse current and soil parameters.
and , respectively.
The mutual inductance of the conductor arrangement shown
in Fig. 4(c) can be calculated by
(9)
Authorized licensed use limited to: Tsinghua University Library. Downloaded on January 20, 2009 at 20:04 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
669
Fig. 5. Comparison between the simulation and experimental results.
For conductor arrangements in Fig. 4(b) and (d), the mutual
inductances can be calculated by
(10)
(11)
For a popular case, in order to precisely calculate the mutual
inductance, the following formula can be used [8]:
(12)
The obtained equivalent circuit of a grounding grid can be
analyzed by the method of characteristic lines [22], which han-
dles this equivalent circuit of a grounding grid as a network of
resistances in parallel with equivalent current sources, so this
network can be analyzed by the first law of Kirchhoff.
The experimental case in [12] is analyzed with this method
and the results are shown in Fig. 5. It shows that the result of this
method is in accordance with that of the experiment. If soil ion-
ization is taken into account, the impulse grounding impedance
will be smaller than that ignoring the soil ionization.
The impulse grounding resistance of a grounding structure is
defined as the ratio of the maximum impulse voltage to the max-
imum impulse current in the lightning injecting point. The im-
pulse grounding resistance does not have any physical meaning,
but if the lightning current is possibly known, then we can use it
to estimate the potential of the grounding structure—this is very
important in lightning protection.
The lightning protection effects of substations or transmission
lines are related to the transient characteristics of a grounding
grid. And the transient characteristics of a grounding grid de-
pend upon the shape and size of the grid, the feedpoint, the
The influences of theses factors on the transient characteristics
of grounding grids will be analyzed.
The grounding grid is assumed to have 0.8-m burial depth in
soil with a permittivity of 9. When lightning strikes a trans-
mission line, if the insulator has a flashover, then the lightning
670
Fig. 6. Illustration of the grounding grids.
Fig. 7. Influence of the area of the grounding grid on impulse grounding
resistance.
current invades the substation and flows into the grounding grid
through the surge arrester, and the magnitude of the invading
lightning potential is limited by the surge arrester. So the im-
pulse current, with a 2.6/50- s double-exponential waveshape
and an amplitude of 10 kA, is assumed to be injected into
the grounding grid. The value used for the critical field gradient
in this paper is 3 kV/cm, as suggested by Mousa [23]. The
impulse current is injected into the grounding grid from one
corner.
III. INFLUENCE OF THE STRUCTURE OF GROUNDING GRID
A. Influence of the Dimension of the Grounding Grid
In order to observe the influence of the grounding grid area on
the impulse performances of the grounding grid, four grounding
grids are chosen for analysis as shown in Fig. 6. The areas of the
grounding grids are different from 5 5 to 40 40 . But
the span between neighboring conductors is entirely 5 m.
The influences of the area of the grounding grid on the im-
pulse grounding resistance, when the impulse current and soil
resistivity are designated, are shown in Fig. 7. The axis of ab-
scissa in Fig. 7 is the equivalent radius of the grounding grid,
which is the radius of the circular grounding structure with the
same area of the grounding grid.
Clearly, the impulse grounding resistance decreases with the
area of the grounding grid. But the curve tends to saturation
when its dimension reaches a certain value. When the area of the
grounding grid exceeds a certain value, the influence of the di-
mension of a grounding grid on the impulse resistance becomes
Authorized licensed use limited to: Tsinghua University Library. Downloaded on January 20, 2009 at 20:04 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 23, NO. 2, APRIL 2008
Fig. 8. Illustration of grounding grids with different conductor spans.
Fig. 9. Influence of the conductor spans on impulse grounding resistance.
Fig. 10. Influence of the conductor spans on the maximum transient GPR.
very weak. That is to say, there is an effective area of a grounding
grid when it is excited by impulse currents.
B. Influence of Span Between Grounding Conductors
When the area of a grounding grid is designated, the span
between grounding conductors also has a great influence on the
impulse grounding resistance. Several grounding grids with dif-
ferent conductor intervals are shown in Fig. 8. The areas of the
grids are all 40 40 m , is the number of the subgrid.
As is well known, the ground potential rise in low frequency
does not depend on the conductor spans but mainly the area of
the grounding grid. But for the high frequencies, the ground po-
tential rise depends on not only the area of the grounding grid
but also the conductor spans as shown in Fig. 9. When the con-
ductor span is less than 20 m, the impulse grounding resistance
will decrease markedly with the conductor span reduced. The
larger the number of conductors within the effective area of the
grounding grid is, the more soil can be used to leak impulse
current.
