Grounding Systems LLC

Standard*

for the Desian

of Conductive

and Installation

Cement Electrodes

*This standard is also available electronically from Grounding Systems.

and we will email a copy or send a floppy disk.

Call 419 347-3863

Conductive cement is a durable backfill material that effectively increasesthe cross-sectional

area of a ground rod or wire and protects the rod or wire from corrosion. The material is
especially formulated from portland cementand carbon, using the proper proportions and particle
size. Use EarthLink* cement from Grounding Systemsof Chagrin Falls,OH, or equivalent
material. Use respiratory protection (a mask) as you would when applying any powdered
material. The MSDS (material safety data sheet)required by OSHA is available from the
manufacturer.
Calcium oxide, CaO, in the portland cementcombines with water to form free lime, or calcium
hydroxide, Ca(OH)2, a salt. This gives conductive cement, when saturated with water, a
resistivity of20 to 50 ohm-cm. This comparesto about 3000 ohm-cm for ordinary concrete,
when moist, and an average of 10,000 ohm-cm for soil in the U.S. The resistance is much greater
than that of a metal, but it is low enoughcompared to soil that, in electrode design, the same
formulas used for an all-metal electrode apply. It is thus easyto design and install a ground rod
with an effective diameter of 12 inches or a counterpoise radial with a cross section of 2 by 20
in., using standardformulas.
.
As it draws moisture, conductive cementconducts electricity by means of ions of salts. When
dry it conducts by means of free electrons in the carbon. This is in contrast to soil materials,
including bentonite (a volcanic clay), which are insulators when dry.
Conductive cement is used, as described belqw, as a backfill material in horizontal
configurations, to effectively expand counterpoise wires or ground rings, and in and vertical
configurations, with ground rods.

Horizontal Strip
Electrode
A horizontal strip electrode, or groundbed, can be made by encasinga buried wire
(counterpoise) in EarthLink conductive cement, or equivalent. Typically, a No. 4/0 stranded
wire is used in a strip. A ground ring of bare, solid No.2 A WG wire can also be enhanced by
encasement. Encasementincreasesthe effective cross section of a 4/0 A WG wire by 100 or 200
times or more and transforms it into an elongated plate. By the capacitive theory of electrodes,
this plate offers lower resistance(measuredwith an earth tester) and lower impedance (desirable
for conducting lightning currents) than a wire alone.
In the horizontal strip configuration, the cement is installed around a No. 4/0 bare stranded
copper counterpoise wire in a trench (see Figure 1 at end of text). Use EarthLink from
Grounding Systems of Chagrin Falls, OR, or equivalent material. The cement may also be used
as backfill around a solid No.2 ground ring conductor. In either casethe procedure is as follows:
1. Dig a trench about 30 in. deep and 20 in. wide. Place the bare portion of the wire and about
12 in. of the insulated portion on the bottom of the trench (bottom sketch).

2. Cover the wire completely with the conductive cement, either dry or mixed with water. The
usual way is to install the cement dry by dragging an open bag of cement down the trench. For
the trench described, one bag of approximately 50 lb will cover about 5 ft of wire when installed
as shown. Heapthe cement up in the center, and level and tamp down the edges with the feet or
a shovel. Lift the wire as necessaryto insure that it is completely covered on the bottom (the
cement will support it). The cementshould completely cover the wire, as cement protects against
corrOSIon.
3. Allow the cementto cover about 12 in. of the insulated portion of the wire and bring enough
of the wire to the surface to connectto the facility.
4. Carefully cover the cement with about 4 in. of soil, shoveling it in and taking care not to
displace the cement, which is a light powder. Tamp down the thin layer of soil.
5. Replace the rest of the soil that was removed from the trench. A front-end loader can be used
to make quick work of this.

Wet Use
Conductive cement can installed as a slurry by mixing it with water before pouring. Use a
standard cement mixer, wheelbarrow, etc. Use 3 to 4 gallons of water per 50-lb bag.

EmbeddedGround
Rod
About 50% of the IR drop caused by the current in a ground rod occurs within 6 in. of the rod.
That is, about half of the resistance betweena ground rod and remote earth is in a shell within the
first 6 in. from the electrode. If this shell is shorted out by encasingthe rod in 6 in. of
conductive material, the resistanceis halved. This has beenborne out by recent tests at Bell
Laboratories in Chester,NJ.
The following steps describe how to install an embeddedground rod using using EarthLink
conductive cement or equivalent material. (See Figure 2 at end of text.)
I. Determine the depth of the hole to be augered. To do this: (a) Determine the desired depth of
the top of the rod when completed (for example, 30 in.) and (b) add the length of the rod (for
example, 8 ft). (c) Subtract I ft. For the example, the depth of the hole would be 9.5 ft (2.5ft to
top + 8-ft rod -I-ft driving depth).
2. Auger a l2-ih. diameter hole to this depth
3. Center the ground rod in the hol~ and drive about I ft into the bottom of the hole. This will
support the rod. The top of the rod will be 30 in. below grade, in the example.
4. Connect the ground wire or ground ring to the top oftbe rod using exothermic welding.
5. Determine the amount of conductive cementneededto cover the ground rod. This is
approximately 1.4bags (55-lb bags) per foot of ground rod (about II bags in the example). A
IO-in. diameter hole would take about one bag per foot.

