Transmission Lines parameters

The transmission lines are modeled by means of the parameters resistance,

inductance, capacitance and conductance. Resistance and inductance together is called
transmission line impedance. Also capacitance and conductance in parallel is called
admittance Here we are not going to derive the formulas rather to develop some
concepts about the transmission line parameters. It will help us understand the
transmission line modelling and in analyzing the power system. In this article we will
discuss about the line resistance and inductance. In the next article we will discuss
about line capacitance and conductance.

Resistance
The conductors of the transmission lines have small resistance. For short lines,
resistance plays an important role. As the line current increases so do the ohmic loss
(I2R loss). When the current exceed a certain value the heat generated due to ohmic
loss starts to melt the conductor and the conductor becomes longer that results in
more sag. The current at which this condition of conductor is irreversible is called
thermal limit of conductor. Short overhead lines should be operated well within this
limit.

The resistance R of a conductor of length 'l' and cross section 'a' is given by the
formula

l
R = ρ ----
a

Here ρ is the resistivity of the conductor material which is a constant.

Transmission lines usually use ACSR conductors with spirally twisted strands. So the
actual length of the conductor is about 2 % more than the ACSR conductor length. So
from the above formula, the resistance of the line is proportionately 2% more than the
conductor length. Another important factor is that when the frequency of current
increases the current density increases towards the surface of conductor and current
density at the center of conductor is less. That means more current flows towards the
surface of conductor and less towards the center. This is well known skin effect. Even
at power frequency (60/50 Hz) due to this skin effect the effective cross sectional area
of conductor is less. Again from the above equation it is clear that the conductor
resistance is more for higher frequency. So AC resistance of conductor is more than
the DC resistance. Temperature is another factor that influences the resistance of
conductor. The resistance varies linearly with temperature. The manufacturers specify
the resistance of the conductor and one should use the manufacturers data.

Inductance
For medium and long distance lines the line inductance (reactance) is more dominant
than resistance. The value of current that flows in a conductor is associated with
another parameter, inductance. We know that a magnetic field is associated with
a current carrying conductor. In AC transmission line this current varies sinusoidally,
so the associated magnetic field which is proportional to the current also varies
sinusoidally. This varying magnetic field induces an emf (or induced voltage) in the
conductor. This emf(or voltage) opposes the current flow in the line. This emf is
equivalently shown by a parameter known as inductance. The inductance value
depends upon the relative configuration between the conductor and magnetic field.
Inductance in simple language is the flux linking with the conductor divided by the
current flowing in the conductor. In the calculation of inductance the flux inside and
outside of the conductor are both taken care of. The inductance so obtained is total
inductance. Now onwards if not exclusively mentioned then inductance means total
inductance due to conductor internal and external flux linkages. The symbol L is used
universally to represent inductance. L is measured in Henry (H). It is usually
expressed in smaller unit, milli Henry(mH). Manufactures usually specify inductance
value per kilometer or mile.

It should be noted that, in all the formulas below inductance L is in Henry per unit
length and not simply Henry. Here few cases are depicted.

 For a single phase line see the fig-A. The conductor inductance is

L = 2 * 10-7 ln ( D/r1' )

Here D is the distance between the centers of conductors.

r1' = r1 * e-(1/4) = 0.7788 r1

r1 is the actual radius of the conductor.

For a single phase line the return path also has inductance say L'. If the return
conductor is of radius r2, then

L' = 2 * 10-7 ln ( D/r2' )

Therefore the total inductance of single phase circuit is Lt = L+L'
rearranging we get

Lt = 4 * 10 -7
ln [D / √ (r1'. r2')]
 For three phase circuit whose three circular conductors are at the corners of
equilateral triangle(Fig-B(i)) then the above formula for single phase case is
applied here. In this case inductance per phase L is as below:

If the Denominator is renamed as Ds, then

L = 2 * 10-7 ln ( D / Ds )
Here Ds = r'

As already said r' is 0.7788 times the actual radius(r) of conductor.

  For three phase circuit whose three circular conductors are arbitrarily placed
(Fig-B(ii)) and the conductors are transposed then,

L = 2 * 10-7 ln [ ∛(D1 .
D2 . D3) / Ds ]

Beginning from the single phase line, it is observed that all the three equations for
inductance of a phase conductor are similar. Remember that this formula
for three phase line is not valid for non-transposed lines.

