EARTHING CALCULATION

Grounding System:
The primary objective in the design of grounding system is to provide safe
conditions for personnel operating in and around the plant. Accidents to
personnel result from grid potential rise of the ground system during fault
conditions on the connected power system. Therefore, the grounding system
must be designed to limit the potential rise of the plant ground mat to an
acceptable value for any possible fault condition and to limit the resulting step,
touch and transfer potentials to an acceptable value.

A GENERAL DESIGN DATA

1 Soil Resistivity,  : 200 Ohm-M

2 Gravel Resistivity,  s : 4000 Ohm-M

3 Symmetrical Short Circuit Current, Iefs : 14308 A

4 Duration of Earth Fault Current, ts : 0.5 Sec

5 Maximum Allowable Conductor Temp. : 250 ° C

6 Design Ambient Temperature : 40 ° C

7 Thickness of Surface Materials, hs : 0.2 mtr.

8 Depth of Earth Grid, h : 0.6 mtr.

9 Reference depth of the Grid, h o 1.5 mtr.

STANDARDS USED

IEEE Giude for Safety in Grounding IEEE - 80 2000

B SIZE OF EARTHING CONDUCTOR :

I
Amm 2 
 TCAP  10  4   K 0  Tm  Eqn.: 40 Page : 43
  ln  
 t c r  r   K T  IEEE Std. 80 - 2000
   0 a 

Where

Material Proposed

r = Resistivity of Conductor Material 0.00378 Ohm - M

r = Thermal co-efficient of resistivity at reference temperature Tr in 1/°C

Tm = Max. allowable temperature in °C 700 °C

Ta = Ambient temperature in °C 40 °C
 EARTHING CALCULATION

Ko  1/0 or 1/r - Tr in °C 245

Iefs = rms current in Ka 14.308 KA

tc = Duration of Current in s 0.5 Sec.

TCAP = thermal capacity per unit volume from Table 1 3.85 J/(cm³°C)

Amm² = Conductor cross section in mm² 70.09 mm²

A kcmil = 138.36 kcmil

Amm² = 70.09 mm²

THE SIZE OF CONDUCTOR SELECTED = 9.4 mm

Diameter of the Grid Conductor ,d = 0.00945 mtr.

TOUCH & STEP CRITERIA

  s Eqn. 21, Page 21, IEEE 80 2000

  
0 .09  1   Eqn. 27, Page 23, IEEE 80 2000
  s 
Cs 
2 hs  0 .09

K = Reflection factor between different material resistivities

 = Resistivity of the earth beneath the surface material in W.m

s = Surface material resistivity in W.m

hs = Thickness of the surface material in m

Cs = Surface layer derating factor

K = -0.90

Cs = 0.83

0.157
Estep70  (1000 6Cs  s ) Eqn. 30, Page 27, IEEE 80 2000
ts
Where

Estep 70 = Step Voltage for body weight of 70 kg

Estep 70 = 4620.97 Volts

0.157 Eqn. 33, Page 27, IEEE 80 2000

Etouch70 = Touch Voltage for body weight of 70 kg

Etouch70 = 1321.77 Volts

C INITIAL DESIGN ASSUMPTIONS

Length Width
Preliminary Layout of Grid = 60 59

n = Number of parallel conductors = 31

D = Conductor Spacing = 2m

h = Depth of grid burial = 0.5 m

LT  2  Na  L
Lp = Length of the conductor across perimeter = 240 m

Nr = No. of Ground Rods = 15

Lr = Length of Ground Rods = 3m

LR = Total length of Ground Rods = 45 m

LT1 = Total length of buried condcutor = 3659 m

LT = Total length of buried conductors & rods = 3704 m

Lx = Maximum length of conductor in X-Axis = 60

Ly = Maximum length of conductor in Y-Axis = 59

D GRID RESISTANCE

1 1  1 
Rg     1  
 LT 20A  1  h 20/ A 

Where

A = Area of the Grid = 3540 m²

Rg = Grid Resistance

Rg
 EARTHING CALCULATION

Rg = 1.53 W

E MAXIMUM GRID CURRENT

IG  D f  I g
Where

Ig = Maximum grid current in A 14308 A

Df = Decrement factor for the entire duration of fault, given in s 1.0141

IG = 14509.7428 A

F GROUND POTENTIAL RISE

GPR  I G  Rg

GPR = 22200.8 V

VERIFICATION FOR HUMAN SAFETY

The safety to personnel is specified by IEEE 80, which requires to limit the development of
electrical potential to dangerous value during earth fault current.

The regulation stipulates the following parameters to be within the permissible limit

a) Step Voltage (Foot to Foot Contact)

b) Touch Voltage(Hand to Foot Contact)

CALCULATION FOR ACTUAL DERIVED STEP & MESH VOLTAGE

A Mesh Voltage

  IG  K m  K i
Emesh ( Design ) 
   Eqn. 80, Page 91,
L C  1 . 55  1 . 22    L
Lr IEEE 80, 2000
  L2x  l Ly
2  R

  
Ki = Corrective factor for current irregu-
larity

K i  0 . 644  0 . 148 n

Where

n  n a  n b  n c  n d

2  LT
n a 
LP
 EARTHING CALCULATION
2  LT
n a 
LP
na = 30.5

nb = 1 for square grids = 1

nc = 1 for square and rectangular grids = 1

nd = 1 for square, rectangular and L-shaped grids = 1

n = 30.49

Ki = 5.16

Km = Spacing factor for Mesh Voltage Eqn. 68 Page 113 IEEE 80

Km 
1  D2
ln  
 D  2 h 2  h   Kii ln  8 
Eqn. 81, Page 93
   IEEE 80, 2000
2  16 hd 8 Dd 4 d  Kh    2 n  1 

Where

Kii = Corrective wieghting factor that adjusts the effect of inner conductors on the corner mesh

1
K ii  2

(2  n) n

Kii = 0.77

Kii = 1.00 With Rods

Kh = Corrective weighting factor that empasising the grid depth

 h 
=  1  
 ho 
Where

ho = Reference depth of grid = 1.5

h = Depth of the ground grid conductor = 0.6

Kh = 1.18

Km = 0.31

Emesh (Design) = 1262.36 Volts

Calculated Mesh Voltage is Lower than the Tolerable Touch Voltage.HENCE SAFE
 EARTHING CALCULATION

B Step Voltage

Voltage developed for step as per the earthing system proposed during full Earth fault current

Estep ( Design ) 
 Ks
 Ki    I G  Eqn. 92, Page 94
0 . 75  L C  0 . 85  L R  IEEE 80, 2000

Where

Ks = Spacing factor for Step voltage

1  1 1  1  0 .5 n  2

Ks        Eqn. 94, Page 94, IEEE 80, 2000
  2 h D  h  D  

Ks = 0.547

K i  0 . 644  0 . 148 n

Ki = 5.156766667

Estep (Design ) = 2942.47 Volts

Estep (Design ) = 2942 Volts

Calculated Step Voltage is Lower than the Tolerable Step Voltage.HENCE SAFE