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Design Considerations for Arctic Grounding Systems

Abstract-Grounding is an inherent part of every electrical design and system. Its importance is further demonstrated by the extensive coverage devoted to it in the National Electrical Code. The arctic region has unique environmental conditions which impose on the design of facilities installed there. These include high and varying soil resistivity, low isokeraunic level, permafrost, and isolation from other facilities. Information and design guides are presented for use in arctic design which, will comply with the intent and letter of the National Electrical Code, be economic, and will not result in excessively conservative designs.

INTRODUCTION N any arctic design situation, the environmental conditions must be carefully reviewed to determine which factors are involved and to what extent they affect the proposed design. The following factors must be reviewed carefully and fully accounted for in any economic arctic design.

resulting in running sores in the soil which heal only with difficulty over long periods of time. Roadways and built-up areas are constructed on gravel strips and pads laid over the tundra. The gravel serves as a structural layer and also as a heat-insulating blanket to protect the underlying permafrost. While the vegetation is destroyed by this practice, the permafrost is protected. The fragility of the tundra is recognized by state authorities, who therefore require special permits, valid only in winter, for vehicles to move upon the unprotected tundra. Pole lines, for example, can only be constructed during winter months. GROUNDING REQUIREMENTS

High Soil Resistivity The soil resistivity of the permafrost is typically in the range of 3500-4000 i2.m [l], [2]. The suprapermafrost layer, immediately above the permafrost, varies in thickness from a few inches to about two feet; it freezes in winter and thaws in summer, resulting in a significant variation in effective soil resistivity with the seasons. Lightning While the Green Book, IEEE Std. 142-1982, shows Alaska to be in the 1-5 lightning storms per year category, no thunderstorms have been recorded in the Prudhoe Bay region during the 18 years prior to 1974, when [l] was written. To the best of our knowledge, no thunderstorms have been observed in that area in the years since 1974. The fact that no lightning has been reported in the Prudhoe Bay area for the last 30 years makes the IEEE categorization appear somewhat overconservative, at least for Prudhoe Bay. Ecological Environment The arctic ecological environment is unique and delicate. Experience has shown that damage to the thin layer of vegetation can lead to exposure and thawing of the permafrost,
Paper PID 88-20, approved by the Petroleum and Chemical Industry Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society for presentation at the 1987 Petroleum and Chemical Industry Committee Technical Conference, Calgary, AB, Canada, September 14-16. Manuscript released for publication April 5 , 1988. The authors are with The Ralph M. Parson Company, 100 West Walnut Street, Pasadena, CA 91 124. IEEE Log Number 8822932.

System and Equipment Grounding In general, the National Electrical Code (NEC) requires the neutrals of all ac electrical systems of less than 1000 V to be grounded and permits systems of 1 kV or more to be grounded. The exceptions will not be discussed here. The ground connection must be at the system neutral and also at the service entrance. Arctic design must, of course, comply with the NEC, but also must accommodate the unique features of the arctic environment, as typified by Prudhoe Bay conditions. System grounding, as required by the NEC, generally requires a low-resistance connection to the earth. Equipment grounding to the module is required and is easily attainable because the module base is a massive weldment of structural members, with additional structural members forming the superstructure. Most arctic production and personnel facilities are designed as transportable modules, fabricated in seaports of the lower 48 states, and installed in the arctic. The term module refers to the typical arctic petroleum-processing structure, which usually consists of a large steel-framed metalclad building, erected on a structural steel platform, which is in turn supported on piles set deep into the permafrost. The steel platform, or base, is supported about 10 ft above grade to allow free circulation of arctic air below the module; this space serves to reduce transfer of module heat into the permafrost and prevents destructive thawing. Fig. 1 shows a typical module. Grounding Considerations It is important to remember that ground fault current will always try to return along ground conductors of low impedance. If a ground cable is carried with the insulated conductor, then ground fault current will mostly flow in the ground wire. Of course, the current distribution will actually be determined by the relative impedance of each path, which

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equipment ground paths exist to ( arry the line-to-ground fault currents [3]. High-resistance grounding improves personnel safety by reducing step and touch potentials in proportion to the reduced fault current magnitudes. In the event a line-to-ground fault is not promptly located and removed and a second line-to-ground fault occurs on a different phase, then step and touch potentials may increase because of the 1ar::e line-to-line fault currents that can flow. This is another leason to encourage prompt removal of line-to-ground faults, and not allow them to persist on a system.

