International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology (IJEAT) ISSN: 2249 8958, Volume-2, Issue-6, August 2013

Design of Grounding System for High Voltage Substations

Dwarka Prasad, H.C.Sharma
There are usually measuring errors associated with the soil resistivity, and furthermore, irregular grounding grid area, several data and factors that have impact on the performance of the grounding systems are frequently difficult to be considered in simulation models. With the increase of power system capacity and voltage grade, the fault current is also increased. Meanwhile, the complexity of the multi-layer soil, non-rectangle grounding grid should be considered. How to obtain the optimization design of substation grounding grid; how better uniform the surface potential distribution of grounding grid; how to ensure the safety of equipment and individual has become a most important problem. Optimum design of substation grounding in a two layer earth structure has been explained [1]-[3]. There are seasonal influences on frozen soil layer and external charges effects on grounding grid design [4]-[5]. The grounding system of the substation should ensure the safe and reliable operation of power systems and guarantee a human beings safety in the situation of grounding fault in the power system [6]. Study of unequally spaced grounding grids and optimum grounding grid design by using an evolutionary algorithm is considered [7]-[8]. Due to the different in soil characteristics at each substation, ground grid design must carefully be done to gain acceptable safety as well as optimal investment. From the past, ground grid design without rods and with rods was carried out. A vertical rod is more effective electrode than a horizontal rod [9]. Optimization design of substation grounding grid based on genetic algorithm is discussed [10]-[11]. Vertical ground rods discharge the grid current in the soil at sufficient depth. Thus they effectively reduce grounding system resistance and GPR. Also with more number of ground rods, total length of conductors buried in the earth increases thereby decreasing step and mesh voltages. In actual practice ground rods are considered to be an effective means of reducing resistance of combined grounding system and also actual mesh and step voltages whenever design modifications are necessary. For same total length of conductor to be installed vertical rods are more cost effective than horizontal grid conductors because they penetrate into lower layers of soil in the deep earth which generally have lower resistivity [12]. Multiple driven electrodes are, everything being equal, more effective than equivalent ground grids made of horizontal conductors. This is true even when soil is uniform. However, when lower layer resistivity is high, the horizontal conductors are more effective because they reduce significantly the touch voltages [13]. Area occupied by the grounding grid has major effect on GPR, step voltage as well as on mesh voltage. With increased area step, touch and mesh potentials reduce significantly. Area contributes to reduction in grid resistance and GPR [14].
Abstract The design of grounding system for high voltage substation is a challenging task. In any substation, a well designed grounding system plays an extremely vital role. Grounding system must be safe as it is directly concerned with safety of persons working within the substation. The ground resistance, grid resistance, ground potential rise, step and touch voltage criteria for safety, maximum grid current, minimum conductor size, electrode size, maximum fault current level and soil resistivity are the basic design quantities of the grounding grid system. In this paper the design of grounding system for 220 KV high voltage substations and simulation for calculation of required parameters has been presented. A careful analysis was carried out in order to obtain the magnitude of total fault current that may occur in the substation. Soil resistivity is a major factor influencing substation grid design. Therefore, a resistivity investigation and analysis was carried out in order to obtain accurate design results. All necessary parameters were computed and assumptions were made using the relevant formulas. It has also been tried to reduce the grid resistance as well as ground potential rise by selecting the proper horizontal conductor size and addition of ground rods. A step by step procedure for the essential design considerations has been considered. Finally, simulations were carried out using software known as ETAP Software for verification of the design. The method proposed for substation grounding is in accordance with IEEE Std 80-2000. Index Terms Etap Software, Grounding Grid, Substation Design, Step and Touch Voltage.

I. INTRODUCTION Grounding system for high voltage substations is very important for the electric power system stability. Any malfunction can cause blackout. The blackout results in loss, which will be crucial for electricity generating companies, boards and for ultimate consumer also. The main functions of grounding system of substation include: the first one is the ability carrying the electric currents into earth under normal and fault conditions without exceeding operating and equipment limits or adversely affecting continuity of service. The second is how this grounding system ensures that the person in the vicinity of grounded facilities is not exposed to the danger of electric shock. Designing grounding systems, building them and putting them in operation is a difficult task. The soil where the grounding system will be installed will generally be non-uniform.

