6.

Earthing system
With the development of modern power system to the direction of extra-high voltage,
large capacity, far distance transmission and applications of advanced technologies, the
demands on the safety, stability and economic operation of power system becomes
higher. A good grounding system is the fundamental insurance to keep the safe
operation of power system.
6.1 Purpose
The function of a grounding electrode system and a ground terminal is to provide a
system of conductors which ensures terminal electrical contact with the earth.
6.2 Grounding principles
i. All metallic enclosures on equipment and exposed non -current carrying
conductive materials capable of becoming energized due to either insulation
failure, in advertent contact with an energized conductor, or building up of a static
or induced voltage should be grounded.
ii. The grounding arrangement should ensure a deliberate ground fault current return
path, so that the (over current or ground fault) protection system will sense the
and either trip the faulty circuit or provide an alarm to the station operator
iii. The grounding should limit the step and touch voltage to acceptable limits under
all climatic conditions and also during faults.
iv. The grounding conductors and connections should with stand the ground fault
current for the duration of the fault, without being damaged by thermal, thermo
chemical or electromechanical stresses.
v. The grounding conductors should be continuous. i.e no switching device should be
inserted in the grounding conductors (except where the operation of the switching
device also will automatically disconnect all power sources from the equipment
grounded by that conductor.)
vi. The grounding conductors should be mechanically reliable or protected in order to
withstand any mechanical imposed on them.
vii. The grounding system should be designed to minimize corrosion of to adjacent
structures, equipments and enclosures.

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6.3 Basics of earthing
The electrical properties of earthing depend essentially on two parameters: i.e.
configuration of earthing electrodes and soil resistivity, earthing electrodes maintain
ground potential on all the connected conductors, this is used to dissipate currents into the
ground conductor by these electrodes.
6.3.1 Components of earthing electrodes
i. Ground conductor
ii. Earthing electrode
iii. Connection/bonding of ground conductor to earthing electrode.
6.3.2 Location of resistance
The resistance of earthing electrode has 3 basic components
i. the ground electrode and its connections
ii. the contact resistance of the earth to electrode
iii. the resistance of the surrounding body of earth
The ground resistance due to first two reasons is negligible with respect to the resistance
of surrounding body of earth.
6.3.3 Parameters for earthing electrode resistance:
i. length/depth of the ground electrode: one very effective way of lowering ground
resistance is to drive ground electrodes deeper.
ii. Diameter of the ground electrode: increasing the diameter of the ground electrode
has very little effect in lowering the resistance.
iii. Number of ground electrodes: more than one electrode is driven into the ground
and connected in parallel to lower the resistance.
6.4 Ground system design
Different ground systems have different ground resistivity calculations: single electrode,
multiple electrodes, mesh network, and earth plate.
Types of earth electrode: the earth electrodes generally used are as follows.

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 i. Rod electrode: these electrodes can consist of rod, pipe etc and are driven or
buried to depth usually from 3m to 30m.
ii. Strip electrode: used for interconnection of electrodes and equipment cable with
exposed metal sheath or armour behaves similar to a strip type earth electrodes.
iii. Ground plate: these electrodes are in form of plates generally of copper or
aluminum.
iv. Chemical type electrode: it consists of a copper tube filled with salt holes in the
tube allow moisture to enter, dissolve the salts, and allow the salt solution to leach
into the ground. These electrodes are installed in an augured hole and typically
back filled with soil treatment.
v. Foundation of earth electrode: these electrodes are formed from conductive
structural parts embedded in concrete foundation providing a large area contact
with the earth.
6.5 Soil resistivity
One of the most important parameter in designing grounding system is the
resistivity of the soil. The reason for measuring soil resistivity is to find a location
that has the lowest possible resistance.
6.5.1 Soil resistivity variables:
Soil resistivity is not constant as there are no of factors affecting it. Principal
factors affecting soil resistivity are
a. type of soil; the soil composition can be clay, gravel, loam, rock, sand,
shale, silt, stones etc. in many locations, soil can be quite homogeneous ,
while other locations may be mixtures of the soil types in varying
proportions, there by having different ground resistance.
b. Seasonal conditions: the effects of heat, moisture, drought and frost can
introduce wide variations in normal soil resistivity. Soil resistivity usually
decreases with depth and an increase of only a few percent of moisture
content in a normally dry soil will markedly decrease soil resistivity.
c. Other factors: other soil properties conductive to low resistivity are
chemical composition, soil ionization, homogeneous grain size and even
grain distribution.