The curves in Fig. 10 present the influence of different con-
ductor spans shown in Fig. 8 on the maximum transient ground
potential rise (GPR). We can see that the peak value of max-
imum transient GPR decreases when the conductor span be-
ZENG et al.: LIGHTNING IMPULSE PERFORMANCES OF GROUNDING GRIDS
Fig. 11. Influence of feedpoint on the maximum transient GPR.
Fig. 12. Influence of feedpoint on the impulse grounding resistance.
comes small. At the same time, the duration time of the max-
imum transient GPR will also become shorter with the con-
ductor span becoming smaller. This will be significant to reduce
the level of electromagnetic interference (EMI) on the electrical
and electronic devices when lightning flows into the grounding
grid of a substation.
The aforementioned conclusion is constructive for the
technical staff to design and upgrade grounding systems for
protection against lightning. As is well known, when we de-
sign or upgrade a grounding device, enlarging the area of the
grounding grid is an effective measure to reduce the power-fre-
quency grounding resistance and limit the ground potential rise.
However, in order to reduce the impulse grounding resistance
and the level of EMI generated by the impulse current, only en-
larging the area of the grounding grid cannot make it effective.
But increasing the number of the conductors near the feedpoint
will be an effective measure.
C. Influence of Impulse Feed Point
The location of the feedpoint of injected current in low fre-
quency has very little influence on the grounding resistance.
This is because in low frequency, the inductance of grounding
conductors can be omitted and the grounding grid can be con-
sidered to be equipotential. But for the impulse lightning current
with high frequency, the inductance effect of the grounding con-
ductor becomes obvious. And the grounding grid is no longer
equipotential. At high frequency, the feedpoint will have a great
influence on the transient characteristic of the grounding grid.
The maximum transient GPR and the impulse grounding re-
sistance for the feedpoints at one corner and the center of the
grid are compared in Figs. 11 and 12, respectively. In this case,
the soil resistivity is selected as 100 . more effectively when the soil resistivity is high.
Authorized licensed use limited to: Tsinghua University Library. Downloaded on January 20, 2009 at 20:04 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
671
Fig. 13. Influence of soil resistivity on the impulse grounding resistance. (a)
Lightning corner injection. (b) Lightning central injection.
For the same grounding grid, the maximum transient GPR
and the grounding resistance for the feedpoint at the center are
much smaller than those for the feedpoint at the corner.
In the case of the feedpoint at the corner, the notable induc-
tance of grounding conductors will obstruct the injected impulse
current to flow toward other directions. But for the case of the
feedpoint at the center, the grounding conductors can be utilized
effectively for the small inductive effect.
Regarding the feedpoint of an impulse, whether at the center
or a corner, it is not controlled by the designer of the grounding
grid. The lightning rod should first be placed at a suitable posi-
tion to protect the equipment from a lightning strike. Under this
precondition, it is best for this to be placed at the center.
IV. INFLUENCE OF SOIL PARAMETERS
A. Influence of Soil Resistivity on Impulse Characteristic
The conductor span of the grounding grid is 5 m. Soil resis-
tivity has a great influence on the transient characteristic of a
grounding grid subjected to a lightning impulse current. Fig. 13
illustrates the influence of soil resistivity on the impulse resis-
tance when impulse current is designated.
Clearly, the impulse resistance increases with the increment
of soil resistivity. That is to say, the maximum transient GPRs
(or impulse grounding resistance) in poorly conductive soil are
much higher than that in more conductive soil. We can also see
from Fig. 13 that there is a slight influence of soil resistivity on
impulse grounding resistance when the grounding grid is large.
For a grounding grid with a larger area, the impulse current can
be transmitted to the conductors far away and they can be used
672
Fig. 14. Influence of the critical breakdown electric-field gradient
on the impulse grounding resistance.
Fig. 15. Transient ground potential rise in different soil breakdown electric
field.
In the soil with high resistivity, the conductance of the
grounding conductors to the remote ground is much smaller
than that in the soil with low resistivity. So it is more difficult
for the grounding grid to dissipate the impulse current into
the soil. As a result, the impulse resistance and the maximum
transient GPR are much higher than that in the soil with low
resistivity.
