Earthing

Why Earthing:
Earthing system of generating station shall meet the following requirement.

To ensure low impedance earth fault current return path for operation

of the earth fault protection / alarm.

To limit the step and touch voltage to acceptable limits during an earth

fault.
Earthing conductors
& connections should withstand the earth fault current for the duration
of the fault.

System earthing adopted at various voltage levels is as follows:

a)
400
kV : Neutral solidly grounded
system
b) 20 kV system

Neutral

earthed

through

grounding

transformer
c) 6.6 kV system : Neutral earthed through resistor.
d) 415V system : Neutral solidly grounded

Short circuit current and fault clearing time are playing an important

role in calculating the earthing conductor.

Maximum allowable temperature rise for steel should be considered.
Consider the shock duration for touch and step potentials.
Earthing conductors in outdoor areas will be installed at a minimum
depth of 600mm, below grade level. Back filling material to be placed
over buried conductors shall be free from stones and harmful mixtures.
Back filling shall be placed in layers of 150mm. Auxiliary earth mats at

a suitable depth shall also be laid at selected locations.

Each continuous laid lengths of cable tray shall be earthed at minimum
two places by G.S flats to earthing system, the distance between
earthing points shall not exceed 30 meter. Wherever earth mat is not

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available, the necessary connections shall be done by driving an earth

electrode in the ground.

Main earthing conductors will be buried in earth around the building.
Minimum two taps-off from this earthing loop will be taken inside the
building and connected to the earthing grid embedded in the floor slab

with approximately 50mm concrete cover.

For the buildings having more than one floor, each floor will be

provided withearth grid. Floor earthing grids will be interconnected.

Equipotential earth bus will be formed for terminating embedded earth

grid to risers rom equipment/ cable trays.

Each RCC / Steel column of the building will be interconnected to the

floorearthing grid in the ground floor.

The earthing grid at different areas of the power plant shall be
interconnected byminimum two (2) nos.connections, to form a single

grid for the plant.

The spacing between two electrodes will be atleast equivalent to twice

the lengthof the electrode.

Earthing conductors along their run on columns, walls etc., shall be
supported by suitable welding / cleating at interval of 1000mm and

750mm respectively.
Minimum earth coverage of 300mm shall be provided between earth
conductor and the bottom of trench / foundation / underground pipes
at crossings. Earthing conductors crossing the road can be installed in
pipes. Wherever earthing conductor crosses or runs at less than
300mm distance along metallic structures such as gas, water, steam

pipe lines, steel reinforcement in concrete, it shall bonded to the same.

Street light poles, flood light poles & towers, their junction boxes will
be connected to the earthing conductor to be run along with supply
cable. This earth conductor will be in turn connected to earth grid at

two extreme points.

Flexible earth conductors will be provided at expansion joints for

earthing the gates, operating handles, etc.

Test electrodes shall be bonded to the earthing grids through
disconnecting links, which shall permit periodic maintenance testing.

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Connections between earth leads and equipment shall normally be of

bolted type. Contact surfaces shall be thoroughly cleaned before
connections. Equipment bolted connection after being checked and

tested will be painted with anti-corrosive paint / compound.

Connection between the equipment earth lead and the grid conductor
shall be electric arc welded, with resistance of joint not more than that
of the conductor. For rust protection, the welds will be treated with red

lead and coated with bitumen compound for corrosion protection.

Instrumentation system & computer system will be provided with a
dedicated earthing system suitable for the equipment.

SELECTION OF GROUNDING CONDUCTORS

Conductor Material
Steel is considered as the grounding conductor material as per
Specification.
(a) Conductors above ground level, in trenches and in built up: Galvanized
Steel.
(b) Conductors buried in ground or embedded in concrete: Mild Steel.
(c) Electrodes: GS Pipe / Rod.
Size of Conductors
Main Grounding Conductors:
The main grounding conductor for the plant is designed for 40 kA for 1
sec.Steel is considered as the grounding conductor material as per
Specification.The grounding conductorsize has been calculated as per IS3043-1987 asfollows:

=
Where
S - Cross section area in sq. mm.

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I - Maximum AC RMS ground fault current in kA (40 kA).

t - Operating time of the protective device to disconnect the faulty circuit
insec (1sec).
K - Factor depending on the grounding conductor, the insulation and
otherpart and theinitial and final temperatures
The factor

K=

)---------(IS3043, Cl.12.2.2.1)

Taking values of 20, Qc, B as per IS 3043, Table 5 for steel conductors.
20 = Electrical resistivity of conductor material at 20C (ohm-mm).(138 x
10-6)
Qc = Volumetric heat capacity of conductor material (J/C mm3) (3.8 x 103).
B = Reciprocal of temperature co-efficient of resistivity at 0C for the
conductor(C) (202).
i = Initial temperature of conductor (C) (50C).
f = Final temperature of conductor (C) (500C) (as per IS 3043, Table
6A).
K = 79.14
S

Therefore minimum diameter of the rod required is 25.37 mm for Main

Plant,Switchyard &Auxiliary Building.