Manuscript received on August, 2013. Dwarka Prasad, Research Sscholar, Department of Electrical Engineering, Uttarakhand Technical University, Dehradun (Uttarakhand), India. Dr.H.C.Sharma, Professor & Head, Department of Electrical &Electronics Engineering ,Vishveshwarya Institute of Engineering &Technology, Greater Noida Phase-II, Dadri, Gautam Budh Nagar(Uttar Pradesh), India.

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Design of Grounding System for High Voltage Substations II. DESIGN OBJECTIVES According to IEEE Std 80-2000 there are two main design goals to be achieved by any substation grounding system under normal as well as fault conditions. These goals are: 1. To provide means to dissipate electric currents into the earth without exceeding any operating and equipment limits. 2. To assure that a person in the vicinity of grounded facilities is not exposed to the danger of critical electric shock. III. DESIGN METHODOLOGY The design procedure block diagram for high voltage substations is shown in Fig.1.
FIELD DATA A. CONDUCTOR SIZE 3I0,tc,d STEP 1

3I0 = V / 3Rf + (R1+R2+R0) + j (X1+X2+X0) (1) It is assumed that fault clearing time for the worst-case fault scenario is 0.5 seconds. The diameter of conductor is determined as in (2). Amm2 = I (KA) (2)

Step 3 - Tolerable Step and touch voltage are based on (3) (6). = = = = (1000 + 6Cs (1000 + 6Cs (1000 + 1.5Cs (1000 + 1.5Cs (3) (4) (5) (6)

STEP 2

TOUCH AND STEP CRITERIA STEP 3 Etouch50 or 70, Estep50 or 70 INITIAL DESIGN D,n,Lc,LT,h

Step 4 - Preliminary design parameters like distance between equally spaced conductors, grid burial depth, total length of horizontal conductors, and number of parallel conductors in one direction are determined. Step 5 The grid resistance is determined by (7). Rg = (7)

STEP 4

STEP 11 MODIFY DESIGN D,n,Lc,LT

GRID RESISTANCE Rg,Lc,LR GRID CURRENT IG,If

STEP 5

STEP 6 STEP 7

IGRg<Etouch YES NO MESH & STEP VOLTAGES Em,Es,Km,Ks,Ki,Kii,Kh NO Em<Etouch YES NO STEP 10 STEP 8 STEP 9

Es<Estep
YES DETAIL DESIGN

STEP 12

Step 6- The decrement factor and current division factor are selected by keeping in view fault duration. The maximum grid current is determined by combing decrement factor and symmetrical grid current is given by (9). Ig = 3I0. Sf (8) IG = Df . Ig = Df. 3I0.Sf (9) Step 7 If the product of maximum grid current and grid resistance is lesser than the touch voltage, then proceed for the detailed design. IG Rg Etouch (10) Step 8 -The mesh voltages and step voltage is determined as in (11) - (12) respectively. Em = Km Ki IG / Lm (11) Es = Ks Ki IG / Lm (12) Step 9 - If the calculated mesh voltage is lesser than the touch voltage then proceed for step10, otherwise modify the design. Step 10 - If the calculated step voltage is lesser than the step voltage then proceed for detailed design otherwise modify the design. Step 11- After calculating and determining all required grid parameters detailed design is prepared. IV. SIMULATION AND TESTING RESULTS

Fig.1 Design procedure block diagram [6] Step1- The area of the land where substation is required to be constructed and electrical resistance of soil profiles are calculated. Step 2 - The fault current (3I0) should be the maximum expected future fault current that will be conducted by any conductor in the grounding system, and the time tc, should reflect the maximum possible clearing time. For practical reasons it is appropriate to investigate single line to ground faults. Therefore, zero sequence current for single line-to-ground fault is given as in (1).

In this section simulations are carried out in order to verify the results obtained through manual calculations. A software known as ETAP PowerStation is used for the simulations. The objectives of the program are: 1. To provide a low cost computer program running on a personal computer. 2. To provide an easy to use, but technically acceptable solution to the complex problem of grounding grid design. 3. To design a safe, technically acceptable and economically viable grounding grid.