B. Effect of the Breakdown Gradient on Impulse
Characteristics
The critical breakdown electric-field gradient of soil is dif-
ferent for a different type of soil. The variation of water content
and grain size and the existence of organic and man-made de-
bris will affect the value of the critical electric-field gradient.
The critical breakdown electric-field gradient of soil
may have a great influence on the transient characteristic of a
grounding grid. Fig. 14 compares the impulse grounding resis-
tances of grounding grids with a different length of side buried
in 500- m soil with a different critical field gradient. Fig. 15
shows the transient ground potential rise of the 20 20 m
grounding grid.
For the same grounding grid and the same impulse current,
the smaller the critical breakdown field gradient is, the higher
the degree of soil ionization is, and consequently, the smaller the
impulse grounding resistance is. The critical breakdown elec-
tric-field gradient has a great influence on the transient char-
acteristic of a grounding grid with a small side. However, if
the length of the side of the grid is greater than 20 m, and
Authorized licensed use limited to: Tsinghua University Library. Downloaded on January 20, 2009 at 20:04 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 23, NO. 2, APRIL 2008
E of soil
Fig. 16. Influence of wavefront time on impulse grounding resistance under
different side lengths of the grounding grid.
Fig. 17. Influence of wavefront time on the maximum transient GPR.
is greater than 3 kV/cm, the impact of soil ionization is rel-
atively small. The most important substations have relatively
large areas and the influence of the soil ionization on the tran-
sient characteristic of grounding grids can be omitted if is
greater than 3 kV/cm.
V. INFLUENCE OF IMPULSE CURRENT WAVEFORM ON
TRANSIENT PERFORMANCE OF GROUNDING GRIDS
A. Influence of Wavefront Time on Impulse Characteristic
The burial depth of the grounding grid is 0.8 m, and the
impulse current, with - s double-exponential waveshape
and amplitude , is injected at one corner of the
grounding grid, where is the wavefront time of the impulse
current. In this case, soil resistivity is 500 and rela-
tive permittivity is 9. Fig. 16 shows the impulse grounding
resistance of the square grounding grid for different values of
wavefront time.
The curves in Fig. 17 show the influence of the wavefront time
of impulse current on the transient GPRs. In this case, the area
of the grounding grid is 20 20 m . For the same grounding
grid, the impulse grounding resistance and the maximum tran-
sient GPR are larger for the impulse current with a shorter front
time. For the impulse current with the same amplitude, the short
front time means big steepness. And big steepness means the
high frequency, which will strengthen the inductive effect of the
grounding grid.
The transient ground potential rises of a grounding grid with
an area of 60 60 m and a conductor span of 10 m, and burial
ZENG et al.: LIGHTNING IMPULSE PERFORMANCES OF GROUNDING GRIDS
Fig. 18. Transient ground potential rise of a grounding grid with an area of
2
60 60 m under a different lightning wavefront time.
depth of 1 m, are shown in Fig. 18. The respective wavefront
times of lightning with a magnitude of 10-kA are 1.2, 2.6, 5, and
10 s. The soil breakdown electric-field gradient is 3 kV/cm and
the soil resistivity is 500 m.
The maximum of the transient GPR is related to the wavefront
time and steepness of the impulse current and does not depend
on the wavetail. Fast variations of the current during the rise
time will result in large impulse grounding resistances.
B. Influence of Impulse Current Amplitude
The maximum transient GPRs of a grounding grid with an
area of 60 60 m , a conductor span of 10 m, and burial depth
of 1 m are shown in Fig. 19 when the amplitudes of impulse
currents with a wavefront time of 2.6 s are separately 5, 25, 45,
and 65 kA, the soil breakdown electric-field strength is 3 kV/cm
and the soil resistivity is 500 m. The maximum transient GPR
generated by an impulse current with high amplitude is much
larger for the same grounding grid in the same soil resistivity.
As illustrated in Fig. 19, when the lightning current is in-
jected into the grounding grid from the central point of the
grounding grid, the transient ground potential rise is much
smaller than the respective value when the lightning is injected
into the grounding grid from the corner.
The higher amplitude of the impulse current can produce a
higher field gradient in the soil around the grounding con-
ductors, which will make soil ionization more severe. As a re-
sult, the impulse grounding resistance and the maximum tran-
sient GPR will decrease.
