KAP 2 – SITE 6 – EDUCATIONAL BUILDING Saudi Oger Ltd.

Doc: Grounding Calculations

Electrical Engineering
TSSD

Building 039

1. Introduction
The resistance to earth of a given electrode depends upon the electrical resistivity of the soil in
which it is installed.

Soil resistivity is given by

ρ = 2 π aR

Fig.1 Method of measuring soil resistivity

Where:
a is the spacing between electrodes, in metres (m);
R is the resistance measured between the middle electrodes, in ohms ( Ω).

ρ assumed to be 500 Ohm.m for silty sand soil which as per Soil report.

Note: Value of ρ shall be checked at site.

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 KAP 2 – SITE 6 – EDUCATIONAL BUILDING Saudi Oger Ltd.
Doc: Grounding Calculations
Electrical Engineering
TSSD

A )Determining of total earthing resistance.

Method based on BS7430-1998

1-Rods
The resistance to earth of a rod or pipe electrode R,
in ohms (Ω), is given by the following equation:

EQ.#01
L is the length of the electrode, in meters (m);
d is the diameter, in meters (m);
ρ is the resistivity of the soil, in ohm meters
(Ω ·m) (assumed uniform).

As per approved material earth rod’s dimensions are L=2.4m &

d=17.2mm=0.017m

RRod= 500/(2*π*2.4)[ loge (8 *2.4/0.017)-1]

= 200 Ω
That is the resistance for a single rod contribution.

The combined resistance of rod electrodes in parallel

Rn, expressed in ohms (Ω), can be obtained from the
following equation:

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 KAP 2 – SITE 6 – EDUCATIONAL BUILDING Saudi Oger Ltd.
Doc: Grounding Calculations
Electrical Engineering
TSSD

(EQ.#02)
R1 is the resistance of one rod in isolation, in Ω;
s is the distance between adjacent rods, in m;(15 M)
ρ is the resistivity of soil, Ω·m;
λ is a factor given in Table 2 or Table 3;
n is the number of electrodes (as given in Table 3).

For Building 039 the no. of rods per side is 10 approximately giving λ to be 7.9
a= 500/(2π*200*15)=0.0265
R tot. rods= 200(1+7.9*0.0265)/40=6.05 Ω

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 KAP 2 – SITE 6 – EDUCATIONAL BUILDING Saudi Oger Ltd.
Doc: Grounding Calculations
Electrical Engineering
TSSD

2- Lattice Resistance Calculation:

For a strip or round conductor electrode the resistance R, in ohms (Ω) is given by

the following equation:

EQ.#03

L is the length of the strip or conductor, in metres (m);(0.6m )

h is the depth of electrode, in metres (m);(0.8 m)
w is the width of strip or diameter of conductor, in metres (m);(0.025 m)
ρ is the resistivity of soil, in ohm metres (Ω.m);(750 Ω.m)
P and Q are coefficients given in Table 5 for different arrangements of electrode.
(P=2 &Q=-1)

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 KAP 2 – SITE 6 – EDUCATIONAL BUILDING Saudi Oger Ltd.
Doc: Grounding Calculations
Electrical Engineering
TSSD

a :Where two or more straight lengths, each of length L in meters (m) and of separation s in meters (m),
are laid parallel to each other and connected together the combined resistance can be calculated from the
following equation:
Rn = FR1
Where,
Rn is the resistance of n straight conductors in parallel, in Ω;
R1 is the resistance of one straight conductor in isolation
calculated from the equation and coefficients given above, in Ω.
F has the following value:
For two lengths, F = 0.5 + 0.078(s/L) –0.307
For three lengths, F = 0.33 + 0.071(s/L) –0.408
For four lengths, F = 0.25 + 0.067(s/L)–0.451 provided that 0.02 ≤ (s/L) ≤ 0.3.

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 KAP 2 – SITE 6 – EDUCATIONAL BUILDING Saudi Oger Ltd.
Doc: Grounding Calculations
Electrical Engineering
TSSD

Since the Lattice is considered 3 groups connected in parallel then

= + +

750 0.6
R elbow= 4∗𝛑∗𝟎.𝟔 { log 𝑒 (2 ∗ 0.6 ∗ 0.025∗0.8) + 0.5}
= 406 Ω
750 0.6
R Star= 8∗𝛑∗𝟎.𝟔 { log 𝑒 (2 ∗ 0.6 ∗ 0.025∗0.8) + 3.6}
=357 Ω
1/R Lattice1=1/ R elbow+1/ R Star + 1/ R elbow
yields,

Rlattice1= 129 Ω

For simplified solution we can use table 2 for rods to get the total R for Lattice

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 KAP 2 – SITE 6 – EDUCATIONAL BUILDING Saudi Oger Ltd.
Doc: Grounding Calculations
Electrical Engineering
TSSD

a= 750/(2π*129*11)=0.0841
Taking n=10 & λ=3.81
R tot Lat. (for Lattice) = 129 *(1+3.81*0.0841)/10=17.03 Ω

2-Resistance for the Rectangle bare buried conductor:

As the grounding loop bare copper conductors forms a rectangle with dimensions
of (115 m * 120m) ,It would considered as two pair of parallel conductors.

Using eq. #03, for bare copper conductor w=13 mm (for 120 mm2)

𝜌 2∗𝐿2 750 2∗1152

RBARE WIRE1= {log 𝑒 ( )-1.3}= {log 𝑒 ( )-1.3}= 13.958Ω
2𝜋𝐿 𝑊∗ℎ 2𝜋∗115 0.013∗0.8

For 2 parallel conductors 115 m in length and spaced 120 m apart, we have,

F1 = 0.5 + 0.078(s/L) –0.307= 0.57698

RBARE WIRE1//= F1R BARE WIRE1=8.05 Ω

𝜌 2∗𝐿2 750 2∗1202

RBARE WIRE2 = {log 𝑒 ( )-1.3} = {log 𝑒 ( )-1.3}=13.76 Ω
2𝜋𝐿 𝑊∗ℎ 2𝜋∗120 0.013∗0.8

F2=0.5 + 0.078(s/L) –0.307= 0.579

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 KAP 2 – SITE 6 – EDUCATIONAL BUILDING Saudi Oger Ltd.
Doc: Grounding Calculations
Electrical Engineering
TSSD

RBARE WIRE2//= F2R BARE WIRE2=7.967 Ω

Then total ground loop resistance will be

R BARE WIRE=4.004 Ω (Resistance resulting from the contribution of ground loop)

Total grounding resistance

By combining resistance values taken from 1,2 &3 in parallel

1 /Req=1/Rrods+1/Rlattice+1/R BARE WIRE =0.3837

Rg= 2.606Ω < 5Ω

Conclusion:
The current design is suitable to obtain a value of Ground resistance as required by
specs. 16060-Article 2.2 B ,further tests will be carried out to check this
requirement.

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