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International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology (IJEAT) ISSN: 2249 8958, Volume-2, Issue-6, August 2013 The design of a substation grounding system is very complex due to the number of involved phenomena. One of them comes from the fact that lightning influences the local resistivity of the soil given, when lightning occurs, non-linear phenomena appear in the soil. Nevertheless, this is not the only difference regarding the low frequency case. Indeed, the high frequency response of both grounding grids and human body are not the same for fast transients and power frequency. This very complex phenomenon has not been considered in this paper. The grid parameters for the substation design are shown in Table I. The values of step voltages, mesh voltages and GPR were found larger than tolerable limits and did not satisfy the safety criteria limits, thus, design required modifications. To find the optimal results grid parameters have been modified as shown in Table II. The simulated results are shown in Table III and Table IV. The image of the ground grid without rods is shown in Fig.2. The screenshot of ETAP software is shown in Fig.3. Distance Between Equally Spaced Conductors (D) Thermal Capacity Per Unit Volume (TCAP) Grid Conductor Length (Lm) Grid Resistance (Rg ) Symmetrical Grid Current(Ig) Fault Duration (tf ) Current Division Factor (Sf ) Crushed Rock Resistivity (Wet) (s ) Thickness of crushed rock surfacing (hs) Total Fault Current (3I0 ) Fault Clearing Time (tc) Diameter of Conductor (d) Conductors in X and Y Direction Maximum Grid Current (IG) Reflection Factor (K) Surface Layer De rating Factor (Cs) Decrement Factor (Df) Geometry Correction Factor (Ki ) Geometry Correction Factor (Kii ) Effect of Burial Depth Correction Factor (Kh) Geometrical Spacing Factor (Km) Number of Parallel Conductors in One Direction (n) Mesh Voltage (Em) Step Voltage(Es) 9m 3.85 J/(cm3C) 1940 m 0.925 4558.2V 0.5 s 0.6 2500 .m 0.075 m 11806 A 0.5 s 0.01 m 11 7354 A -0.872 0.65 1.0 2.272 0.57 1.225 0.967 11 1011.65 V 653.7 V

TABLE II GRID PARAMETERS (AFTER MODIFICATION)

Fig.2 Image of ground grid without rods

Conductors in X and Y Direction Grid Conductor Length (Lm) Distance Between Equally Spaced Conductors (D) Number of Parallel Conductors in One Direction (n) Geometry Correction Factor (Kii ) Geometry Correction Factor (Ki ) Effect of Burial Depth Correction Factor (Kh) Geometrical Spacing Factor (Km) Mesh Voltage (Em) Step Voltage(Es)
TABLE III RESULTS FOR GROUND GRID WITHOUT RODS

21 3780 m 4.5 m 10.5 m 0.32 2.198 1.225 0.923 417.97 V 658.9 V

Ground Resistance (Rg) Fig.3 Screenshot of ETAP Software

TABLE I GRID PARAMETERS

0.855 6285.6

Ground Potential Rise (GPR) Touch Potential Tolerable Volts Calculated volts Calculated% Tolerable Volts Calculated volts Calculated%

Grid Area (A) Grid Dimensions Soil Resistivity (a) Upper Layer Resistivity (1) Lower Layer Resistivity (2 ) Upper layer thickness ( H) Grid burial depth (h) Rod length (LR)

8100 m2 90 m x 90 m 170.82 .m 150 .m 800 .m 9m 0.5 m 10 m

761.1 1235.6 162.3 2378.3 653.7 27.5

Step Potential

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Design of Grounding System for High Voltage Substations

TABLE IV RESULTS FOR GROUND GRID WITH RODS

Km Ks N Em Es

Ground Resistance (Rg) Ground Potential Rise (GPR) Touch Potential

0.615 4523.5

Step Potential

Tolerable Volts Calculated volts Calculated% Tolerable Volts Calculated volts Calculated%

761.1 741.8 97.5 2378.3 658.9 27.7

Geometrical Spacing Factor to Determine Mesh Voltage in volts Geometrical Spacing Factor to Determine Step Voltage in volts Number of Parallel Conductors in One Direction Mesh Voltage in volts Step Voltage in volts Step Voltage Criteria for a 50kg weight person Step Voltage Criteria for a 70kg weight person Touch Voltage Criteria for a 50kg weight person Touch Voltage Criteria for a 70kg weight person VI. CONCLUSION

V. SYMBOLS DEFINITION The symbols definitions are shown in Table V.

TABLE V SYMBOLS DEFINITION

A a r 1 2 H h LR D TCAP Lm Rg Ig tf Sf s r 0 hs 3I0 tc D IG K Tm Ta K0 Cs Df Ki Kii Kh