DESIGN FEATURES
Earth Electrodes
NEC Section 250-84 requires additional grounding electrodes where any single groundin;: electrode exceeds 25 Q [4]. Note that the NEC does not spxify any particular ground resistance to be attained, but does require redundancy where ground electrodes yield only high resistance to earth. A driven ground rod is of little use in the arctic region as an earth electrode. In high-resistivity soil, its resistance to earth is too high to qualify as an effective ground. For example, a IO-ft rod of 5/8-in diameter in frozen soil of 3500 Q * mresistivity will have a resistance to ground 01' 1085 Q , which is too high to be a satisfactory ground. Four such rods spaced at 1 0 4 intervals and bonded together will have a ground resistance of 380 Q , which is still too high to bc a satisfactory earth ground. Ground mats of buried copper wire organized and bonded into rectangular grids have bet n successfully used in the arctic. However, they are expensive in terms of installation labor and do not necessarily yi1:ld desirably low values of resistance to earth. Most arctic process modules are installed atop steel pilings, which are in turn set into the perniafrost. Investigation into the earth resistance of such piles has shown favorable results. The steel casings have large external s irface areas, are at least 20 ! i long, show lower resistance to ea t h under test conditions, and are inherently tied together and to the metal structure by structural connections. Even pilings do not produce extremely low ground resistances but are better than almost any other practical ground electrode. Some measurements at Prudhoe Bay showed 15 Q for one piling in the summer. No winter measurements are available, but they will certainly be higher than the summer values. Utilization of the piles as effective ground rods has in many cases permitted omission of expensive ground mats that would otherwise have been required. Fig. 2 shows a typical pile. Other earth electrodes used haire included steel well casings and sheet steel piling. Where pocl er feeders are extended from one module to another, the equipment grounding system must also extend to such other moaules. Equipment grounding cables must originate at the system grounding point, which will be a generator or transformcr neutral.

Fig. 1.

Typical module.

in turn is a function of the spacing of any given ground path from the insulated conductor. Where no actual ground conductor exists, the structural members in the vicinity of the cable will carry all the current. If the faulted cable is in a tray, the longitudinal members of the tray will carry much of the ground fault current. In any real system fed from a local transformer, ground fault current will return to the transformer neutral by the lowest impedance paths available. Where the system is installed in structural steel modules, with good interconnection of ground cables, little or no fault current will actually flow in the earth or any earth ground connections. The current will be confined to those low-impedance paths formed by ground wires, trays, conduits and nearby structural supports. The local earth connections serve to assure there is as small a potential difference between the structure and adjacent earth as possible, thus limiting step and touch potentials adjacent to the modules. High-Resistance Grounding of Systems
High-resistance grounding of systems is often specified to limit ground fault currents and resulting damage. In the event a first fault is not promptly cleared and repaired, there is always the possibility a second line-to-ground fault may occur on a different phase, which will result in a line-to-line fault. The important thing to note here is that the fault current path will be from one line-to-ground fault location by way of the lowest impedance ground path to the other line-to-ground fault location. This requires careful design to assure that reliable

Ground Conductor
For the sake of reliability, the interconnecting grounding conductors must be sufficiently redundant to insure, with a

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structure at each transition from one module to another, and to every tray section where cables are carried in trays. By providing redundant cables, a loss of any single ground cable will not destroy the integrity of the equipment ground system.

Control of Step and Touch Potentials

A ground mat of buried conductors is still needed to reduce step and touch potentials, especially at ladders, stairways, and other contact points between a man and his environment. The ground mat is effective for this purpose, even with highresistivity soil, and should be used wherever step and touch potentials must be limited. Safe voltages are shown in Table I, calculated from Dalziel's criteria. The values are given for sustained voltage and for several total clearing times [5]-[7]. Inside modules fabricated of steel plates, line-to-ground faults produce only very low step and touch potentials, as the large expanse of steel plates forms a very low impedance path. Outside the modules, consideration must be given to the situation of a person standing on the ground and touching a module wall, stairway, etc. that is connected to the module. Step and touch voltages must be controlled to acceptable values. In a high resistance grounding system, the line-toground fault current will be limited to relatively few amperes. The resulting voltages ordinarily will be too small to be a problem, even with medium-voltage distribution systems.

Fig. 2.

Module piles.

U J I L I Z A T I O N VOL ?AGE TRANSFORMER WINDINGS PROCESS MODULE DUAL GROUNDING GRUUNDING RES15 TOR PERMAFRUST LINE

Overhead Line Problems

Fig. 3.

