16th International Middle- East Power Systems Conference -MEPCON'2014
Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, December 23 - 25, 2014
Modeling and Simulation of Integrated SVC and EAF
using MATLAB & ETAP
Ahmed M. Hassan Tarek El-Shennawy
Al-Ezz Dekheila Steel Alexandria National Refining and
Co.(EZDK) Petrochemicals Co. (ANRPC)
Alexandria 21537Egypt Alexandria 23111 Egypt
ahmedh@ezzsteel.com.eg tshennawy@yahoo.com
Abstract— Electric Arc furnace (EAF) represents one of the most
intensive and disturbing loads in the electric power system. Utilities
are concerned about the effects such load can cause and try to take
precautions to minimize these effects. Therefore, an accurate model
of an arc furnace is needed to test and verify proposed solutions of
mitigation. One of the most important solutions for the voltage
fluctuations mitigation is the Static Var Compensator (SVC). This
study presents the results where arc furnace is modeled using both
chaotic and deterministic elements. Voltage fluctuations are
captured using the well-studied circuit whereas a dynamic model in
the form of differential equation is used for the electric arc. A more
accurate simulation of developed model is done in Sim-Power-
System environment of the MATLAB 7.12 Version and
Electromagnetic Transient Analysis Program (ETAP) for Main
Receiving Substation (MRSS) of EZDK.
Keywords-component— Electric Arc Furnace, Static Var
Compensator, Harmonic Analysis, Power Quality, Flicker
Mitigation, MATLAB, ETAP
I. INTRODUCTION
Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) is a widely used device in
metallurgical and processing industries. It is a nonlinear time
varying load, which can cause many problems to the power
system quality such as unbalance, harmonic inter harmonic and
voltage flicker [1]. Thus study of electric arc furnaces has
potential benefits for both customers and utilities. An accurate
modeling of an EAF will help in dealing with the problems
caused by its operation. Minimization of the undesirable impact
of EAFs can improve electric efficiency and reduce power
fluctuations in the system.
The description of an arc furnace load depends on the
following parameters: arc voltage, arc current and arc length
(which is determined by the position of the electrodes). Based on
the study of above essential parameters, many models are set up
for the purpose of harmonic and flicker analysis [2]. In general,
they may be classified as follows, a) Time domain analysis
method (Characteristic Method, Time Domain Equivalent
Nonlinear Circuit Method), and b) Frequency Domain analysis
method (Harmonic Voltage Source Model, Harmonic domain
Solution of nonlinear differential equation). Each method has its
own advantages and disadvantages. Comparison and
commendation of different arc furnace models were presented in
[3]. Most of the existing models make some kinds of
approximation on the characteristic of arc. There have been two
Amr Abou-Ghazala
Electrical Engineering Department, Faculty of
Engineering, Alexandria University
Alexandria 21544 Egypt
a.ghazala@electroopower.com
general approaches to the problem of arc furnace modeling:
stochastic and chaotic. In most of the previous studies, stochastic
ideas are used to capture the periodic, nonlinear, and time-
varying behavior of arc furnaces [4-6]. In [4], the arc furnace
load is modeled as a voltage source. The model is based on
representation of the V-I characteristics using sinusoidal
variations of arc resistance and band limited white noise.
Research study shows that, the electrical fluctuations in the
arc furnace voltage have proven to be chaotic in nature. Some
chaos-based models reported in specialized literature [7-8] have
been applied to simulate ac [9-10] and dc arc furnaces [11].
This paper intends to present an integrated simulation
modeling of EAF and SVC networks instead of using single
valued piece-wise linear V-I characteristics of the arc furnace
load, a dynamic and multi-valued V-I characteristics are obtained
by using corresponding differential equations [10]. The output of
dynamic model developed is modulated with low frequency
chaos signal to produce the arc furnace model. The model
developed is connected to actual power system model to study
the voltage fluctuation.
The paper is organized as follows; Section II introduces the
modeling of EAF. Section III discusses the SVC theory of
operation and background history. Section IV describes the Case
Study for Integrated Model of EAF and SVC. Finally, the
conclusion is presented in section V.
II. MODELING OF EAF
A. Arc Furnace Operation
Electric arc furnaces are available in both alternating current
(AC) and Direct current (DC) models. A transformer directly
energizes furnace electrodes in a high current circuit in arc
furnaces, whereas dc furnaces employ a controlled rectifier to
supply dc to the furnace electrodes. Arc furnace operation may be
classified into stages, depending on the status of the melt and the
time lapse from the initial energization of the unit.
Consider the case of the processing of scrap steel in an ac
EAF. During the melting period, pieces of steel create
momentary short circuits on the secondary side of the furnace
transformer. These load changes affect the arc characteristics,
causing fluctuations of current. The current fluctuations cause
variations in reactive power, which cause a momentary voltage
drop or flicker, both at the supply bus and at nearby buses in the
interconnected system. The arc currents are more uniform during
 16th International Middle- East Power Systems Conference -MEPCON'2014
Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, December 23 - 25, 2014
the refining period and result in less impact on the power quality