Grid Area in square meters Soil Resistivity in ohm meters Resistivity of Ground Conductor at Reference Temperature Upper Layer Resistivity in ohm meters Lower Layer Resistivity in ohm meters Upper Layer Thickness in meters Grid Burial Depth in meters Rod Length in meters Distance Between Equally Spaced Conductors in meters Thermal Capacity Per Unit Volume in joules per cubic centimeter degree centigrade Grid Conductor Length in meters Grid Resistance in ohms Symmetrical Grid Current in amperes Fault Duration in seconds Current Division Factor Crushed Rock Resistivity (Wet) in ohm meters Thermal Coefficient of Resistivity at Reference Temperature Thermal Coefficient of Resistivity at 0C Thickness of Crushed Rock Surface in meters Total Fault Current in kilo amperes Fault Clearing Time in seconds Diameter of Conductor in meters Maximum Grid Current in kilo amperes Reflection Factor Maximum Allowable Temperature in C Ambient Temperature in C Material Constant at Surface Layer De-rating Factor OR Reduction Factor Decrement Factor Grid Geometry Correction Factor Grid Geometry Correction Factor Effect of Burial Depth Correction Factor

The maximum grid current was determined using the maximum fault current and the current division factor. Ground potential rise was determined with the help of maximum grid current and grid resistance. The values of step voltages, mesh voltages and GPR were found larger than tolerable limits and did not satisfy the safety criteria limits, thus, design required modifications. As a result, the new grid resistance and GPR were then taken through the same steps until the grid design safety criterion was achieved. This modification involved reducing the mesh sizes which was very effective in reducing the grid resistance and therefore, the calculated step and touch voltages were much lower than the tolerable limits and this in turn satisfies the safety criteria. It is evident from the results that addition of rods is beneficial as it ensures a higher level of safety by reducing the grid resistance from 0.855 to 0.615 .Therefore, leading to a reduced ground potential rise from 5893.4V to 4523.5V. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The author is thankful to Dr.H.C.Sharma for his valuable guidance and moral support provided during this research work. Dr.H.C.Sharma is a source of inspiration for emerging research scholars. I am also thankful to Dr.G.S.Brar (Professor & Head of Electrical Engineering Department) and Dr. Lakhwinder Singh(Professor & Dean Academics) in Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Engineering College, Fatehgarh Sahib (Panjab) for their support. REFERENCES
[1] F. Dawalibi, D. Mukhedkar, Optimum Design of Substation Grounding in a Two Layer Earth Structure, Part I: Analytical Study , IEEE Trans, Power Apparatus and System, Vol. PAS-94, March,1975, pp. 252 261. F. Dawalibi, D.Mukhedkar, Optimum Design of Substation Grounding in a Two Layer Earth Structure, Part II: Analytical Study, IEEE Trans, Power Apparatus and System, Vol. PAS-94, March,1975, pp. 262 266. F. Dawalibi, D. Mukhedkar, Optimu m Design of Substation Grounding in a Two Layer Earth Structure, Part III: Analytical Study , IEEE Trans, Power Apparatus and System, Vol. PAS-94, April 1975, pp. 267 272. J. L. He, Y. Q. Gao, R. Zeng, W. M. Sun, J. Zou, and Z. C. Guan,"Optimal Design of Grounding System Considering the Influence of Seasonal Frozen Soil Layer, IEEE Trans. on Power Delivery, Vol. 20, Jan. 2005, pp. 107-115.

