You are on page 1of 5

1.

METHODS OF CALCULATING EARTH ROD RESISTANCE CALCULATION


1.1 General
The buried conductor size, total earthing loop resistance, touch voltage and step
voltage are studied based on the calculation by Schwarz equations, which are
defined by IEEE std 80-2000.
Schwarz developed the following set of equations to determine the total resistance
of an earthing system in a homogeneous soil consisting of horizontal (buried
conductors) and vertical (rods) electrodes. Schwarz’s equations extended accepted
equations for a straight horizontal wire to represent the earthing resistance, R1 , of a
grid consisting of crisscrossing conductors, and a sphere embedded in the earth to
represent earthing rods, R2 .
He also introduced an equation for the mutual earthing resistance Rm between the
buried conductor and rod bed.
Schwarz used the following equation to combine the resistance of the buried
conductors, rods, and mutual earthing resistance to calculate the total system
resistance, Rg .

where
R1 earthing resistance of buried conductors in Ω
R2 earthing resistance of all earthing rods in Ω
Rm mutual earthing resistance between the group of buried conductors, R1 , and
group of earthing rods, R2 in Ω
Earthing resistance of the buried conductor

where
ρ is the soil resistivity in Ω ·m
Lc is the total length of all connected grid conductors in m
a’ is sqrt(a. 2h) for conductors buried at depth h in m, or
a’ is a for conductor on earth surface in m
2a is the diameter of conductor in m
A is the area covered by conductors in m2
k1, k2 are the coefficients [see Figure 1(a) and (b)]

Earthing resistance of the rod bed

where
Lr is the length of each rod in m
2b is the diameter of rod in m
nR number of rods placed in area A

Mutual earthing resistance between the buried conductor and the rod bed

The combined earthing resistance of the grid and the rod bed will be lower than the

Hamed afzalipour
http://electrical-engineer.blogfa.com/
earthing resistance of either component alone, but still higher than that of a parallel
Combination. Schwarz compared the results of his equations to previously published
theoretical work and to model tests to verify the accuracy of his equations. Since they
ware published in 1954, Schwarz’s equations have been modified by Kercel to provide
equations for constants k1 and k2 and further expanded to include the use of
equations in two-layer soil (Naham and Salamon).

1.2 Earthing resistance of single rod.


The earth resistance of a single rod or pipe electrode is calculated using the Fagan
and Les formula.

Hamed afzalipour
http://electrical-engineer.blogfa.com/
where
L is the length of the electrode in m
2b is the diameter of the electrode in m
ρ is the resistivity of the soil in Ω ·m

2.1

2.2

Hamed afzalipour
http://electrical-engineer.blogfa.com/
D: Spacing between parallel conductors
d : Diameter of grid conductor
h : Depth of ground grid conductor

L : Total length of ground rods


r L : The length of each ground rods
C L : Total length of the conductor in the horizontal grid
p L : Peripheral length of grid
A Lx Ly
L x : The maximum length of the grid in the x direction
L y : The maximum length of the grid in the y direction

Hamed afzalipour
http://electrical-engineer.blogfa.com/
3. EARTHING CONDUCTOR SIZE CALCULATION
General
For the electrical neutral earthing, earthing conductor shall be designed so as not to
exceed the allowable maximum temperature of the conductor. The calculation is
made based on the criteria of cable sizing for short circuit specified .namely the
conductor is sized so as not to exceed the allowable maximum temperature for the
clearance time of the earth fault current by the protection device.
The temperature rise of the earthing conductor during very short time fault condition
is calculated by the following formula in accordance with IEC 60949 standard:

STANDARDS
Code of practice for Earthing BS7430
For the earthing system calculation, IEEE std 80-2000 is referred to.

Thanks
Hamed afzalipour
http://electrical-engineer.blogfa.com/

Hamed afzalipour
http://electrical-engineer.blogfa.com/

You might also like