The analyzed results show the impulse grounding resistance
reveals characteristics dependent not only on the geometry of
the grounding grid and the electromagnetic properties of the
soil, but also on the front time and amplitude of the excitation.
The higher average steepness of the impulse, not only the short
front time, but also the high steepness of the current during the
front time, induces higher voltages.
VI. IMPULSE EFFECTIVE REGIONS OF GROUNDING GRIDS
As described before, the performance of a grounding grid
under impulse current is unlike that under low frequency. The
inductive effect of grounding conductors is notable for the high
frequency of impulse current. It will obstruct the current to
flow toward the distant end of the conductors. Only part of the
Authorized licensed use limited to: Tsinghua University Library. Downloaded on January 20, 2009 at 20:04 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
673
Fig. 19. Influence of lightning magnitude on the transient ground potential rise
GPR. (a) Conner injection. (b) Central injection.
grounding conductors can be utilized to leak out the impulse
current. That is to say, a grounding grid has an impulse effective
area under impulse current. The illustrations of impulse
effective usage area for the feedpoint at one corner and center
are separately shown in Fig. 20(a) and (b).
When the area of the grounding grid exceeds the effective
usage area, it will have no effect on the maximum transient GPR
and the impulse resistance. The effective area of the grounding
grid is involved with the soil resistivity, the front time , and
the feedpoint of the injected current. For the sake of terseness
of the formula, the impulse effective radius is defined, which
is the radius of a circular grounding structure with the same area
of the grounding grid excited by lightning.
When the feedpoint is at one corner of the grounding grid,
the relation between the impulse effective radius and the soil
resistivity for a different front time is shown in Fig. 21.
According to the curves in Fig. 21, we can conclude the for-
mula for the impulse effective radius of grounding grids by the
least-squares curve fitting methods, when the feedpoint is at one
corner
(13)
where the unit of front time is . Similarly, we can also con-
clude the formula for the feedpoint at the center of the grounding
grid
(14)
674
Fig. 20. Illustration of the impulse effective usage area of grounding grids.
Fig. 21. Equivalent radius for a different wavefront time T and soil resistivity.
The formulae shown for calculating the impulse effective
usage radius of grounding grids are derived from the square
grounding grid. But they can also be used for the rectangular
grounding grid, whose length–width ratio is not too large.
Note that the effective area of the grounding grid here is
defined as the area beyond which the decrement of transient
impedance at the injection point has decreased to a value within
3% of the final maximum transient impedance of the grid. It can
be seen that the results in Fig. 21, by (13) and by (14) are some-
what different than those in [18]. This is because the definition
of the effective area in this paper is different than that in [18]
which defines the effective area of the grounding grid as the area
beyond which the decrement of maximum transient impedance
at the injection point between the grid with inner meshes
and the grid with inner meshes has decreased
to a value within 1%. Our investigation shows that in high re-
sistivity soil, the effective area with the definition in this paper
is much smaller than that with the definition in [18]. If the def-
inition in [18] is used, the effective area in this paper will be in
agreement with that in [18].
VII. CONCLUSION
When high impulse currents excite a grounding system, the
soil ionization surrounding the grounding conductors will occur,
Authorized licensed use limited to: Tsinghua University Library. Downloaded on January 20, 2009 at 20:04 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 23, NO. 2, APRIL 2008
which makes the transient characteristic nonlinear. An effec-
tive method is presented for this problem, which is the numer-
ical calculation approach based on a circuit model of distributed
time-variable parameters. The model can be used to accurately
predict the transient characteristic of grounding grids excited by
impulse currents. The nonlinear effect of breakdown in the soil
surrounding the grounding conductors is considered.
The influence of different parameters on the transient charac-
teristic of grounding grids subjected to lightning impulse cur-
rents is analyzed. The impulse characteristics of grounding grid
depend on the impulse current shape, amplitude, and feedpoint.
The formulae for calculating the impulse effective usage ra-
dius of grounding grids are derived, which will be helpful for
technical staff to design and upgrade grounding systems for pro-
tection against lightning.
REFERENCES
[1] A. C. Liew and M. Darveniza, “Dynamic model of impulse character-
istics of concentrated earth,” Proc. Inst. Elect. Eng., vol. 121, no. 2, pp.
123–135, Feb. 1974.
