Ground Grid Sizing

GROUND GRID SIZING BASIS
The objective of earthing system is to provide as nearly as possible

a surface under and around a substation which shall be at uniform
potential and as nearly zero or absolute earth potential as possible
with a view to ensure that :all parts of apparatus connected to the earthing system shall be
at ground potential.
operators and attendants shall be at ground potentials at all
times
Also by providing such a ground surface of uniform potential under

and surrounding the station, there can exist no difference of
potential in a short distance great enough to shock or injure an
attendant when short circuits or abnormal occurrences take place.
The concept of good earthing is not only to design the earthing for
achieving low earth resistance, but also to keep the ground
potential to safe values even when earth resistance in low.
The ground potential can increase if the ground fault current is

high..
IEEE 80 has brought forth the concept of voltage gradient control

under ground fault conditions so as to keep
the potential difference between nearby points to
safe values
and hence avoid danger to persons working in the area
IEEE 80 based earthing in an electrical substation thus hence takes

the form of a GRID or MAT comprising a number of reactangular or
square meshes of earthing conductors buried horizontally and
connected to several electrodes driven at intervals.
All metal enclosures of equipment and structures within the
substation are then connected to the earthing grid by running
multiple connections as far as possible.
The earthing system is usually arranged in the form of an Earth grid,

which is a system of
horizontal earth electrodes that consists of interconnected bare
conductors buried in the earth at a shallow depth of 0.5 to 0.6
metre
and supplemented by vertical earth rods to provide a common
earth for electrical devices and metallic structures.
The earth grid provides

an equipotential surface to limit the potential gradient at the
earths surface
a low impedance path to fault current to limit the overall ground
potential rise wrt remote earth to zero, and to ensure fast
clearance of earth fault by protective devices.

Earth grid with conductor and earth rod combination grid is adopted
such that:When the grid conductors happen to be buried in a soil of good
or average conductivity and the grid area is large, such an earth
grid by itself provides a good earthing system.
However the resistivity of upper soil layers could vary with

seasons (ground frost or drying out) and provision of sufficiently
long vertical earth rods will help to stabilise such variations.
For space limited installation and gas insulated substations (gis)

a combination of earth grid consisting of uniformly spaced
horizontal conductors and earth rod electrodes is superior to a
similar grid consisting only of the conductors with the same total
length.
When rods are installed predominantly along the grid perimeter,
in high to low resistivity or uniform soil conditions, the rods will
considerably moderate the high increase of the surface gradient
near the peripheral meshes.
The terms Grounding & Earthing are synonymous

The different nomenclature is due to conflicting usage of the English
language between the Americans and the British.
While British terms the laying of conductors buried in soil as
earthing, the Americans termed it as grounding.
The terms Ground & Earth both refer to common power or signal
reference point interchangeably around the world.
The different nomenclature is due to conflicting usage of the English
language between the Americans and the British.
IEC & IS use the term EARTH, whereas
ANSI & IEEE uses the term GROUND
ANSI & IEEE definition of GROUNDING:In IEEE, GROUND or GROUND SYSTEM refers to a conducting
connection by which electrical equipment is connected to EARTH
or some conducting body of relatively large extent that serves in
place of the EARTH.
In IEC & in BS, EARTH or EARTH SYSTEM refers to a conducting

connection by which electrical equipment is connected to the mass
of EARTH or some conducting body of relatively large extent that
serves in place of the EARTH.
It should be noted that NATURAL EARTH is not used as return path

for earth fault (EF) conductor, it is the grounding or earthing
conductor buried in earth that serves this purpose.
Although in some cases NATURAL EARTH does carry return EF
current. In reality, however, NATURAL EARTH is a poor conductor
of electric currrent.
The typical resistivity of the general mass of earth is about 100

ohm-metre, which can even by higher in some cases.
In comparison the resistivity of copper is 1.7 x 10^-8 Ohm-m and
that of GI is 1 x 10^-7 Ohm-m.
Standards recognises this fact and IS in its clause 0.3 states that
earth rarely serves as a part of return circuit ------.
Metallic conductors called EARTHING or GROUNDING conductors
are used as the return path for EF current as per all STANDARDS

The Type Of Conductor does not play a role in determining earth
resistance. So it is not necessary that CU earth electrodes are
better than GI or Steel electrodes.
These can be seen from Resistance formulas for the different types
of electrodes i.e
PLATE ELECTRODE
ROD or PIPE ELECTRODES
STRIP OR CONDUCTOR ELECTRODES
In all the formulae for R of above, only soil resistivity and
dimensions of electrode play a role in determining earth resistance,
and not conductor material.
Resistance of Rod or Pipe Electrodes

R = ( /2L) x LOG e (4l / d). For 1 rod
R = ( /2Ln) x LOG e (4L / d). For n rods
L = length of rod in m
= soil resistivity in ohm-m
d = diam. Of rod IN M
Resistance of PLATE ELECTRODES
R = ( / A) x Sqrt ( /A)
A is area of both sides of plate im m2
Resistance of STRIP OF FLAT

R = ( /2l) x LOG e (2l2 / wT)
l= length of STRIP in m
= soil resistivity in ohm-m
w= depth of burial in m
t = width (if strip) or twice diam. of conductor in m
Irrespective of material of earth electrode, any material of given

dimensions would offer the same resistance to earth
Type of conductor material matters for current carrying capacity.
The short time EF current withstand ratings vary with the type of
conductor material.