Observing the formula for single phase and three phase lines we can generalize the
formula for inductance of a phase line as in the form

L = 2 * 10-7 ln ( D / Ds )
Where
D = Geometric Mean Distance (GMD)
Ds= Geometric Mean Radius (GMR)

In single phase case GMD is simply the distance between the centers of two
conductors.
In three phase case for conductors equidistant from each other GMD is the distance
between any two phase conductors.
In the three phase case, for line conductors arbitrarily placed GMD = ∛(D1D2D3 )

In all the three cases Ds = r'.

 From above we can conclude that GMD is like equivalent distance between
conductors. When two or more conductors per phase are used as in bundled
conductors then GMD is required to be computed. Here distances from each
conductor in one phase to each conductor in other phase is calculated. If for
example in a single phase line there are 4 conductors in one phase and 3
conductors in other phase (Fig-C) then we will have 12 numbers of distances
between the conductors. I have shown four distances only.

GMD = [D1 . D2 ........ D12] 1/12

so here GMD is the 12th root of product of 12 numbers of

distances.

 GMR is calculated for each phase separately. Each of the phases may have
different GMR values depending upon the conductor size and
arrangement. GMR is to be calculated when each phase is comprised of more
than one conductor per phase as in the example above. For GMR calculation
when two or more conductors per phase are used, first product of all the
groups (one group for each conductor)are found where each group is product of
possible distances from one conductor to other conductors including r' of that
conductor. In the above example case GMR for line with 3 conductors per
phase is

GMR =
[(r1'.D12.D13)(r2'.D23.D21)(r3'.D31.D32)]1/9
It should be noted that D12 = D21, D13 = D31 and D23 = D32

 Below is the formula to calculate GMR for the bundled conductors (see Fig-D)
 For three conductors per phase (triple conductor)

GMR = ∛(Ds *d 2)
For four conductors per phase (quad conductor)

GMR = 1.09 ∜(Ds *d 3)

How to calculate GMD of three phase line with bundled conductors? For an example
see Fig-E where three phase bundles (triple conductror) are placed horizontally
on transmission towers. In this case the distance between the conductors (D) is taken
as distance between the centers of bundled conductors.

So, GMD = ∛(D.D.2D)

You can also calculate considering the distance from each bundled conductors of one
phase to other conductors of two other phases. But the GMD calculated does not vary
significantly from our simple form above. This is due to the fact that D is quite larger
than d.
  For ACSR conductors GMR is specified by the manufacturer.If this GMR is called
Ds. For example if two such ACSR conductors(twin conductor) are used in a
bundle for each phase. The GMR of the phase conductor arrangement is
calculated imagining that the supplied GMR (or Ds) as the equivalent radius of
ACSR conductor.

Hence if d is the distance between the centers of the two ACSR conductors,
similar to the formulas in
Fig-D,

GMR= [(Ds.d).(Ds.d)]1/4 =√(Ds

. d)
 We will discuss Inductance and capacitance for double circuit after discussing
line capacitance in next article.

Usually it is not always possible to arrange the phase lines equilaterally on the towers.
To make the inductance and capacitance of all the three phases nearly equal, the
conductors are transposed. Which means the conductors exchange the position after
1/3 rd of line length. By transposing the inductance and capacitance of all the three
phase lines are made nearly equal. This helps balancing the three phase voltages at
the receiving end of the line. Although the above formulas are derived considering
transposition, the same formulas are also used for non-transposed cases to get
approximate values.

Introduction
In last two articles we developed some useful concepts on transmission line inductance
and capacitance. There we discussed the formulas used for calculation of inductance
and capacitance of transmission lines for different arrangement of conductors. I advise
you to go through those two topics in archive (above links) before proceeding further.
In those two articles our discussion was restricted to single phase or one three phase
line (single circuit line). Here we will calculate the inductance and capacitance of
double circuit line which you can extend to multi-circuits.

Double circuit GMD and GMR

In high voltage transmission system you will often find transmission towers carrying
two or more circuits. In fact numerous multi-circuit lines are already in use. The
conductors of circuits are arranged in different configuration depending on the tower
types used. We will calculate inductance for a double circuit line using the formula.

