AnOverviewOfShortCircuitCurrent(part1)

An Overview Of Short Circuit Current (part 1)

Basicconcept
Thereareessentiallyfourtypesoffaults:threephase,singlelinetoground,doublelinetoground,
andlinetoline.
Eachofthesetypesoffaultscanresultindifferentmagnitudesoffaultcurrent.
Inalltypes,however,thereisacommonelement:anabnormallylowimpedancepathorshorted
pathforcurrenttoflow,hencethenameshortcircuitcurrent.Suchaconditioncanleadto
extremelyhighcurrents.

ByOhmsLaw,voltageequalscurrenttimesimpedance(resistance).Therefore,
whentheimpedancebecomesverylowandthevoltagedoesnotchange,thecurrent
becomesveryhigh.Largeelectricalcurrentsproducealotofheattransfer,which
increasesthetemperatureofcables,transformers,etc.

Theincreaseintemperaturecancauseinsulationdamage.Thesecurrentsalsoproducehigh
magneticforces,whichcanactuallybendbusesinswitchgear.
Highfaultcurrentscausemagneticforcesthatareproportionaltothesquareofthefault
current.

Mathematicalbackground,X/Rratioandtypeoffaultcurrent
Thetreatmentofelectricalfaultsshouldbecarriedoutasafunctionoftime,fromthestartofthe
eventattimet=0+untilstableconditionsarereached,andthereforeitisnecessarytouse
differentialequationswhencalculatingthesecurrents.

Inordertoillustratethetransientnatureofthecurrent,consideranRLcircuitasa
simplifiedequivalentofthecircuitsinelectricitydistributionnetworks.

Thissimplificationisimportantbecauseallthesystemequipmentmustbemodeledinsomeway
inordertoquantifythetransientvalueswhichcanoccurduringthefaultcondition.
ForthecircuitshowninFigure,themathematicalexpressionwhichdefinesthebehaviorof
thecurrentis:

e(t)=Ldi+Ri(t)

RL circuit as a simplified equivalent

of the circuits in electricity
distribution networks

Thisisadifferentialequationwithconstantcoefficients,ofwhichthesolutionisintwo
parts:

ia(t):ih(t)+ip(t)
Where:

ih(t)isthesolutionofthehomogeneousequationcorrespondingtothetransientperiod.
ip(t)isthesolutiontotheparticularequationcorrespondingtothesteadystateperiod.
Bytheuseofdifferentialequationtheory,thecompletesolutioncanbedeterminedandexpressed
inthefollowingform:

Where:

theclosinganglewhichdefinesthepointonthesourcesinusoidalvoltagewhenthefault
occurs

=tan1(L/R) or=tan1(X/R)
ThesecondtermintheequationforfaultcurrentisrecognizedastheDCcomponentofthe
current,andhasaninitialmaximumvaluewhen:
=/2,andzerovaluewhen=.

Notes:
HereweintroducetheconceptofX/Rratio.WecanverywellseethatsinceL=
XLorsimplyXhenceDCcomponentoffaultcurrenttolargeextentdependsupon=
tan1(X/R)orsimplyX/Rratio.
TheX/Rratioisimportantbecauseitdeterminesthepeakasymmetricalfault
current.
InX/RratiowhenXequalszero,thereisonlysymmetricalcurrentwithnoDC
component.WithRequalszero,theDCcomponentwouldneverdecay.Onecansay
therewillalwaysbebothresistanceandreactivecomponentsinthesystem.
Theresistanceandreactanceofacircuitestablishesapowerfactor.
Thepowerfactor(p.f.)isgivenbythefollowingequation:p.f.=cos(tan1(X/R))this
equationmeansthatthepowerfactorandX/Rratioarerelated.
Therefore,systempowerfactorandsystemX/Rratioaredifferentwaysofsaying

thesamething.Pleasenotethataspowerfactordecreases,theX/Rratioincreases.

Itisimpossibletopredictathatisatwhatpointthefaultwillbeappliedortakeplaceonthe
sinusoidalcycleandthereforeitisnotpossibletodetermineexactlywhatmagnitudetheDC
componentwillreach.

Symmetricalfaultcurrent
Ifinacircuitmainlycontainingreactanceashortcircuitoccursatthepeakofthevoltagewave,
theshortcircuitcurrentwouldstartatzeroandtraceasinewavewhichwouldbesymmetrical
aboutthezeroaxis.

Thisisknownasasymmetricalshortcircuitcurrent.

Asymmetricalfaultcurrent
Rightafterafaultoccurs,thecurrentwaveformisnolongerasinewave.
Instead,itcanberepresentedbythesumofasinewaveandadecayingexponential.Figure
belowillustratesthisphenomenon.Pleasenotethatthedecayingexponentialaddedtothesine
wavecausesthecurrenttoreachamuchlargervaluethanthatofthesinewavealone.
Thewaveformthatequalsthesumofthesinewaveandthedecayingexponentialiscalled
theasymmetricalcurrentbecausethewaveformdoesnothavesymmetryaboveandbelowthe
timeaxis.
Thesinewavealoneiscalledthesymmetricalcurrentbecauseitdoeshavesymmetryaboveand
belowthetimeaxis.

Sine wave, decaying exponential and their sum

Hencewecandefineasymmetricalfaultcurrentinthefollowingway:If,inacircuitcontainingonly
reactance,theshortcircuitoccursatanypointatthepeakofthevoltagewave,therewillbe
someoffsetofthecurrent.
Theamountofoffsetdependsuponthepointonthevoltagewaveatwhichtheshortcircuit
occurs.

Thisisknownasasymmetricalshortcircuitcurrent.Maximumasymmetryoccurs
whenshortcircuittakesplacewhenvoltageiszero.

Asymmetricalfaultremainsonlyforfewcyclesafterwhichitbecomessymmetricalfault.
DecayofasymmetricalcomponentdependsonthevalueofX/R.MorethevalueofR,fasteris
thedecayofasymmetricalfaultcurrent.
Magnitudeofasymmetricalfaultcurrentismorethanthatofsymmetricalfaultcurrent.

IftheshortcircuitcurrentdoesnotincludeDCcomponentitiscalledsymmetrical
shortcircuitcurrent.IftheshortcircuitcurrentcontainsDCcomponentitiscalled
asasymmetricalcomponent.

FigureaboverepresentstheshortcircuitcurrentwithandwithoutDCcomponent.