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The average soil resistivity of the main plant & auxiliary building is 12 ohm-m
andfor switchyard area is 6 ohm meter. Considering 4.8mm(0.12mm/year)
for loss of material for mild steel conductor due to corrosion, theminimum
rod diameter required is 30.17mm. Therefore rod diameter of 32mm
isselected for main plant and auxiliary building.
For conductors embedded in concrete and those exposed for inside Main
Plant,Switchyard & Auxiliary Building earth grid, the size adopted will be
equal to orhigherthan 505.43 sq.mm. Since owners specification calls for
providing 75x12mm,the same size is recommended.
Rod / Pipe Electrodes
32mm diameter, 3000mm long, galvanized steel rod will be provided for
directdriven rod. For test pits with electrodes, the electrodes will be 36mm
diameterheavy-duty type (Class-C) GI pipe with perforations. Electrodes
installed in thetest pits will have disconnecting facilities.
Equipment Grounding Leads
The size of the grounding leads depends upon the type of equipment
andstructure to be grounded and are provided generally as per IS 30431987 andalso with the view to minimize the number of sizes.
The grounding conductor sizes have been calculated as per following
formula:

(IS3043, Cl.12.2.2.1)

Where
S - Cross section area in sq. mm
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I - Maximum AC RMS ground fault current in kA

t - Operating time of the protective device to disconnect the faulty circuit in
sec
K - Factor depending on the grounding conductor, the insulation and other
partand the initial and final temperatures.
The factor K is determined by the formula

K=

)(IS3043, Cl.12.2.2.1)

Taking values of 20, Qc, B as per IS 3043,

20= Electrical resistivity of conductor material at 20C (ohm-mm)(138 x 10 -6)
Qc = Volumetric heat capacity of conductor material (J/C mm3) (3.8 x 10-3)
B = Reciprocal of temperature co-efficient of resistivity at 0C for the
conductor(C) (202)
i = Initial temperature of conductor (C) (50C)
f = Final temperature of conductor (C) (250C) (For bolted joints).

CALCULATION OF STEP AND TOUCH POTENTIAL FOR MAIN

POWERPLANT AREA
Step Potential
During a ground fault, current flows through the grounding system to a
ground rod or some type of system ground (steel structure, guy wire) seeking
a return to its source. This current flow could possibly exist in, or along the
surface of the ground for quite some distance around the point where the
earth becomes energized. The current will follow, as nearly as possible, the
conductors supplying the fault current. Step potential is caused by the flow

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of fault current through the earth. The closer a person is to the ground rod or
grounded device, the greater the concentration of current and the higher the
voltage. The current flow creates a voltage drop as it flows through the
earth's surface and a person standing with their feet apart bridges a portion
of this drop thus creating a parallel path for current flow as seen in the these
two illustrations in Figure

The wider apart a person's legs are, the larger the voltage difference across
the body. Protection from the step potential hazard should be to stay in the
zone of equipotential while working. Simply being alert to this hazard is the
best defense. For this reason, unqualified personnel standing on the ground
are

cautioned

to

stay

clear

of

structures.

This means that a person standing near the point where fault current enters
the earth may have a large potential difference from foot-to-foot. The
potential difference over the same span will be less and less as the span is
moved away from either the fault current entry point or the fault current
return point at the source.
Touch Potential
Touch potential is a problem similar to step potential see Figure 4. It
involves a fault current flow in the earth establishing a potential difference

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between the earth contact point and some nearby conductive structure or
hardware.

Protection for step and touch potential is the use of switch operating
platforms and ground grids. The worker must remain upon a local conductive
mat as the highest voltage gradient has been moved to the mat's edges. Sub
stations on Site have a ground grid located under the rocks, but if an
individual is located outside this area and while standing on the earth,
touches a ground or a grounded object, a difference in potential may exist
during a ground fault.
Touch and Step Potential Criteria:
For average 50kg body weight, the allowable step and touch voltage as per
Eq.29 & 32 of IEEE-80 isAllowable Step voltage,
Estep 50 (V) = (1000 + 6Cs x s) x 0.116 / (ts)(As per IEEE 80, Clause 8.3)
Allowable Touch voltage, Etouch 50 (V) = (1000 + 1.5Cs x s) x 0.116 / (ts)
Where,

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1000 is body resistance in Ohm.