Typical distribution system.

high degree of reliability, that the ground system will remain functional, even with some degree of inadvertent damage. Fig. 3 shows a redundant module grounding arrangement. In a recent design, one particular Prudhoe Bay production complex is totally isolated from all other utility systems and depends entirely upon its own generation, with no overhead lines anywhere on the complex. Under these circumstances, and with no lightning current, there is no need for highcurrent-capacity earth connections. An actual earth connection is less essential in such a modular environment but is still an NEC requirement which must be satisfied. In this case, the ground cables were carried in the power trays with the power feeders, bonded to every length of tray, and bonded to the module structures on both sides of any transition between modules. The conductors were sized in accordance with NEC Section 250-95, based upon the overcurrent protection. Where the modules form an interconnected assemblage, and the power system is entirely contained within the modules, the module structures are in essence the grounding system. Of course, if the equipment ground cable between two modules was accidentally severed, then ground fault current might have to flow through the earth to reach the transformer or generator neutral. In such a case, there could be large currents flowing in earth ground connections, and there could be significant potential between adjacent modules. To prevent such circumstances, it is highly advisable to provide redundant ground cables. The ground cables should be bonded to the module

Arctic experience has shown that ground faults on overhead lines of voltage as high as 69 kV do not necessarily produce significant ground currents. Failures of conductors and suspension strings have occurred, with resultant dropping of conductors. Lack of sufficient ground current has allowed the condition to remain undetected. To improve detection of such faults, additional crossarms were installed beneath the conductors, with grounded conductors on the top surface of the crossarms. An underbuilt ground wire was added to the line, bonded to the new crossarm wire at each structure. In the event of a suspension or conductor failure, a conductor will probably drop onto the grounded crossarm and fault current will return to the source via the underbuilt groundwire. Buried counterpoises or ground wires are not permitted due to the resulting damage to the tundra. Only butt plates are acceptable, and these are of limited utility as ground electrodes. Frost heave is a problem wherever any structural element is located within the active layer, the upper layer of earth which freezes and thaws annually. To prevent movement of poles and piles, they must be set into the permafrost. Typically, 10-ft embedment into permafrost is sufficient to prevent movement due to frost heave in the active layers. Wood poles are normally set 6 ft deeper than is normal practice in the 48 continental states.

Pipeline Step and Touch Potentials

Pipelines may transfer potential and ground current from one location to another, possibly creating a step or touch potential hazard at repair and operating locations. To reduce such hazards, a ground plane such as a metallic platform,

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Totdl Clemng Time (\)

Surface Resistivity (C2.m)

0
100 1000

Tolerable Voltage (V) 196 3637 7906 17393 367 1944 4226 9297 5 50

01
01

01 0.1 0.35 0.35 0.35 0.35

m

3000 0 100
1000

3000
0 - m

TOUCH POTEA'TIAL

grating, or cable ground grid should be placed at each such location. This may be permanent at operating locations or may be a temporary mat or plate at repair locations. The ground plate should be metallically connected to the pipe line.

Rf
Rb

SAFE VOLTAGE As detailed in the Appendix, the tolerable human voltages for various clearing times and surface resistivities are summarized as shown in Table I.

7 ;

Rf

5 5
-

RECOMMENDED DESIGN IMPLEMENTATION

The following items should be implemented in the grounding design. 1) Where available, module piles should be used instead of a ground grid or ground rods as a means of system grounding and supplemental equipment grounding [ti]. 2) At least two separate (redundant) grounded conductors should be run from the system ground point as the main source of equipment grounding for modules. 3) Ground continuity check devices for grounded conductors should be applied. Since these are not presently available, periodic inspection (about once a week) should be implemented to detect damaged ground wires or connections. 4) Prompt tripping and relaying, if applicable, or alarm initiation on line-to-ground fault occurrence should be used. Line-to-ground faults should be cleared promptly and not allowed to persist. This will reduce the possibility of a line-to-ground fault developing into a line-to-line fault with higher currents and greater hazard from increased step and touch potentials. Fast tripping should be performed if the fault develops into a line-to-line or three-phase fault. 5) In the presence of high soil resistivity, the transmission line parameters are affected. In particular, ground resistance should be treated as a part of the zerosequence resistance R 0. The characteristics of electrical systems should be reevaluated. The value of RO is therefore significant in determining whether a system is or is not effectively grounded.

STEP POTEN ' I A L

Fig. 4. Touch and step potentials, wl~ereI b = current flowing through human body, Rb = body resistance, R f = resistance between foot and ground, and R1 . . . R 3 = ground rc,sistances.

compliance with NEC. This method is also cost-effective, resulting in significant savings. Where step and touch potentials are a likely problem, ground planes in the form of grids or platforms are still recommendei. A high-resistance ground system is desirable from the poir t of view of reduced step and touch potentials. Up to the present, no ground continuity checker suitable for use with dual bare ground conductors appears to be available on the market. We hope such a ievice will be developed and marketed in the near future. APPEN IIX

SAFE TOUCH AND

!;TEP

POTENTIAL

CONCLUSION
The proposed grounding practice without a widespread conventional ground grid appears to be adequate and in