RESISTANCE OF
EMBEDDEDGROUNDROD

R= ~
2PiLl

[lnrl-lnrO)+JL

[ln4L2-1-lnrl)

2PiL2

Po = Resistivity of concrete = 20 ohm-cm

Ll = Length of concrete cylinder.
rl = Radius of augeredhole which is radius of concrete after being poured into hole.
rO = Radius of copperwire.
PI = Soil resistivity in ohm-cm.
L2 = Length of copper rod.
Pi = 3.1416

FIG.2
ILLUSTRATION AND FORMULAFOR A CEMENT-ENCASEDROD

6. Pour in the Earthlink or equivale':lt material, tamping around the rod as you pour.
7. Fill the remainder of the augeredhole with the removed soil

Designof CementStrip Electrode

Design of a conductive cementelectrode consists of three steps:
I. Decide upon the desired resistanceof the electrode. This standardspecifies a maximum ofJO
ohms.
2. Measure the soil resistivity using an earth tester.
3. Determine the required len~ from the chart in Figure 3. It depends on the desired resistance
and the soil resistivity. For example, in soil of250 ohm-meter (25,000 ohm-cm) resistivity, the
chart gives 9 ohms to ground when the length is 40 m. In this same SQi),a 5-ohm resistance
would require a length of85 m. The chart is basedon a depth, O,of().75m (30 in.) and width,
w, of 0.5 m (20 in.). The fonnula verifies the results. The fonnula itself has beenverified by
recenttests at Bell Laboratories in Chester, NJ.

Ground Ring
and Star
Conductive cement may also be installed in a trench dug to the depth of the ground ring around
an equipmentpad. The resistance again dependson the cross-sectionalarea of the conductive
cement rather than that of the wire. Typically No.2 A WG solid wire is used in a ground ring.
The cross section again is 2 in. thick, tapering down from the center (or ground ring), by 20 in.
wide. The chart and formula in Figure 3, which apply toa straight strip, must be multiplied by
the appropriate configuration f~tor ftom the table below, which is 1.12 for a squarering. The
factors correct for the reduced grounding efficiency of configurations other than a strip.

ConfiI!uration -.!
Straight strip
Right angle
3-Section star
4-Section star
Squarering
6-Section star

1.00
1.03
1.06
1.12
1.12
1.42

The amount of cementrequired for a ring instaHationdependson the pad size and the distance of
the tower. As an example of a calculation, assumethe pad size is 8 by 15 ft. The pad ring would
be about 15 by 22 ftand the tower ring 8 by 8 ft. Assume the distance betweenthe rings is 15 ft.
Two 15-ft bonding strips betweenthe rings are required. The total length of the rings and
bonding strips would be aboutJ36 rJ, or41.'45m, In a straight strip this would give about 10
ohms resistance in 250 ohm-meter soil. Using the configuration factor of about 1.12 for a square
ring, the resistancewould be about 11.5 ohms. S() in soils litittte better than this, the ring using
conductive cementwould give 10 ohms. Radials from the comers would be needed for higher
resistivity soil. The total length required can be determined from the chart in Figure 3.

500

300

200

OJ
'-'
QJ
U

I:::

100
70

.o-J
U)

"0

50

P:::

30

20

10
7

Soil Resistivity p( Q -m)

FIG.3
GRAPH AND FORMULA FOR RESISTANCEOlij HORIZONTAL STRIP

Rods in Multiple
If the ground rods in a ring or line are also encased,the resistance will be reduced further. A
ground rod encasedin 6in. of conductive cement (in a 12-in. diameter hole) has half the
resistance of a bare ground rod. The spacing of the rods should be toward the high end of the
recommendedspacing of 10 to 15 feet.
The resistanceof multiple rods in parallel is inversely proportional to the number of rods,
although not strictly so. Large numbers of rods are less efficient than small numbers (there is a
diminishing return as more are added). The total resistanceis also affected by the ratio of the rod
length to the spacing. For details of multiple-rod calculations, consult J.EEEStandard 142-1991.
:arthLink is a trademark of Grounding SystemsLL< Box 23009, Chagrin Falls, OH 44023