of the system. Arc furnaces also create harmonic load currents
and asynchronous spectral components. Harmonics represent an
important power quality issue, because they may cause
undesirable operating conditions such as excess losses in
transformers, mal-operation of drive controllers etc. [1]. Fig.1
shows typical installation of EAF.
Fig. 1. Typical installation of EAF
Fig.2 shows actual and piece-wise linear approximation of V-
I characteristic of an Arc Furnace Load where Vig is the ignition
voltage and Vex is the extinguish voltage.
Fig. 2. Actual and piece-wise linear approximation of V-I characteristic of an
Arc Furnace Load
B. Chaotic Dynamics In Electric Arc Furnaces
Chaos, also known as the strange attractor, does not generally
have an accepted precise mathematical definition. Usually from a
practical view point, it can be defined as the bounded steady-state
behavior that does not fall into the categories of the other three
steady-state behaviors i.e. the equilibrium points, periodic
solutions, and quasi periodic solutions [8]. The equilibrium
points are zero dimensional and periodic solutions are one
dimensional, where as strange attractors are more complex and
their dimension is a fraction. A chaotic system is a deterministic
system that exhibits random movement and it is a nonlinear
system that exhibits extreme sensitivity in the state trajectory
with respect to the initial conditions. It has been observed that the
electric fluctuations in an arc furnace are chaotic in nature [12].
The chaotic component of the arc furnace voltage is obtained
from the chaotic circuit of Chua [10]. To exhibit chaos, the
circuit consisting of resistors capacitors and inductors has to
contain the following:
(i) At least one locally active reactor
(ii) At least one nonlinear element.
(iii) At least three energy storage elements
Chua’s circuit satisfies the above requirements.
C. Matlab Simulink Model Of EAF
The development of general dynamic arc model in the form
of a differential equation is based on the principle of conservation
of energy. The approach is fundamentally different from those
methods where some empirical relation is used to represent the
electrical arc. In the dynamic model such relations which are
implicit for steady state conditions are not pre defined and give
result for different conditions depending on both frequency and
current magnitude. Here the arc furnace is modeled in two stages.
First dynamic electric arc modeling is done and the obtained arc
voltage is then modulated with chaotic signal to produce final arc
furnace model.
The power balance equation for the arc is
(1)
Where
P1 represents the power transmitted in the form of heat to the
external environment.
P2 represents the power, which increases the internal energy
in the arc, and which therefore affects its radius.
P3 represents the total power developed in the arc and
converted into heat. The above equation can be represented in the
form of differential equation [13] of the arc:
(2)
Where
r is the arc radius and is chosen as the state variable instead of
taking arc resistance or conductance.
k1, k2 and k3 are constants relative to EAF melting conditions.
m is the variations of the resistivity with temperature.
n is the conditions of cooling.
The arc voltage is given by:
(3)
Where
g is defined as arc conductance and is given by the following
equation:
(4)
 16th International Middle- East Power Systems Conference -MEPCON'2014
Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, December 23 - 25, 2014
It is possible to represent the different stages of the arcing
process by simply modifying the parameters of m and n. The
complete set of combination of these parameters for different
stages of electric arc can be found in [11].
The state space equations of the above mentioned system
would be in this case:
Ro = - (5)
V=i* (6)
Implementing the above equations using Simulink blockset as
shown in Fig.3, taking the parameters K1= 2500; K2 = 1; K3 =
0.0001; n=2; m= 0 the dynamic voltage/current characteristic of
the electric arc are modeled as shown in Fig.4.
Fig. 3 MATLAB/ Simulink model of electric Arc Furnace
Fig. 4 Dynamic Characteristics of EAF
This model is then combined with the band limit white noise
to create the chaotic nature of the arc furnace voltage and current
parameters as shown in the control structure of EAF as shown in
Fig.5 [14-18]
Fig. 5.Control Structure of Arc Furnace
III. SVC BACKGROUND AND THEORY OF OPERATION
By definition, capacitors generate and reactors (inductors)
absorb reactive power when connected to an ac power source.
They have been used with mechanical switches for (coarsely)
controlled var generation and absorption since the early days of
ac power transmission. Continuously variable var generation or
absorption for dynamic system compensation was originally
provided by .over- or under-excited rotating synchronous
machines and, later, by saturating reactors in conjunction with
fixed capacitors.
Since the early 1970’s high power, line-commutated
thyristors in conjunction with capacitors and reactors have been
employed in various circuit configurations to produce variable
reactive output, [19]. These in effect provide a variable shunt
impedance by synchronously switching shunt capacitors and/or
reactors "in" and "out" of the network as shown in Fig.6
Fig. 6 SVC Components
The SVC is used to regulate voltage on a system. When
system voltage is low the SVC generates reactive power (SVC
capacitive). When system voltage is high it absorbs reactive
power (SVC inductive) as shown in Fig.7.
Fig. 7 SVC Interaction with Power Network Dynamics
 16th International Middle- East Power Systems Conference -MEPCON'2014
Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, December 23 - 25, 2014