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International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology (IJEAT) ISSN: 2249 8958, Volume-2, Issue-6, August 2013
[5] E. Bendito, A. Carmona, A. M. Encinas, and M. J. Jimenez, "The Extremal Charges Method in Grounding Grid Design , IEEE Trans. on Power Delivery, Vol. 19, Jan. 2004, pp. 118-123. IEEE Std. 80-2000, IEEE Guide for Safety in AC Substation Grounding, IEEE: Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Inc. New York, 2000. L. Huang , X. Chen , and H. Yan ,St udy of Unequally Spaced Grounding Grids, IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 10, No.2, April 1995, pp. 716- 722. Ghoneim Sherif, Hirsch Holger, Elmorshedy Ahdab, and Amer Rabah, Optimum Grounding Grid Design by Using an Evolutionary Algorithm, IEEE Power Engineering Society General Meeting, 2007, 24-28 June 2007, pp1-7. Research Project of PEAs Ground Grid in Substation and Grounding in HV and LV Distribution System, Thailand, 2006. Z. He, X. Wen, and J. Wang, Optimization Design of Substat ion Grounding Grid Based on Genetic Algorithm, IEEE Third International Conference on Natural Computation (ICNC 2007), Vol. 4, pp. 140-144, Aug. 2007. A.F. Otero, J. Cidrbs and C. Garrido, Genetic Algorithm Based Method for Grounding Grid Design, Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Evolutionary Computation, pp.120-123, May 1998. Ahdab Elmorshedy, Rabah Amer, Sherif Ghoneim, and Holger Hirsch, Surface potential calculation for grounding grids, First International Power and Energy Conference, Nov.2006, pp.501- 505. F.P. Dawalibi, and D. Mukhedkar, Influence of Ground Rods on Grounding Grids, IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems, Vol. PAS-98, (6), 1979, pp.2089- 2098. B. Thapar, V.Gerez, A. Balakrishnan, and D.A. Blank, Evaluation of Grounding Resistance of a Grounding Grid of Any Shape, IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 6, No. 2, April 1991, pp. 640-647. Electronic Controls and Instrumentation from IIT, Bombay and advanced training in Computers from IIT, Kanpur. He has been Fellow of Institution of Engineers, India (FIE), Alumni Member of IIM, Ahmadabad and Chairman IE (I), Anpara,U.P Centre. He has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electronic Measurement and Control, AMU, Aligarh (U.P) from January 1968 to January 1971.He has been the Chief Consultant, Power Finance Corporation, ,Govt. of India, New Delhi from 2001 to 2003. He has been Professor and Director, MIT, Bulandshahr (U.P) from January 2005 to August 2008. Currently, He is Professor & Head of Electrical and Electronics Department in Vishveshwaraya Institute of Engineering & Technology, Greater Noida Phase-II, Dadri,Gautam Budh Nagar(U.P), India. He has published number of research papers in various journals. His interests are in the area of power system engineering and electronics measurement and control.

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Dwarka Prasad was born in Chandigarh (U.T). He can read and write English, Hindi and Panjabi very well. He received the Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering in 1996 from Panjab University Chandigarh (U.T), India. He received the Masters Degree in Power Engineering in 2008 from Panjab Technical University Jalandhar (Panjab), India. He has a total of 17 years (07 years industrial & 10 years teaching) experience. He has attended two Short Term Courses from NITTTR, Sector-26, Chandigarh (U.T) and three Short Term Courses from IIT, Roorkee (Uttarakhand).He is the Member of IEEE since 2012. He is the Branch Counselor of IEEE of Students Branch at LIET Alwar. Presently, He has been working in Laxmi Devi Institute of Engineering &Technology, Alwar (Rajasthan) as an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering since March, 2011 till date. He is the M.Tech Coordinator (Power System Engineering) of the Department of Electrical Engineering. He is pursuing Ph.D in Electrical Engineering from Uttarakhand Technical University, Dehradun (Uttarakhand), India. He has published a number of research papers. His research interests are in the field of Power System Engineering. Dr.H.C. Sharma was born on 20th March, 1939. He can read and write English, Hindi, Sanskrit and German (Dutch) very well. He obtained his .B.Sc. Engineering (Electrical) from Banaras Hindu University Varanasi (U.P), M.Sc. Engineering (Measurement and Control) from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh(U.P), and Ph.D. (MHD Flows) from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh(U.P). He has completed Senior Executives Course of 3-Tier Programme of Management at IIM Ahmadabad (U.P). He received Inventors Award from Inventions Promotion Board (Government of India, New Delhi) for the development of an Electronic Instrument for Physical Parameters on Independence Day, 15 th August, 1971. He received Inventions Award and Certificate of Meritorious Invention from President of India on Republic Day, 26 thJanuary, 1976 for invention of Remote Electrical Recorder with Ferromagnetic Transducer. He also received President Award for Productivity for nine consecutive years from 1989 to 1997. He got special training in Germany from August 1982 to June 1983 on Modern Power System. He has got advanced training in

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