SOIL RESISTIVITY
grounding material

SOIL RESISTIVITY

SOIL RESISTIVITY

SOIL RESISTIVITY
TOLERABLE STEP & TOUCH POTENTIAL

TOLERABLE STEP POTENTIAL
The flow of ground fault current results in voltage gradient on the

surface of the earth in the vicinity of the grounding system.
The voltage that exists between the two feet of a person standing
on such a ground is called STEP POTENTIAL as seen in figure in
the next SLIDE




Ik for sustained faults is only 0.009 A or 9 mA

For 70 kg person

Spreading of gravel or crushed rock layer of 80 to 150 mm (0.08 to
0.15 m) thickness on the earth surface is useful in retarding the
evaporation of moisture and thus limiting of the top soil layers
during dry weather periods.
It also increases the contact resistance between the soil and the
feet. This resistance, however, may be considerably less than that
of the crushed rock.

The resultant value of this resistance depends upon the thickness

of the rock layer and relative values of the resistivities of earth and
rock. These values have been evaluated as per graph below in
IEEE 80 neglecting the mutual resistance between feet and
assuming equivalent radius of foot equal to 0.080 m



FOR 70 kg person


For grounding to be safe, for step contact, under EF current flowing

conditions, the Voltage Gradient in Volts per metre (assuming
distance of one pace to be 1 metre as per IEEE 80) on the surface
of the ground should not exceed the value given in previous
SLIDES

TOLERABLE TOUCH POTENTIAL
The tolerable potential difference between any point on the ground

where a man may stand and any point on the structures or
equipment frames which can be touched simultaneously by hand is
given by TOLERABLE TOUCH POTENTIAL equations given in the
SLIDES based on TOUCH POTENTIAL FIGURE also given in the
SLIDES




T TOLERABLE OUCH POTENTIAL

If the object touched were grounded immediately below itself, the
maximum horizontal reach may be one meter.
So that for safe grounding the potential gradient on the surface of
the earth in Volts per metre in the immediate vicinity of the object
under fault should not exceed the value given by the TOLERABLE
TOUCH POTENTIAL equations.
When the object is grounded remotely this fact must be taken into
account .The touch contact in this respect is called transferred
potential contact

TRANSFERRED POTENTIAL
If a person touches a conductor grounded at a distance much
greater than the dimensions of the grounding system, the shoick
voltage may be essentially equal to the full voltage rise of the
grounding system under fault conditions
Such a touch contact is called transferred potential contact as
illustrated in following SLIDE,

TRANSFERRED POTENTIAL

BASIC SHOCK SITUATIONS

FAULT CURRENT THROUGH EARTH





ACTUAL MESH & STEP VOLTAGES




LIMITATIONS OF APPROXIMATE EQUATIONS FOR Es & Em in
IEEE-80

DESIGN REQUIREMENTS:Calculation of ground resistance Rg
Calculation of Ground Potential Rise
Comparison of Etouch(tolerable) with Actual Em (mesh)
Where Em is worst case of touch potential)
Comparison of Estep (tolerable) with Actual Es

DESIGN REQUIREMENTS:For Safe design
Etouch(tolerable) should be greater than actual Em
Estep (tolerable) with Actual Es should be greater than actual Es

ACTUAL MESH & STEP VOLTAGES-Km

ACTUAL MESH & STEP VOLTAGES-Km

ACTUAL MESH & STEP VOLTAGES - Km

ACTUAL MESH & STEP VOLTAGES - Ks

ACTUAL MESH & STEP VOLTAGES - Rg

ACTUAL MESH & STEP VOLTAGES - Rg

Ground Grid Sizing

Diunggah oleh

Informasi Dokumen

Deskripsi Asli:

Judul Asli

Hak Cipta

Format Tersedia

Bagikan dokumen Ini

Bagikan atau Tanam Dokumen

Opsi Berbagi

Apakah menurut Anda dokumen ini bermanfaat?

Apakah konten ini tidak pantas?

Hak Cipta:

Format Tersedia

Ground Grid Sizing

Diunggah oleh

Hak Cipta:

Format Tersedia

GROUND GRID SIZING BASIS

The objective of earthing system is to provide as nearly as possible