IV. CASE STUDY FOR INTEGRATED MODEL OF EAF AND
SVC
The integrated model built in the simulink environment is
based on Pierre Giroux and Gibert Sybille (Hydro-Quebec) SVC
detailed model in SimPowerSystems™ first and Second
Generation software after eliminating the switching on the filter
circuits and integrate the model with the EAF.
The combined model represents actual complete case study
network of EZZ-DEKEILA Main Receiving Substation with
Point of Common Coupling (PCC) and the configuration is as
described in the following table:
The fault is cleared and the network restores normal operation.
4) Case 4 from time 0.5 till 0.7 sec
The SVC is in service and the TCR and number of capacitors
reacts with the B.B MVAR.
5) Case 5 from time 0.7 till 0.9 sec
A three phase short circuit is applied on the furnace B.B
while the SVC is online.
6) Case 6 from time 0.9 till 1 sec
The fault is cleared.

TABLE I. Network and SVC data

Network Data
PCC (kV) 220/66
Substation incoming feeders installed capacity (MVA) 3x380
220/33,
Power Transformers kV, MVA 2x125/150
(ONAN/ONAF)
EAF’s MVA 58 MVA
Short Circuit Capacity, MVA 8000
System X/R Ratio 10
SVC Data
Thyristor Controlled Reactors (TCR), MVA 265
2nd Harmonic Filter, MVAR 35
3rd Harmonic Filter, MVAR 52.5 Fig. 9 Cases shown in the simulation of fault analysis
4th Harmonic Filter, MVAR 40
5th Harmonic Filter, MVAR 52 In Fig.10 an Electromagnetic Transient Analysis Program
(ETAP) simulation is implemented to simulate the same network
In order to study the behavior of the network a fault breaker is but in this case to check the total harmonic distortion levels on
added as shown in Fig.8 to simulate the following various cases: the 220 kV level and on the 33 kV level and ensure satisfying
required standards.

Fig. 8 Integrated SVC and EAF Matlab Model

1) Case 1 from time 0 till 0.2 sec
During this time the EAF start while the SVC is offline, refer
to Fig.9
2) Case 2 from time 0.2 till 0.4 sec
A three phase short circuit is applied on the furnace B.B
while the SVC is still offline.
3) Case 3 from time 0.4 till 0.5 sec
Fig. 10 ETAP simulation for THD levels
A. Results & Discussion
As shown in case 1, during normal operation the SVC TCR
reacts from full conduction (90o) to no conduction (180o)
according to the required reactive power to keep the reference
voltage 1 p.u.
In case 2, when the SVC is offline the fault makes the B.B
current multiples of normal current and a voltage drop occurs.
 16th International Middle- East Power Systems Conference -MEPCON'2014
Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, December 23 - 25, 2014
In case 5, when the SVC is in service the response of the
system is better regarding the damping of the fault current and
the voltage drop on the B.B.
The THD on the 220 kV level is (0.4%) which is within
standards limit and penalties due to harmonic pollution can be
easily avoided.
V. CONCLUSION
The EAF Matlab model in this paper gives more realistic
simulation to the EAF taking into consideration its chaotic nature.
The fault analysis during various conditions also gives a
better understanding to the system behavior during different fault
scenarios and the interaction between the SVC Model and
developed EAF model.
ETAP Modeling showed the harmonic analysis of the
complete network and the contribution of the SVC in eliminating
system harmonics.
A techno economical study can be made based on this work
to present the feasibility study of the SVC and its role in
increasing the EAF efficiency and hence increasing tons of
molten steels produced per year.
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