Ground ROD 2005 - AC substation earthing tutorial

Function of an earthing system Earthing standards

IEEE Std 80-2000 Step and touch potential
Touch potential Mesh potential
Step potential Transferred potential
Maximum permitted step and
touch potentials
Design considerations
Earthing design calculations HOT distance


Function of an earthing system
The two primary functions of a safe earthing system are:
to ensure that a person who is in the vicinity of earthed facilities during a fault is
not exposed to the possibility of a fatal electric shock.
to provide a low impedance path to earth for currents occurring under normal and
fault conditions.

Earthing standards
There are a variety of national and international standards available, which
provide empirical formulae for the calculation of earthing design parameters and
shock potential safety limits. There is some variation in formulae between the
different standards. Three standards, which are widely referred to, are:
BS 7354 - 1990: Code of practice for Design of high-voltage open-terminal
stations.

IEEE Std 80-2000: IEEE Guide for Safety in AC Substation Grounding.
Electricity Association Technical Specification 41-24: Guidelines for the Design,
Installation, Testing and Maintenance of Main Earthing Systems in Substations.
ground potential rise (GPR). The substation earth grid is used as an electrical
connection to earth at zero potential reference. This connection, however, is not
ideal due to the resistivity of the soil within which the earth grid is buried. During
typical earth fault conditions, the flow of current via the grid to earth will
therefore result in the grid rising in potential relative to remote earth to which
other system neutrals are also connected. This produces potential gradients
within and around the substation ground area as depicted in Figure 1. This is
defined as ground potential rise or GPR.

The GPR of a substation under earth fault conditions must be limited so that step
and touch potential limits are not exceeded, and is controlled by keeping the
earthing grid resistance as low as possible.

Step and touch potential
In order to ensure the safety of people at a substation, it is necessary to ensure
that step and touch potentials in and around the yard during earth-fault
conditions are kept below set limits. These maximum permitted touch and step
potentials are addressed within various national and international standards. An
illustration of touch, step, mesh and transferred potentials is provided in Figure 1.

Touch potential
The touch potential is defined as the potential difference between a persons
outstretched hand, touching an earthed structure, and his foot. A persons
maximum reach is normally assumed to be 1 metre.

Mesh potential
The mesh potential is defined as the potential difference between the centre of an
earthing grid mesh and a structure earthed to the buried grid conductors. This is
For more information about Ground ROD please contact:
Stephanie Horton at ERA Technology Ltd
Tel: +44 (0)1372 367000 | E-mail: Stephanie.Horton@era.co.uk
Ground ROD 2005 - AC substation earthing tutorial
effectively a worst-case touch potential. For a grid consisting of equal size
meshes, it is the meshes at the corner of the grid that will have the highest mesh
potential.

Step potential
The step potential is defined as the potential difference between a persons
outstretched feet, normally 1 metre apart, without the person touching any
earthed structure.

Transferred potential
This is a special case of a touch potential in which a voltage is transferred into or
out of a substation for some distance by means of an earth referenced metallic
conductor. This can be a very high touch potential, as, during fault conditions, the
resulting potential to ground may equal the full GPR.

figure 1: basic shock situations

Maximum permitted step and touch potentials
The maximum permitted values of step and touch potentials vary widely between
the different standards. The value of maximum permitted touch potential has a
dominant role in determining the design of the earthing grid. As a general rule, if
an earthing grid design satisfies the requirements for safe touch potentials, it is
very unlikely that the maximum permitted step potential will be exceeded.
The IEEE 80 standard uses the maximum mesh voltage as the touch voltage, and
this usually exists at the corner mesh. UK practice defines the touch voltage
differently. In practice the voltage at the surface of the ground is a maximum
adjacent to a corner of a grid. UK practice is to define touch voltage as the sum of
the step voltage plus the voltage difference between the ground surface adjacent
to a corner and the grid beneath.

Although the mesh voltage is used as the defining touch voltage in American
practice, the maximum permitted touch voltage used is less than that used in
British Standards. In practice, compliance with American usage thus also ensures
the arrangement will comply with UK requirements.
CENELEC have issues a harmonisation document HD 637 S1 containing
references to the maximum body impedance and permitted touch voltage.

Design considerations
For more information about Ground ROD please contact:
Stephanie Horton at ERA Technology Ltd
Tel: +44 (0)1372 367000 | E-mail: Stephanie.Horton@era.co.uk
Ground ROD 2005 - AC substation earthing tutorial
For more information about Ground ROD please contact:
Stephanie Horton at ERA Technology Ltd
Tel: +44 (0)1372 367000 | E-mail: Stephanie.Horton@era.co.uk
The earthing conductors, composing the grid and connections to all equipment
and structures, must possess sufficient thermal capacity to pass the highest fault
current for the required time. Also, the earthing conductors must have sufficient
mechanical strength and corrosion resistance. The earthing of metallic fences
around a substation is of vital importance because dangerous touch potentials
can be involved and the fence is often accessible to the general public. Fence
earthing can be accomplished in two different ways:

electrically connecting the fence to the earth grid, locating it within the
grid area or alternatively just outside.
independently earthing the fence and locating it outside the grid area at a
convenient place where the potential gradient from the grid edge is
acceptably low.


In America, the common practice is to extend the grid sides to 1 metre beyond
the fence line. The common practice in the UK is to erect the fence away from the
grid sides, typically 2 metres, and to earth the fence independently. This will,
however, present a problem should the fence inadvertently be connected to
substation equipment, and hence the earthing grid.

Earthing design calculations
Performing earthing design calculations, using one of the standards above, is an
involved and time consuming process and there are various subtleties which need
to be considered. The Ground ROD spreadsheet provides an easy-to-use, fast and
accurate means to perform these calculations. The program can perform the
calculations in accordance with any of the three above standards, but also
incorporates a set of newly developed equations providing calculation results
which are comparable to the test results published in the EPRI EL-3099
document.

HOT distance
The rise of earth potential at and around substations during earth fault conditions
can be dangerous to any communication circuits that enter or pass through this
zone. The CCITT have specified an acceptable rise of earth potential below which
it is not necessary to adopt special protective measures for the communication
circuits. These limits are:

430V if the substation has older and slower protection.
650V for substations using modern fast protection devices (<=0.2s
tripping time).

If these limits are exceeded at the location of communication equipment and
cables around the substation, the operators thereof are to be notified. The HOT
distance refers to the distance from the earthing grid perimeter to the 430V or
650V potential rise contour. The formula adopted for the HOT distance relates to
a grid on the ground surface. Taking into account the actual burial depth entails
using the voltage on the surface above the outer grid conductor in place of the
GPR, thus leading to a smaller distance. The Ground ROD program provides both
these distances and advises that the latter is best practice.