Although the two circuits are in parallel, the inductance of double circuit can not be
found by imagining two inductances(for two circuits) in parallel. Actually this is true
only when the magnetic field of one circuit does not link with other circuit
conductors. Hence that is the case when each circuit runs on separate tower and the
separation between them is such so that there is negligible or no magnetic field
interaction between the circuits.
Due to the closeness of the circuits being on the same tower, the magnetic and
electric field interaction of one circuit on the other requires modified calculation of GMD
and GMR.

See the Figure-A below for a double circuit arrangement on a self supporting lattice
tower. Here we have chosen the conductors arranged vertically which will simplify our
calculation and we will derive the inductance for this arrangement where the phase
conductors are also assumed as transposed. As we discuss the topic you will realize
that the method can be applied to other arrangements or multi-circuits also.
In the figure one circuit phase conductors are a-b-c and other circuit phase conductors
are a'-b'-c'. As shown here the phase conductors are single rounded conductors.

In the last two articles we have already discussed bundled conductors for inductance
and capacitance calculation. Here the double circuit is treated very similar to single
circuit or a three phase line with bundled conductors. The conductors a-a' are imagined
as bundle conductor for phase A, similarly b-b' and c-c' are imagined as bundle
conductors for phases B and C. Of course here the bundle sub-conductors are far away
and not bunched unlike the case of twin, triple or quad conductors bundles.

Now we are ready to apply the general formula for calculating Geometric Mean
Distance(GMD). For calculating GMD all the distances between the phase conductors
are identified. In Fig-A(ii) all the distances between the phases are shown. For
example a-b, a-c, a-c', a-b', c-b', c-a' etc.. There are 12 possible distances between
conductors of phases as shown. It should be noted that for calculation of GMD the
distances a-a', b-b' and c-c' are not taken.

GMD = (Dab . Dab' . Dbc . Dbc' . Dca . Dca' . Da'b . Da'b' . Db'c . Db'c' . Dc'a .
Dc'a')1/12

Clearly there are 12 distances and so 12th root of the product of twelve distances are
taken.

By rearranging the terms you can also write GMD as below.

GMD = (DAB . DBC . DCA.)1/3

Where DAB = (Dab . Dab' . Da'b .
Da'b')1/4 similarly DBC and DCA.

In our example

GMD = (6 . 10 . 6 . 10 . 12 . 8 . 10 . 6 . 10
. 6 . 8 . 12)1/12 meter
= 8.37 meter.

Now let us calculate the Geometric Mean Radius (GMR)

For GMR calculation the method is just similar to bundle conductors. Of course for
inductance calculation we require r' and for capacitance r. As already said in previous
articles the equivalent radius r' =0.7788r .
Here let us first calculate the GMR of each phase separately for inductance.

GMRa = √(Daa' . r')

 GMRb = √(Dbb' . r')

GMRc = √(Dcc' . r')

Daa' is the distance between the conductors a and a'. Similarly
for Dbb' and Dcc'

As the phases are transposed so,

GMRL = (GMRa . GMRb . GMRc)1/3

Note: Daa' Dbb' and Dcc' were not used in GMD calculation but used
in GMRL calculation.
Subscript L is used for GMR of inductance calculation and subscript C for capacitance.

Putting the values of GMD and GMRL in the equation

L = 2 * 10 -7
ln ( GMD/GMRL )
we obtain inductance per meter per phase

In above calculation for GMRL the conductor is circular of radius r. But in actual
practice ACSR conductors are mostly used, so for inductance calculation r' is replaced
by Ds as supplied by the manufacturer of ACSR conductor.
For capacitance calculation the radius of conductor is used in GMRC formula whether it
is one circular conductor or ACSR conductor, for calculation of capacitance,

GMRa = √(Daa' . r)
GMRb = √(Dbb' . r)
GMRc = √(Dcc' . r)

GMRC = (GMRa . GMRb . GMRc)1/3

putting the value of GMRC in the equation,

Cn = 2k / ln (GMD/ GMRc)

We obtain the value of capacitance ( Cn ) per meter between phase
and neutral .
 k is the permittivity of air and GMD is already calculated for
inductance.

Now you can put the numerical values to get a feel of the Cn so obtained.