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Switchyard grounding system

Grounding Purpose

The sole purpose of substation grounding/earthing is to protect the equipment

from surges and lightning strikes and to protect the operating persons in the
substation. The substation earthing system is necessary for connecting neutral
points of transformers and generators to ground and also for connecting the non-current
carrying metal parts such as structures, overhead shielding wires, tanks,
frames, etc to earth. The function of substation earthing system is to provide a grounding
mat below the earth surface in and around the substation which will have uniformly zero
potential
with respect to ground and lower earth resistance.

Lower earth resistance is preferable but for certain applications following earth
resistance are satisfactory

Large Power Stations- 0.5 Ohm

Major Power Stations - 1.0 Ohm
Small Substation - 2.0 Ohm
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In all Other Cases - 8.0 Ohm

Primary object of a Grounding system:

a) To stabilize circuit potential with respect to ground and limit the overall potential
rise.
b) To protect life & property of device from over voltages.
c) To provide low impedance path to fault current for reliable & prompt
operation of protective devices during ground fault.
d) To keep the maximum voltage gradient along the surface inside & around the
substation within safe limits during ground faults.

Grounding Equipment

Cables.

Grounding cable used for direct burial or embedding in concrete should be soft-drawn
bare copper.
Electrodes.
Electrodes for driving should becopper-weld rods of appropriate diameter and
length.
Exterior connections.
Ground cable connections to driven ground rods, any buried or embedded
connections, or any exposed ground grid connections should be made either with an
appropriate molded powdered metal weld or by a copper alloy brazed pressure
connector.

Test stations.

Test stations should be provided for measuring resistance of individual mats and
checking continuity of interconnecting leads. Where measurements are contemplated,
the design of the grounding systems should avoid interconnection of ground
mats through grounded equipment, overhead lines, and reinforcing steel.

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 Conduit.

Grounding conductors run in steel conduit for mechanical protection should be

bonded to the conduit.
Overhead ground wires.
Overhead ground wires should be bonded securely to the steel structure on one end
only and insulated on the other to prevent circulating current paths.

Ground Mats

The measured soil resistivity obtained by field exploration is used to determine the
amount of ground grid necessary to develop the desired ground mat resistance. The
resistance to ground of all switchyard mats when connected in parallel should not
exceed, if practicable, 0.5 ohm for large installations.
Grounded equipment
Grounded switchyard equipment includes:
 tanks of circuit breakers,
 operating mechanisms of disconnecting switches,
 hinged ends of disconnect grounding blades,
 transformer tanks and neutrals,
 surge arresters,
 cases of instrument transformers and coupling capacitors,
 high-voltage potheads,
 Isolated conduit runs,
 power and lighting cabinet enclosures,
 Frames of electrically operated auxiliary equipment should also be grounded.

Connection of the equipment’s to the grounding system

Parts to be Earthed Method Of Connection

Apparatus

Transformer tank Connect the earthing bolt on transformer

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 Power Transformer tank to station earth. Connect the neutral to
earthing system.

High Voltage Circuit Breakers Operating mechanism , Connect the earthing bolt on the frame and
frame the operating mechanism of circuit breaker
to earthing system
Surge Arrester Lower Earth Point To be directly connected to the earth mat

Support of bushing insulators, Device Flange or Base Plate Connect the earthing bolt of the device to
lightning arresters, fuse, etc.. the station earthing system

Potential Transformer Potential transformer tank, connect the transformer earthing bolt to
LV neutral system connect LV neutral of phase lead to
case with flexible copper conductor

Isolator Isolator frame, operating Weld the isolator base frame, connect it to
mechanism , bedplate the bolt on operating mechanism base plate
and station earth.