For ac 60-cycle power systems, voltages of the order of 50 V and below are assumed to be safe [9]. Fig. 4 shows the electrical hazards due to touch pctential and step potential, and their equivalent circuits, which a human being may suffer at an electrical fault. In both cases the human body in series with the resistance between the foot and the ground surface forms a shunt branch in the electrical c i ~ u i t . The resistance between the foot and ground surface is approximated by a resistance of 3 ps, where ps is the ground surface resistivity in 0 - m [ 5 ] , [lo]. The shunt branch of human body and human foot to ground determine the current flowing through the human bod) and can be represented as R = 1000 Q + 1.5 ps for the touct: potential case and R = 1000 0 + 6 ps for the step potential c'ase. Quite often, considering the possibility of bare feet and wet ground surface, ps is assumed to be zero for conservatism and R is 1000 Q. Based on the study results, the allowable current passing

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through the human body for a short periGd of time, 0.03-3 S , without causing ventricular fibrillation can be determined as [61

[9] D. Beeman, Industrial Power Systems Handbook. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1955. [lo] C. F. Dalziel and W. R. Lee, Re-evaluation of lethal electric currents, IEEE Trans. Znd. Gen. Appl., vol. IGA-4, pp. 467-476, Sept .IOct . 1968.

Z = 0.1 1 6 / J T b
where
Zb

(Al)

maximum body tolerable current without going into fibrillation (A), duration of clearing time (s).

Based on many studies, it may be concluded that (Al) embodies sufficient conservatism for all cases with 60-Hz ac potentials. Because potential is easier to calculate and measure than current, maximum tolerable touch and step potentials with R = 1000 Q can be found by use of (Al) as follows:

E touch=(1000+1.5 ps)(O.l16)/CTV

(A2)

E step=(1000+6 ps)(O.l16)/fiV.
Equations (A2) and (A3) can be used to compute tolerable potentials for given values of ps and T. REFERENCES
[ 11

Roy T. Beck (M65) was born in Ukiah, CA, in 1930. He received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley in 1956. He is presently employed by the Ralph M. Parsons Company of Pasadena, CA He is a Senior Member of the Analytical Group. He has been employed by Parsons for a total of 20 years, much of which has been devoted to design efforts in the petrochemical field. In addition, he has been employed five years by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as Electrical Engineer in their wind tunnel complex, and has also spent three years with the Bechtel Corporation in Norwalk, CA. He was a partner for ten years with Architectural License Seminars of Los Angeles, CA, which is in the business of assisting candidates who are preparing for the state licensing examinations in architecture. He has served in the U S. Army as an Instructor in radio repair in a signal corps school. Mr. Beck is a Licensed Electrical Engineer in the State of California and is a member of the IEEE, having originally joined the AIEE in 1950 as a student member.

[2] [3] [4] [SI 161 [7]

[8]

H. W . Gill, Design problems for an electric power system in an arctic region, ZEEE Trans. Znd. Appl., vol. IA-10, no. 2, pp. 325-333, Mar.1Apr. 1974. Ground resistance tests for electric power systems, Alaska North Slope project, report 5268-09-2-72 for BP Alaska, Inc. by Shawinigan Engineering Company, Ltd., Dec. 1972. R. B. West, Grounding for emergency and standby power systems, ZEEE Trans. Znd. Appl., vol. IA-15, no. 2, pp. 124-136, Mar./Apr. 1979. 1987 National Electrical Code, National Fire Protection Association. ZEEE Guide for Safety in Substation Grounding, IEEE Standard 801986. ZEEE Recommended Practice for Industrial and Commercial Power Systems Analysis, IEEE Standard 399-1980. IEEE Recommended Practice for Grounding of Industrial and Commercial Systems, IEEE Standard 142-1982. R. J . Anderson, Meeting the arctic challenge, Elec. Construction Maintenance, vol. 84, no. 13, pp. 41-48, Dec. 1985.

Luke Yu was born in Ningpo, China, in 1930 He

received the B.S. degree from Utopia University, China, in 1951, the M.S. degree from the University of Manitoba, Canada, in 1966, and the Ph D degree from McGill University, Montreal, PQ. Canada, in 1970, all in electrical engineering. He practiced in China, Hong Kong, and Canada before he immigrated to the United States in 1973 He joined the Ralph M. Parsons Company, Pasadena, CA, in 1976 and presently is Head of the Analytical Group, electrical section. He has over 35 years of experience in electrical engineering, specializing in motor control, computer application, and reliability and availability analysis. He developed a multiconductor method of solving various problems in the electrical power engineering field. He is active in the state of the art in the power area of electrical engineering, with over 20 publications. Dr. Yu is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of California.