1.5 is resistance of two feet in parallel.
6 is resistance of two feet in Series.
Cs is surface layer derating factor
s is wet resistivity of surface, which is considered as 500 ohm meter
forconcrete surface.
ts is the shock duration which is considered as 0.5 second
0.116 is a constant based on body weight of 50 kg.
hs is thickness of protective surface layer in meter. (0.15m as per civil input)
The Surface layer derating factor is calculated as follows:
(As per IEEE 80, Clause 7.4)

Cs =

(As per IEEE-80, Eqn. -27)

Cs =

= 0.7749

The Surface layer derating factor, Cs = 0.7749

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Allowable Step voltage, Estep 50 = (1000+6x0.7749x500) x 0.116 / Sqrt

(0.5)= 545.41 V
Allowable Touch voltage, Etouch 50 = (1000+1.5x0.7749x500) x 0.116/Sqrt
(0.5)= 259.39 V
Determination of Grid Resistance:For a length of m, and grid area A, the grid resistance iscalculated as follows:
(As per IEEE 80, Eqn. 53, 54, 55& 56)

R2 =

[ln(

)-1+

-1)2]

Where,
Rg is Grid resistance in Ohms
R1 is Ground resistance of grid conductors in Ohms
R2 is Ground resistance of grid rod bed in Ohms

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Rm is mutual resistance between the group of grid conductors, R1 and

groupof ground rods, R2 in ohm.
is Soil resistivity in Ohm-m

A is Area of the Grid in Sq.m

a is _(a * 2h) for conductors buried at depth h in m
2a is the diameter of conductor in m
K1 is the coefficient from fig. 25(a) (Reference curve A) of IEEE-80 = 1.36
K2 is the coefficient from fig. 25(b) (Reference curve A) of IEEE-80 = 5.703
Lr is the length of each rod in m
LR is the total length of ground rod in m
2b is the diameter of rod in m
nR is number rods placed in area A
Ground Potential Rise:GPR is the max electrical potential that a substation grounding grid may
attain relative toa distant grounding point assumed to be at the potential of
remote earth. This voltage isequal to the maximum grid current times the
grid resistance.
GPR = IG X Rg
IG = Df X Ig IEEE std 80-2000 page 72 (eq.64 & 65)
Ig = Sf X If
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Where:
Ta = DC offset time constant; [Ta = X/ (R) = 1 / (100) = 0.003 s]
Df = decrement factor
Sf = current division factor; 0.7
If = rms value of symmetrical ground fault current;
IG = maximum grid current in A
To verify the suitability of the design parameters, it is necessary to compare
GPR

with

thetolerable

voltage

(Etouch50);

therefore

further

design

evaluations that consider MeshVoltage and Step Voltage are necessary.

Mesh and Step Voltage
Reflection Factor (K)

K=
Where:
K = reflection factor between different material resistivities
= resistivity of the earth beneath the surface material in ohm-m
s= surface layer soil resistivity in ohm-m
Reflection factor (K) and thickness of the surface layer (hs) can be used to
determineSurface layer derating factor (Cs) using graphical analysis referred
to IEEE std 80-2000.
ETAP Calculation Method
Grounding calculation is carried out by using computer program ETAP Power
station 11.1.0from Operation Technology, Inc. which follows to the IEEE 80-

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2000 standards. The calculation is based on 40kA, 3phase fault current of

PLN Grid and X/R = 1. Fault duration considered is 1 sec.
The Ground Grid Systems module utilizes the following methods of
computation:
IEEE Method
IEEE std 80-2000, IEEE std 80-1986, or IEEE std 665-1995 is optional
for thecalculation of Step and Touch (mesh) Potentials, Ground
Resistance, Ground PotentialRise, Tolerable Step and Touch Potential
Limits. IEEE std 80-1986 or IEEE std665-1995 is used only for the
Square / Rectangular shapes of ground grids; IEEE std80-2000 can be
used

for

Square

Rectangular,

Triangular,

L-Shaped,

or

T-

Shapedground grids.
The Ground Grid Systems module calculates the following:
The maximum allowable current for specified conductors, warnings are
issued if thespecified conductor is rated lower than the fault current
level.
The step and Touch potentials for any rectangular / triangular / Lshaped / T-shapedConfiguration of a ground grid, with or without
ground rods (IEEE std 80 and IEEE std665).
The tolerable Step and Mesh potentials and compares them with
actual, calculatedStep and Mesh potentials (IEEE std 80 and IEEE std
665).
Graphic profiles for the absolute Step and Touch voltages, as well as
the tables of thevoltages at various locations (Finite Element Method).
The optimum number of parallel ground conductors and the rods for a
rectangular /triangular / L-shaped / T-shaped ground grid. The cost of
conductors / rods and thesafety of personal in the vicinity of the
substation

/ generating station

during a

groundfault

are both

considered. Design optimizations are performed using a relative

costeffectiveness method (based on the IEEE std 80 and IEEE std 665).
The Ground Resistance and Ground Potential Rise (GPR).

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