CALCULATION OF

ELECTRO DYNAMIC
FORCES ON
BUSBARS IN LV
SYSTEMS

In distribution boards copper busbars and busbar supports are used. These two forms a
complete busbar system is categorized as below:

According to the shape of conductor

According to the desing of each phase
According to the copper busbar quantity per phase
According to the type of insulating support (rool, comb, barrel type supports)

The distance between supports must be calculated according to the short circuit (kA) value,
during the busbar design.

1) GENERAL INFORMATIONS BEFORE CALCULATION

Shape and dimesions of the busbar (meter)

n = number of busbars per phase
Isc rms value = effective short circuit
Fault will be 2 phase short circuit or 3 phase short circuit
dph = distance between two different phase centers (meter)
Configuration of a busbar
= 1 all busbars belongs to the same phase
= 2 one busbar belong to the one phase
Elastic limit of copper, Rp0,2 (N/m2)
Rp0,2 = 125x106 N/m2 (for 1050 alluminium)
Rp0,2 = 250x106 N/m2 (for copper)
Mechanical withstand of support Rm (N/m2),
Cross-section of support subjected to tensile stress Sm (m2).
2) CALCULATION OF FORCES

Each conductor is effected by the forces below:

Forces belong to the other phases
Forces belong to the same phase conductor
At first, we calculate forces of 2nd and 3rd phases on the 1st phase conductors:
1
F1/ = Cfault x 2.10-7 x k1 (2,2 Isc )2 x
dph

0,87 if it is 3 phase short circuit
1 if it is 2 phase short circuit
dph b
You can use Dwight table to find k1 coefficient by using and values
a a

1. phase 2. phase 3. phase

b h

d12 a d1 1

d13 dph

Drawing 1 - Busbar Design

b=h

k1 = f (h, 1, dph)
from Dwight table
k2 = f (a, b, d1)

Now, we calculate the forces between bars of the same phase:

F2 / = i F21,i / i = 1, 2, 3,....n
1
F21,i / = 2.10 -7 k21,i (2,2 Isc/n)2
d1

d12 b d13 b
Example; k21,2 = ( , ) k21,3 = ( , )
a a a a
3) CALCULATION OF THE DISTANCE BETWEEN SUPPORTS

1 (F1/) d12 2 (F2/) d12

c = +
8 80
d1 = distance between two busbar support (m)

0 = resistance module of a bar in (m3)

1 = 0,73 simple support coefficient

2 = 0,5 flush mounting coefficient

m = 1,5 Rp0,2 max stress that busbar can withstand

ba2
0 = Z = n0
6

m Rm.Sm
d12 = d2 =
c (F1/)

d < min (d1, d2) must be selected.

 k

1.4
a

1.3
b b
0.01....0.2
a
1.2
b

1.1
0.5 a
b
1
1

0.9
2

0.8
5

10

0.7
15
20

30

0.6
40
50
60
80
0
10

0.5

0.4

0.3

b
0.2
2 3 4 5 6 8 10 20 40 60 80 100 200 300 a

izelgeDrawing 2 - Dwight
2 - k sabitinin coefficients
b/a ve d/a deerlerineTable
gre seimi
( Dwight izelgesi )