[2] R. Kosztaluk, M. Loboda, and D. Mukhedkar, “Experimental study of
transient ground impedances,” IEEE Trans. Power App. Syst., vol. PAS-
100, no. 11, pp. 4653–4660, Nov. 1981.
[3] A. M. Mousa, “The soil ionization gradient associated with discharge
of high currents into concentrated electrodes,” IEEE Trans. Power Del.,
vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 1669–1677, Jul. 1994.
[4] J. L. He, R. Zeng, Y. P. Tu, J. Zou, S. M. Chen, and Z. C. Guan,
“Laboratory investigation of impulse characteristics of transmission
tower grounding devices,” IEEE Trans. Power Del., vol. 18, no. 3, pp.
994–1001, Jul. 2003.
[5] F. Otero, J. Cidras, and C. Garrido, “Frequency analysis of grounding
systems,” in Proc. 8th Int. Conf. Harmonics Quality Power, 1998, vol.
1, pp. 348–353.
[6] L. D. Grcev and M. Heimbach, “Frequency dependent and transient
characteristics of substation grounding systems,” IEEE Trans. Power
Del., vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 172–178, Jan. 1997.
[7] A. P. Meliopoulos and M. G. Moharam, “Transient analysis of
grounding system,” IEEE Trans. Power App. Syst., vol. PAS-102, no.
2, pp. 389–399, Feb. 1983.
[8] M. M. B. Narayanan, S. Parameswaran, and D. Mukhedkar, “Transient
performance of grounding grids,” IEEE Trans. Power Del., vol. 4, no.
4, pp. 2053–2059, Oct. 1989.
[9] W. Xiong and F. Dawalibi, “Transient performance of substation
grounding systems subjected to lightning and similar surge currents,”
IEEE Trans. Power Del., vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 1412–1420, Jul. 1994.
[10] L. D. Grcev and F. E. Menter, “Transient electromagnetic fields near
large earthing systems,” IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. 32, no. 3, pt. 1, pp.
1525–1528, May 1996.
ZENG et al.: LIGHTNING IMPULSE PERFORMANCES OF GROUNDING GRIDS 675

[11] A. Geri, G. M. Veca, E. Garbagnati, and G. Sartorio, “Non-linear be-
haviour of ground electrodes under lightning surge currents: Computer
modelling and comparison with experimental results,” IEEE Trans.
Magn., vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 1442–1445, Mar. 1992.
[12] A. Geri, “Behaviour of grounding systems excited by high impulse cur-
rents: The model and its validation,” IEEE Trans. Power Del., vol. 14,
no. 3, pp. 1008–1017, Jul. 1999.
[13] M. I. Lorentzou, N. D. Hatziargyriou, and B. C. Papadias, “Time do-
main analysis of grounding electrodes impulse response,” IEEE Trans.
Power Del., vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 517–524, Apr. 2003.
[14] Y. Q. Liu, N. Theethayi, R. Thottappillil, R. M. Gonzalez, and M.
Zitnik, “An improved model for soil ionization around grounding
system and its application to stratified soil,” J. Electrostat., vol. 60, no.
3–4, pp. 203–209, 2004.
[15] J. Cidras, A. F. Otera, and C. Canido, “Nodal frequency analysis of
grounding systems considering the soil ionization effect,” IEEE Trans.
Power Del., vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 103–107, Jan. 2000.
[16] Y. Q. Gao, J. L. He, J. Zou, R. Zeng, and X. D. Liang, “Fractal simu-
lation of soil breakdown under lightning current,” J. Electrostat., vol.
60, no. 3–4, pp. 197–207, 2004.
[17] S. Sekioka, H. Hayashida, T. Hara, and A. Ametani, “Measurement
of. Grounding resistance for high impulse currents,” Proc. Inst. Elect.
Eng., Gen., Transm. Distrib., vol. 145, pp. 693–699, 1998.
[18] Y. Liu, N. Theethayi, and R. Thottappillil, “Investigating the validity
of existing definitions and empirical equations of effective length/area
of grounding wire/grid for transient studies,” J. Electrostat., vol. 65,
no. 5–6, pp. 329–335, 2007.
[19] E. D. Sunde, “Surge characteristics of a buried bare wire,” AIEE Trans.,
vol. 59, pp. 987–991, 1940.
[20] E. D. Sunde, Earth Conduction Effects in Transmission System. New
York: Dover, 1949.
[21] F. W. Grover, Inductance Calculations. New York: Van Nostrand,
1947.
