SHORT CIRCUIT CALCULATIONS

SYMMETRICAL 3-PHASE FAULT

CALCULATIONS
CHAPTER #10, GRAINGER
 MAGNITUDE OF FAULT CURRENT

 System capacity.

 Impedance between source & fault location.

Sources of short
circuit current
are:

Generators
Synchronous Motor

Induction Motor

An illustration for various sources

of short circuit current
 GENERATOR

 CASE: 1

 Unloaded Generator

 Short circuit at Generator’s terminals

 ANALOGY:

 Switching an R-L circuit

Where determines the magnitude of
instantaneous voltage at the time of switch
closing i.e., at t=0
 INITIAL SYMMETRICAL SHORT CCT CURRENT

 Neglecting the d.c component (first few

asymmetrical cycles )leaves the rest part of the
oscillogram identical for all phases

 Therefore ,per -phase equivalent circuit can be used

for short circuit calculations .
Stages of transient
current
Sub transient current or
initial symmetrical short
circuit current.
oc Ei
I  
2 Xd "
Transient current

ob E
I'  i
2 Xd '
Sustained short circuit
current

oa E
I"  i Oscillogram of one of the phases under short
2 Xd
circuit condition with dc off set neglected
 Changing reactance values of a short circuited
Generator

 Direct axis sub-transient reactance

Xd”
 Transient reactance, Xd ’
 After few cycles, when the effect of
 Soon after the short circuit, due to
eddy current and damper winding
sudden change in the air gap flux
current is over , the armature circuit
caused by the armature reaction,
reactance is increased to transient
additional current in the damper
reactance value, Xd’. The short
windings and eddy currents in the
circuit current is then reduced to
solid rotor are also induced. These
lower level called the transient
along with the armature reaction
current.
diminish the air gap flux. Hence just
after the short circuit, the armature  Synchronous reactance, Xd
circuit reactance is quite low and is  The short circuit current finally
termed as the sub-transient reaches the steady state value
reactance, Xd”. As reactance along corresponding to synchronous
d-axis is smaller than q-axis reactance of the armature circuit,
reactance of a salient pole rotor, the Xd.
sub-transient reactance is measured
along d-axis.
 Momentary current

 The rms value of the first half cycle of the short

circuit current includes the maximum dc offset.
Although circuit breakers can not interrupt the
current at this stage, they must be design to bear the
stresses of this momentary current.

 Usemultiplication factor of 1.6 with initial

symmetrical short circuit current to determine
momentary current
Synchronous Motor Contribution In
Short Circuit Current
Terminal voltage of the
motor decreases when
short circuit occurs in
the system.

As the rotor excitation

(dc) is present, motor
internal induced emf
becomes greater than
the terminal voltage.

As a result motor current

reverses and motor
behaves as generator.
 The magnitude of fault current delivered by a
synchronous motor depends on motor hp , voltage rating
and reactance of motor plus the reactance of the cable up
to the fault point.

 At the time of interruption, current has been decayed to

transient current level in the synchronous motor.
Therefore transient reactance is used for synchronous
motor contribution when interrupting current is
calculated..

 Xd’ = 1.5 Xd”

 INDUCTION MOTOR
CONTRIBUTION IN FAULT
CURRENT
 The magnitude of short circuit current produced by
induction motor depends upon the h.p, voltage
rating , reactance of the motor , and the reactance
of the system to the point of short circuit. Its
contribution in short circuit current is negligibly
small.
TOTAL CURRENT
 Symmetrical three-phase
short circuit to an unloaded
generator
 Case II: Loaded Machines
Internal emf just before
the fault After the fault
I f "  I g " I m "
 Replace machine reactance Eg "
with sub-transient reactance. I g "
Z ext  jXd g "
Em "
Im"
jXdm "
Eg " Em "
I f " 
Z ext  jXd g " jXdm "
V f  ( Z ext  jXd g " ) I L V f  jXdm " I L
I f " 
Z ext  jXd g " jXdm "

Eg "  V f  (Z ext  jXdg " ) I L Vf Vf

I f "  IL   IL
Z ext  jXd g "
Em "  V f  jXdm " I L
jXdm "
Vf Vf
I f " 
Z ext  jXd g " jXdm "
 Example 10.1 &10.2

 A synchronous generator and motor are rated

30MVA,13.2kV and both have sub-transient
reactance of 20%. The line connecting them has a
reactance of 10% on the base of the machine rating.
The motor is drawing 20 MW at 0.8 p.f leading and a
terminal voltage of 12.8kV when a symmetrical 3-
phase fault occurs at the motor terminals. Find the
sub-transient current in the generator and motor
and the fault by using both internal generated
voltages and by thevenin equivalent.
 Fault calculations using Zbus

 Neglect load current  Where Zkk is the Thevenin

,then all buses in the impedance as seen from
Network will have same the faulty bus k.
voltage Vf: the pre fault  Voltage at any other bus j
voltage at bus k to which during the fault at bus k is
3-phase short circuit is given by
applied. z jk
vj  vf  vf
 The sub-transient zkk
current in the fault is  Line flows between two
given by buses i and j connected by
Vf Zb is v f  zik  z jk 
If"  I ij    
Z kk zb  zkk 
Example 10.3
A three phase fault
ocurs at bus 2 of the
network of Fig10.5.
determine the initial
symmetrical RMS
curent, that is the sub-
transient current ) in
the fault; the voltages
at bus1,3 and 4 during
fault, the current flow
in the line from bus 3
to bus 1; and the
current contributions
to the fault from lines
3-2, 1-2 and 4-2. take
the pre-fault voltage Vf
at bus 2 to 1.0<0⁰ per
unit and neglect pre
fault current
 Selection of Circuit Breakers

 Maximum instantaneous current, the circuit breaker must

carry( i.e., the momentary current).
 Total current when the circuit breaker contacts part to
interrupt the circuit.
 By the time the breaker interrupts the circuit, current from
synchronous motor is already reduced to transient level.
Therefore use transient reactance XdM’ of synchronous
motor in the circuit when interrupting current is to be
determined.
 Neglect contribution from induction motor of less than
50hp.
Example 10.7
A 25MVA,13.8kV
generator with
Xd”=15% is connected
through a transformer
to a bus which supplies
four identical motors.
The subtransient
reactance Xd” of each
motor is 20% on a base
of 5MVA,6.9kV. The
three phase rating of
the transformer is
25MVA,13.8/69kV,
with a leakage ractance
of 10%. The bus voltage
at the motors is 6.9kV
when a three phase
fault occurs at point p.