Electrical Earthing or Grounding:

Earthing or grounding system is an electrical circuit which connects a part of electrical

system to the earth or ground. The earthing or grounding of an electrical system plays a very
important role for the stability and safety operation of the system.

What is earth & ground

As per IEC 60364- Earth: The conductive mass of the Earth, whose electric potential at any point
is Conventionally taken as zero

As per IEEE standard 80:2000-“Ground– A conducting connection, whether intentional or

accidental, by which an electric circuit or equipment is connected to the earth or to some
conducting body of relatively large extent that serves in place of the earth.”

So ground refers to the equipment grounding system, Such as metallic raceways, cable
armor, enclosures, cabinets, frames, building steel, and all other non-current carrying
metal parts of the electrical distribution system.

Why earthing or grounding is needed:

The main aim of earthing is to maintain a zero potential or zero voltage of all non-
current carrying parts of electrical system which has the probability of electrified by
some fault. If by some means the non-current carrying parts are electrified which is not
earthed, the person touching it will receive a lethal shock.

So by earthing the non-current carrying parts are connected to earth and maintained at
earth potential. It also prevents static charge buildup. Also the earthing is used to
release the fault current from the electrical system, which are describe below in the
section of types of earthing.
Objectives of earthing or grounding
IEEE (Standard 80) clause 4.1:

Objective of safety grounding –

-To provide means to carry electric currents into the earth under normal and fault conditions
without exceeding any operating and equipment limits or adversely affecting continuity of
service.
-to assure that a person in the vicinity of grounded facilities is not exposed to the danger of
critical electric shock.

So objective of earthing are as follows

 Fixing the potential of live conductors with respect to the earth in normal operation,
 Limiting voltage between the non-current carrying parts in electrical system (such as frames of
electrical equipment) and the earth should an insulation fault occur.
 Implementing protection devices which remove the risk of electric shocks or electrocution of
person;
 In low voltage network limiting rises in potential due to Medium Voltage faults.

Principles and Practice of Earth Electrode Measurements

The object of an earth electrode system is to provide a low resistance to foreign
currents that may cause injury or damage or disrupt equipment. The currents will
dissipate safely when properly conducted to earth via the electrode. There are
three components to the resistance (Fig. 1):
 Resistance of the electrode materials and connections to them 
 Contact resistance between the electrode and the soil surrounding it 
 Resistance of the surrounding earth.
TT Earthing
In Electrical installation, Grounding or Earthing is the important
thing that we need to highlight during discussion and execution of
the electrical installation. Its to ensure the equipment or
installation is protected by good grounding system.

The process of earthing is to connect all these parts which could

become charged to the general mass of earth, to provide a path for
fault currents and to hold the parts as close as possible to earth
potential. In simple theory this will prevent a potential difference
between earth and earthed parts, as well as permitting the flow of
fault current which will cause the operation of the protective
systems.

The standard method of tying the electrical supply system to earth

is to make a direct connection between the two. This is usually
carried out at the supply transformer, where the neutral conductor
(often the star point of a three-phase supply) is connected to earth
using an earth electrode or the metal sheath and armouring of a
buried cable. {Figure 5.1}
 {Figure 5.1- Three phase Earthing System

Since a TT earthing system will safeguard both lives and

equipment it is important that a correctly designed system is
installed. It should have:

 Low enough electrical resistance to earth to ensure correct

operation of the circuit earth fault protection device (typically
a RCD).
 Good repeatability (i.e. it should be able to carry fault currents
repeatedly, and its performance should remain in spec all year
round, irrespective of varying soil conditions)
 High resistance to corrosion
 Long life expectancy
The principle of earthing is to consider the general mass of earth as
a reference (zero) potential. Thus, everything connected directly to it
will be at this zero potential, or above it by the amount of the volt
drop in the connection system (for example, the volt drop in a
protective conductor carrying fault current). The purpose of the
earth electrode is to connect to the general mass of earth.

With the increasing use of underground supplies and of protective

multiple earthing (PME) it is becoming more common for the
consumer to be provided with an earth terminal rather than having
to make contact with earth using an earth electrode.