EARTHING CALCULATIONS

Reference : ANSI/IEEE Std 80 2000

Earth grid conductor size 

Earth grid material = MS

I = RMS value of fault current = 40 kA

tc = Time of fault current flow = 1 sec

TCAP = Thermal capacity factor = 3.28 J/cm3/0C (Table 1)

a0 = Thermal coefficient of resistivity at reference temperature 0 0C

ar = Thermal coefficient of resistivity at reference temperature 20 0C = 0.0016 (Table 1)

rr = Resistivity of ground conductor at reference temperature 20 0C = 15.9 mo/cm3 (Table 1)

Tm = Maximum allowable temperature = 1510 C

0

Ta = Ambient temperature = 45 C
0

K0 = 1/a0 = 605 (Table 1)

A = Earth grid conductor area

I
= (Equation 40)
TCAP x 10-4 ln K0 + Tm
tc x ar x rr K0 + Ta

= 324.317574 mm2

Corrosion factor considered = 1.15

Hence A = 372.96521 mm2

Earth grid conductor Shape = Rectangle

Earth grid conductor selected = 75 mm X 10 mm = 750 mm2

###

1
 ###
Step potential and touch potential

Tolerable step potential and touch potential

r = Soil resistivity = 38.744 om

rs = Resistivity of surface material = 3000 om

hs = Depth of gravel = 0.15 m

Cs = Derating factor for surface gravel resistivity = 0.7722111 (Equation 27)

ts = Fault clearing time = 1 sec

(1000 + 6Csrs) x 0.116

Estep = Tolerable step potential = ts = 2339.2685 V (Equation 29)

(1000 + 1.5Csrs) x 0.116

Etouch = Tolerable touch potential = ts = 702.56713 V (Equation 32)

Actual step potential and touch potential

D = Conductor spacing = 5 m

h = Depth of ground grid conductors = 0.6 m

d = Diameter of equivalent area of grid conductor = 0.0338514 m

Kii = Corrective weighting factor for earth grid placement = 1

(for grids with ground rod conductors along perimeter and throughout grid area)

L = Length of the switchyard = 182.77 m

B = Breadth of the switchyard = 180.00 m

EN = Number of earth electrodes = 71 Nos

EL = Length of earth electrodes = 3 m

2
h0 = Reference depth of grid = 1 m

Kh = Corrective weighting factor for grid depth = 1 + h/ho = 1.26491106 (Equation 83)

hA = Number of parallel conductors lengthwise = B/D +1 = 36

hB = Number of parallel conductors breadthwise = L/D+1 = 39

h1 = Number of parallel conductors in one direction for calculating Em

= hA hB = 37.469988 (Equation 79)

h2 = Number of parallel conductors in one direction for calculating Es

= max(hA , hB) = 39 (Equation 80)

LL = Length of grid conductors along length of switchyard = L x hA = 6579.72 m

LB = Length of grid conductors along breadth of switchyard = B x hB = 7020 m

LA = Length of equipment risers and auxiliary mat in switchyard = 1650 m

LE = Length of earth electrodes in switchyard = EN x EL = 213 m

LT = Total length of earth conductors in switchyard = LL+LB+LA+LE = 15462.72 m

Km = Spacing factor for mesh voltage =

1 ln D2 (D + 2h )2 h Kii ln 8 (Equation 81)
2p 16hd 8Dd 4d Kh p(2h1-1)

= 0.3106

Ks = Spacing factor for step voltage =

1 1 1 1 1-0.5h2-2 (Equation 94)

p 2h D+h D

= 0.386

3
Kim = Corrected factor for grid geometry for calculating Em = 0.644 + 0.148h1 (Equation 89)

= 6.18955822

Kis = Corrected factor for grid geometry for calculating Es = 0.644 + 0.148h2 (Equation 89)

= 6.416

Df = Decrement factor for fault duration time =

( for fault duration time more than 0.5sec) 1

Cp = Corrective projection factor for future growth = 1

(for zero growth in future)

Sf = current division factor = 0.5

IG = Maximum grid current = Cp Df Sf I = 20 kA (Equation 64)

r IG Km Kim
Em = Actual touch potential = LL + LB + LA + 1.15LE = 96.142016 V (Equation 80)

r IG Ks Kis
Es = Actual step potential = LL + LB + LA + 1.15LE = 123.852216 V (Equation 92)

We find that Em is less than Etouch and Es is less than Estep

Ground resistance

As = Area of switchyard = L x B = 32898.6 m2

1 1 1 1
Ground resistance = Rg = LT r 20As 1+h 20/As (Equation 52)

= 0.0999 ohm

We find that Rg is less than 1 ohm