In this case, the consumer resistance is short-circuited by a fault (by metal or by

arcing) so that a very high line current flows.

A distinction must be drawn between symmetrical (three-pole) and asymmetrical (one or two-
pole) short circuits.
Only the three-pole fault can be represented in the single-phase equivalent circuit diagram.
That is why only this type of fault is examined in the following experiment.
When a short-circuit occurs, the transmitted power is generally much greater than the thermal
limit rating of the transmission line.
The faulty condition must thus be recognized by the network protection device and switched
off within shortest possible time.

In this type of operation, the transmission line is short-circuited at the end, i.e. I2 = I12 et U2 =
0.
The current I1 at the beginning of the transmission line results from the geometric addition of
the currents I10 through the operating capacitance CB/2 at the beginning of the line and I12
through the line inductor.
The phase-angle 1 between U1 and I1 is exactly 90°; for low-loss transmission lines, it is still
about 85°.
1.6 Asymmetrical short-circuits

For the purpose of calculation, a three-phase network can be represented by a single-

phase network as long as it is symmetrically loaded (this also applies for the case of a three-
phase short-circuit).
For the case of asymmetrical operating conditions (e.g. single-line or two-phase short-
circuit), the single-phase representation of the conditions is no longer sufficient. A calculation
method, conceived by Fortescue, the so-called "method of symmetrical components", is now
generally used for these case. Here, the asymmetrical three-phase system is reduced to
symmetrical systems which are decoupled with respect to each other (so-called component
systems) on which the standard calculations can then be applied.
The two resulting symmetrical systems with three phases phase-shifted by 120° with respect
to each other are called positive-phase and negative-phase sequence systems; the third system
with three currents or voltages of equal phase is designated the zero-phase sequence system.
The zero-phase sequence system is always absent if the three-phase system under
consideration is a three-conductor system without a return conductor (earth, earth wire, cable
sheath, neutral conductor).
Initially, there is no relationship between the component systems. It is only through
the asymmetrical fault that a characteristic circuit connection is produced for the
corresponding fault type.
The linkage of symmetrical voltage components with other symmetrical voltage components
results in the terms of positive-phase sequence impedance, negative-phase sequence
impedance and zerophase sequence impedance.

Positive-phase sequence impedance Zm = Um/Im

Negative-phase sequence impedance Zg = Ug/Ig
Zero-phase sequence impedance Z0 = U0/I0

The positive-phase sequence impedance Zm of an electrical unit is the quotient of the

phase voltage and the conductor current when supplied from a positive-phase sequence
system. This is equal to the working impedance for transmission lines, the short-circuit
impedance for transformers and reactor coils, and for generators the effective generator
impedance at the moment of the shortcircuit.
The negative-phase sequence impedance Zg of a unit is the quotient of the phase voltage and
the conductor current when supplied from a symmetrical negative-phase sequence system.
For static installation (e.g. lines and transformers) the negative-phase sequence impedance is
equal to the positive-phase impedance, as the phase sequence has no effect on the level of the
current flowing.