[22] W. H. Wu and F. L. Zhang, Numerical Computation of Overvoltage in
Power System. Beijing, China: Science Press, 1984.
[23] A. M. Mousa, “The soil ionization gradient associated with discharge
of high currents into concentrated electrodes,” IEEE Trans. Power Del.,
vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 1669–1677, Jul. 1994.
Rong Zeng (M’02–SM’06) was born in Shaanxi,
China, in 1971. He received the B.Sc., M.Eng.,
and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from
Tsinghua University, Beijing, in 1995, 1997, and
1999, respectively.
He became a Lecturer in the Department of
Electrical Engineering and an Associate Professor at
Tsinghua University in 1999 and 2002, respectively.
Currently, he is the Vice Dean of the Electrical
Engineering Department at Tsinghua University. His
research interests include high-voltage technology,
grounding technology, power electronics, and distribution system automation.
Xuehai Gong was born in Xiaxi, China, in 1962. He
received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical en-
gineering from Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, in
1983 and 1986, respectively.
He joined the North China Electrical Power
Research Institute, Beijing, in 1986. Currently,
he is a Senior Engineer and the Manager of the
North China Electrical Power Research Institute.
His research interests include overvoltages and
electromagnetic compatibility in power systems, and
high-voltage technology. He is the authors of many
technical papers.
Mr. Gong is a member of No. 3 committee of CIGRE, and Vice Chief of the
Instrumentation and Measurement Committee of the China Power Electric So-
ciety, a member of the High Voltage Technology Committee of the China Power
Electric Society, Vice Chief of the Beijing Chapter of the China Power Electric
Society, Vice Chief of the Overvoltage and Insulation Coordination Standard-
ization Technology Committee in the Electric Power Industry, and a member of
the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Association.
Jinliang He (M’02–SM’02–F’08) was born in
Changsha, China, in 1966. He received the B.Sc.
degree in electrical engineering from Wuhan Univer-
sity of Hydraulic and Electrical Engineering, Wuhan,
in 1988; the M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering
from Chongqing University, Chongqing, in 1991;
and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from
Tsinghua University, Beijing, in 1994.
In 1994, he became a Lecturer in the Department of
Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing,
China, where he became an Associate Professor in
1996. From 1994 to 1997, he was the Head of the High Voltage Laboratory at
Tsinghua University. From 1997 to 1998, he was a Visiting Scientist with the
Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute, Changwon, involved in research on
metal–oxide varistors and high-voltage polymeric metal–oxide surge arresters.
In 2001, he was promoted to a Professor at Tsinghua University. Currently, he
is the Vice Chief of the High Voltage Research Institute at Tsinghua University.
His research interests include overvoltages and electromagnetic compatibility in
power systems and electronic systems, grounding technology, power apparatus,
dielectric material, and power distribution automation. He is the authors of four
books and many technical papers.
Dr. He is a Senior Member of the China Electrotechnology Society, and a
member of the International Compumag Society. He is the China representative
of IEC TC 81, Vice Chief of the China Lightning Protection Standardization
Technology Committee, and a member of the Electromagnetic Interference Pro-
tection Committee and the Transmission Line Committee of the China Power
Electric Society, a member of the China Surge Arrester Standardization Tech-
nology Committee, member of the overvoltage and insulation coordination stan-
dardization technology committee and the surge arrester standardization tech-
nology committee in the electric power industry. Dr. He is the Chief Editor of
the Journal of Lightning Protection and Standardization (in Chinese).
Bo Zhang was born in Datong, China, in 1976. He
received the B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in theoretical
electrical engineering from the North China Electric
Power University, Baoding, in 1998 and 2003,
respectively.
Currently, he is a Research Assistant in the Depart-
ment of Electrical Engineering at Tsinghua Univer-
sity, Beijing. His research interests include compu-
tational electromagnetics, grounding technology, and
electromagnetic compatibility in power systems.
Yanqing Gao received the B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees
in electrical engineering from Tsinghua University,
Beijing, China, in 1999 and 2004, respectively.
Currently, he is an Engineer with Beijing Interna-
tional Electric Power Development and Investment
Company, Beijing. His research fields include over-
voltage analysis in power systems, grounding tech-
nology, and electromagnetic compatibility.

Authorized
View publication stats licensed use limited to: Tsinghua University Library. Downloaded on January 20, 2009 at 20:04 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.