Current Transformer Secondary winding and Connect secondary winding to earth bolt on
metal case
transformer case with a flexible copper
conductor.

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 Critical parameters for design of grounding grids are:

The following site-dependent parameters have been found to have substantial impact
on the grid design:

Maximum grid current

In determining the maximum current IG, by means of, consideration should be given to
the resistance of the ground grid, division of the ground fault current between the
alternate return paths and the grid, and the decrement factor.
Fault duration and shock duration
The fault duration and shock duration are normally assumed equal, unless the fault
duration is the sum of successive shocks, such as from enclosures.. The choices
tfand tsshould result in the most pessimistic combination of fault current decrement
factor and allowable body current. Typical values for tfand tsrange from 0.25 s to 1.0
s.
Soil resistivity

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 The grid resistance and the voltage gradients within a substation are directly
dependent on the soil resistivity. Because in reality soil resistivity will vary
horizontally as well as vertically, sufficient data must be gathered for a substation yard.
Resistivity of surface layer
A layer of surface material helps in limiting the body current by adding resistance to
the equivalent body resistance.
Grid geometry (Area covered by Earth mat).
Several parameters define the geometry of the grid, but the area of the grounding
system, the conductor spacing, and the depth of the ground grid have the most impact on
the mesh voltage, while parameters such as the conductor diameter and the thickness
of the surfacing material have less impact.
Methodology:
A Grounding design starts with a site analysis, collection of geological data, and soil
resistivity of the area.. When designing a ground system, the difficulty and costs
increase extremely as the target resistance-to-ground approaches the unobtainable goal
of zero ohms.
Step 1:- Find out Area of grid from substation layout Plan.

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 Standard Safety mat with centre wire Model
of Earthing Grid

Step 2 :- Measure soil resistivity by selection ofdifferent test location throughout thesubstation
using earth tester
Step 3:- Determine the maximum ground fault current and fault clearing duration from
authority.
Step 4:- Determine size of Earth mat conductor (As per IEEE-80).
A = I x 12.3 For Steel Welded joint
√t
A = I x 15.13For steel Bolted joint
√t
Step 5:- Determine corrosion correction factor: for moisture and softy soil 15 % allowance
and for rocky area 0% allowance is permissible.
Step 6:- Find out maximum grid current
IG = Cp x Df x Sf x (3 I0)
Where:
IG =Maximum grid current inK.A
Cp= corrective projection factor(for future expansion)
Df = Decrement factor of D.C offset
Sf = current division factor(Fraction of total current passed through
irregularpath)

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 Iρ = Zero Sequence fault current in K.A

Step 5:- Find Resistivity of surface layer ρs

Step 6:-Find out tolerable touch & Step potentials.
Step voltage and Touch Voltage
E touch = (1000 +1.5 Cs ρs) x 0.116
√timeofshockduration
E step = (1000 + 6 Cs ρs) x0.116
√timeofshockduration
CS= the reduction factor for derating the nominal value ofsurface layer
resistivity ρS with a thickness of hs
Km and Ki are the spacing and corrective factors, respectively for the mesh voltage

Df= Decrement factor

Sf=Safety Factor
L = Total length of buried conductors (m)
D = Adjacent conductor spacing (m)
h = Depth of burial of grid conductors (m)
d = Diameter of grid conductors (m)
nm= Number of adjacent conductors
LT = The total conductor without earth rods
The mesh potential of an earth grid is computed using

Grid Potential Rise (GPR)

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 GPR or Earth Potential Rise (as defined by IEEE Standard 80-2000) is the maximum
electrical potential that a (substation) grounding grid may attain relative to a distant
grounding point assumed to be at potential of remote earth.

GPR, = Maximum grid current * grid resistance.

If GPR < E touch voltage then design is safe

If GPR > E touch
Then Find (E mesh and E Step)
If E mesh < E touch Compare E step actual < E step permissible if yes then design is
safe
Otherwise, modify by increasing or decreasing spacing of conductor, Length of
conductors. Calculate again.

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