04/01/1434

Power System Analysis

Lecture 5:
Fault Analysis
Introduction
 Short circuits occur in power system due to various
reasons like, equipment failure, lightning strikes, falling of
branches or trees on the transmission lines, switching
surges, insulation failures and other electrical or
mechanical causes.
 All these are collectively called faults in power systems.
 A fault usually results in high current flowing through the
lines and if adequate protection is not taken, may result
in damages in the power apparatus.

Short Circuit in an Unloaded Synchronous Generator

Fig. 1 shows a typical response of the armature current
when a three-phase symmetrical short circuit occurs at
the terminals of an unloaded synchronous generator

Fig. 1 Armature current of a synchronous generator

2 as a short circuit occurs
Dr. Kamal Ramadan UofKat its terminals

1
04/01/1434

 It is assumed that there is no dc offset in the armature

current.
 The magnitude of the current decreases exponentially
from a high initial value.
 The instantaneous expression for the fault current is
given by(this from RL-transient analysis):

(1)

where Vt is the magnitude of the terminal voltage, α is its

phase angle and
is the direct axis subtransient reactance
is the direct axis transient reactance
3 is the direct axis Dr.synchronous
Kamal Ramadan UofK reactance

with The time constants are

is the direct axis subtransient time constant
is the direct axis transient time constant
 In the expression of (1) we have neglected the effect of
the armature resistance hence α = π/2.
 Let us assume that the fault occurs at time t = 0. From (1)
we get the rms value of the current as
(2)
 which is called the subtransient fault current. The duration
of the subtransient current is dictated by the time constant
Td . As the time progresses and Td < t < Td , the first
exponential term of (1) will start decaying and will
eventually vanish.
 However since t is still nearly equal to zero, we have the
following
4
rms value of the current
Dr. Kamal Ramadan UofK

2
04/01/1434

(3) This is called the transient fault current.

Now as the time progress further and the second
exponential term also decays, we get the following rms
value of the current for the sinusoidal steady state

(4) sinusoidal steady state

In additio n to the ac, the fault currents will also contain
the dc offset. Note that a symmetrical fault occurs when
three different phases are in three different locations in the
ac cycle. Therefore the dc offsets in the three phases are
different.
The maximum value of the dc offset is given by
(5)
5
where TA is the armature time constant
Dr. Kamal Ramadan UofK

Symmetrical Fault in a Power System

•Calculation of Fault Current Using Impedance Diagram
•Calculation of Fault Current Using Zbus Matrix
Calculation of Fault Current Using Impedance Diagram
Let us first illustrate the calculation of the fault current
using the impedance diagram with the help of the
following examples
Example 1
Consider the power system of Fig. 1 in which a
synchronous generator supplies a synchronous motor.
The motor is operating at rated voltage and rated MVA
while drawing a load current at a power factor of 0.9
(lagging) when a three phase symmetrical short circuit
occurs at its terminals. Calculate the fault current that
flow6 from both the generator and
Dr. Kamal Ramadan UofKthe motor

3
04/01/1434

 We shall choose a base of 50 MVA, 20 kV in the circuit of

the generator.
 Then the motor synchronous reactance is given by:
per unit
Also the base impedance in the circuit of the transmission
line is
Ω

Fig. 1 A generator supplying a motor load

7
though aDr. transmission
Kamal Ramadan UofK
line

Therefore the impedance of the transmission line is

per unit

The impedance diagram for the circuit is shown in Fig. 2 in

which the switch S indicates the fault
The motor draws a load
current at rated voltage and
rated MVA with 0.9 lagging
power factor. Given by:

Fig. 2 Impedance diagram of the

circuit of Fig. 8.
8 Dr. Kamal Ramadan UofK

4
04/01/1434

Then the subtransient voltages of the motor and the

generator are:

Hence the subtransient fault currents fed by the motor and

the generator are:

and the total current flowing to the fault is

9 Dr. Kamal Ramadan UofK

Note that the base current in the circuit of the motor is

A
Therefore while the load current was 1603.8 A,
the fault current is: 4.4425 x 1603.8= 7124.7 A
Example 2
We shall now solve the above problem differently. The
Thevenin impedance at the circuit between the
terminals A and B of the circuit of Fig. 1 is the parallel
combination of the impedances j 0.4 and j 0.5148. This
is then given as

10 Dr. Kamal Ramadan UofK

5
04/01/1434

Since voltage at the motor terminals before the fault is 1.0

per unit, the fault current is
p.u. As before

If we neglect the pre-fault current flowing through the

circuit, then fault current fed by the motor and the
generator can be determined using the current divider
principle, i.e

p.u. Also as before

If, on the other hand, the pre-fault current is not

neglected, then the fault current supplied by the motor
and the generator are
11 Dr. Kamal Ramadan UofK
p.u.

Calculation of Fault Current Using Zbus Matrix

Consider the previous circuit of fig. 3(lecture 3) which is
redrawn as shown in Fig. 2

 We assume that a
symmetrical fault has
occurred in bus-4 such
that it is now connected
to the reference bus.
 Let us assume that the
pre-fault voltage at this
bus is Vf
Fig. 2 Network depicting a
12 symmetrical fault at bus-4.
Dr. Kamal Ramadan UofK

6
04/01/1434

 To denote that bus-4 is short circuit, we add two

voltage sources Vf and - Vf together in series
between bus-4 and the reference bus.
 Also note that the subtransient fault current If
flows from bus-4 to the reference bus. This implies
that a current that is equal to - If is injected into
bus-4.
 This current, which is due to the source - Vf will flow
through the various branches of the network and
will cause a change in the bus voltages.
 Assuming that the two sources and Vf are short
circuited. Then - Vf is the only source left in the
network that injects a current - If into bus-4.
13 Dr. Kamal Ramadan UofK

 The voltages of the different nodes that are caused by

the voltage - Vf and the current - If are then given by

(14)

where the prefix Δ indicates the changes in the bus voltages

due to the current - If .
From the fourth row of (14) we can write
15

Combining (14) and (15) we get

(16)
14 Dr. Kamal Ramadan UofK

7
04/01/1434

 We further assume that the system is unloaded

before the fault occurs and that the magnitude
and phase angles of all the generator internal
emfs are the same.
 Then there will be no current circulating
anywhere in the network and the bus voltages of
all the nodes before the fault will be same and
equal to Vf .
 Then the new altered bus voltages due to the
fault will be given from (16) by

(17)
15 Dr. Kamal Ramadan UofK

Example 3
Let us consider the same system as discussed in
Example 1 (lecture1) except that we assume that the
internal voltages of both the generators are equal to
1.0 < 0° . Then the current injected in both bus-1 and
bus-2 will be given by 1.0/ j 0.25 = - j 4.0 per unit.
the impedance diagram of
the system is shown in fig.
in which the system
parameters are given in
per unit .

16 Dr. Kamal Ramadan UofK

8
04/01/1434

Solution:
We therefore get the pre-fault bus voltages using the
Zbus matrix as:

17 Dr. Kamal Ramadan UofK

Now the altered bus voltages for a symmetrical fault in bus-

4 are given from (17) as

p.u.

p.u.

Also since the Thevenin impedance looking into the

network at bus-4 is Z44, the subtransient fault current
flowing from bus-4 is
p.u.
18 Dr. Kamal Ramadan UofK