IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 9,No.

2, April 1994

736

A Simplified Method for Calculating the Substation Grounding Grid Resistance

Y.L. Chow
Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario
N2L 3G1

Abstract

simple and accurate formula for calculating the

grounding grid resistance is proposed in this
paper.
This method is based on a theoretical
manipulation of the numerical moment method and of
the current image. The formula is dependent on the
substation grounding grid design, such as grid
depth, grid size, number of meshes, grid-conductor
diameter, etc. A comparison study is performed to
check the accuracy of the proposed formula with
respect to six different formulas and methods in
the literature. An excellent agreement was found
between the results of this formula and the results
of a sophisticated computerized method.

1. Introduction

The basic requirements for substation earthing are

to dissipate the short circuit currents to the
earth without heating and therefore drying out of
the soil in the neighborhood of the earthing
structure, and secondly to limit the potential
gradient over the whole substation area and beyond
so that step-and touch voltages nowhere exceed a
safe value.
One of the key parameters in
substation earthing design is to calculate
accurately the grounding resistance of the system.
In an early work by Dwight [l], equations for
calculating the ground resistance for different
electrodes shape and size were developed. These
equations were based on the duality concept
between the dc resistance to ground of a conductor
and its capacitance. Many formulas were afterward
proposed for the calculation of the substation
grounding grid resistance [ 2 - 8 1 .
Most of these
formulas are accurate within certain ranges of
grid depths o r grid sizes. Some of these formulas
[2,3] are recommended to be used for estimating the
maximum fault current. Other formulas [ 7 , 8 ] are
helpful in estimating the substation ground
potential rise for preliminary design evaluation
[9].
For accurate calculation of the ground
resistance of the grid, formula such as Schwartz
formula [ 6 ] should be used.
On the other hand, computerized grounding grid
resistance analysis is now available for uniform
and two-layer soil type. These analysis are based
on either one of the following methods: method of
images [lo,1 2 1 , convolution and linear filter
theories [13-15], spectral integration [16,171,
matrix technique [18], and equivalent image
Reference [15] gives a detailed
methods [ 1 9 ] .
discussion on the computerized grounding analysis
methods. While these methods are accurate, they
require powerful computers to perform the
calculations.
93 SM 449-9 PlJRD
A paper recommended and approved
by the IEEE Substations Committee of the IEEE Power
Engineering Society for presentation at the IEEE/PES
1993 Summer Meeting, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, July
18-22, 1993. Manuscript submitted December 28,
1992; made available for printing May 4, 1993.

PRINTED IN USA

M.M.A. Salama
Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario
N2L 3G1
In this paper a simple method is developed to
calculate accurately the grounding resistance of
the substation using hand-calculator.
The
proposed method utilizes the duality concept
between the dc resistance of the conductor and its
capacitance as in reference [l]. The moment method
is then used to calculate accurately the
capacitance of the grid system. The resistance of
the grounding system is evaluated using the
following duality concept between resistance and
capacitance:

R =-%P
C

where R is in ohms, soil resistivity p in

ohm-meters,
permittivity
constant
E,
in
Farads/meter, and C the capacitance in Farads.
The outcome of this method is a simple formula
which has the following advantages:
the formula is based on a theoretical
manipulation of the numerical moment method and
of the current image.
the grounding resistance given by this formula
is function of the conductor size, mesh size,
number of meshes in X and Y directions, grid
depth, soil type, etc.
the formula is simple and does not include any
parameters that have to be evaluated from
graphs or tables as many existing formulas in
the literature.
the results obtained by this formula are very
accurate when they are compared by the
computerized grounding resistance calculation.
Problem Formulation

The proposed method for calculatins the resistance

a buried grid in a soil with resistivity p can
explained according to the following sequence:
Calculation of the resistance due to a thin
plate buried in a homogeneous media.
Modifying the above calculation, using the
moment method, to calculate the resistance due
to a grid buried in a homogeneous media.
Calculation of the resistance due to a grid
placed on the surface of a homogeneous soil,
using the image method.
Using the two-grid, source and image, model to
calculate the resistance due to a grid buried
at depth h from the surface of a homogeneous
soil.
Step 1: Calculation of the resistance due to a
thin plate in a homogeneous media, "R,"
The capacitance of a thin plate buried in a
homgeneous soil can be readily calculated using
the formula developed by Chow and Yovanovich [ 2 0 ] .
This capacitance is given by

where A is the area of the plate and cf is its shape

factor. For square plate cf is equal to 0.9. Using
the duality principle the resistance of the system
is calculated as

0885-8977/94/$04.00
0 1993 IEEE

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737

where p i s
the
resistivity
of
the
soil.
S u b s t i t u t i n g e q u a t i o n (1) i n ( 2 ) a n d a p p r o x i m a t i n g
$l(?txO.9) t o one, t h e resistance R, o f t h e s y s t e m i s
g i v e n by
7

R, = p ( l
8

?)

Step 2 : C a l c u l a t i o n o f t h e r e s i s t a n c e due
g r i d b u r i e d i n a homogeneous media,

to

''W

The c a p a c i t a n c e shown i n f i g u r e 1, of a g r i d b u r i e d
i n a homogeneous s o i l i s g i v e n by ( a p p e n d i x A )

1
1
---

MI1

c, -e, +N

(4)

1
2Al
-1n--0.8814
"-m:Al(2fi
d.

(5)

and

AP -where
C,

t h e c a p a c i t a n c e of t h e g r i d

CO t h e c a p a c i t a n c e of a s o l i d t h i n p l a t e of t h e
N

same a r e a a s t h e g r i d
t h e number of meshes i n t h e g r i d

Figure 2

A g r o u n d i n g g r i d i n a homogeneous s o i l .

do t h e d i a m e t e r of t h e g r i d c o n d u c t o r

AI

t h e l e n g t h of one s i d e of a s q u a r e mesh i n
the grid

Using t h e d u a l i t y p r i n c i p l e , t h e r e s i s t a n c e due t o
t h e b u r i e d g r i d i s g i v e n by

Step 4 :

C a l c u l a t i o n of t h e r e s i s t a n c e due t o a
g r i d b u r i e d a t a d e p t h h from t h e s u r f a c e
of a homogeneous s o i l , 1'Rb.Llf2''

A two g r i d model i s u s e d t o c a l c u l a t e t h e
r e s i s t a n c e due t o a g r i d b u r i e d a t a d e p t h h i n a
homogeneous
s o i l with
resistivity
p.
The
r e f l e c t i o n of t h e a i r - s o i l i n t e r f a c e forms a
c u r r e n t image, i . e . , a second g r i d a t h e i g h t 2h
above t h e o r i g i n a l g r i d . The d e t a i l d e r i v a t i o n s of
t h e two g r i d model f o r m u l a i s g i v e n i n a p p e n d i x B .
The r e s i s t a n c e r e s u l t e d i s g i v e n by

(9)
S u b s t i t u t i n g t h e v a l u e o f F&,
and r e a r r a n g i n g ,

i n t o equation

(9)

E q u a t i o n ( 1 0 ) g i v e s t h e e a r t h r e s i s t a n c e due t o a
g r i d made o f N meshes, e a c h mesh h a s d i m e n s i o n s of
A l x A l a n d c o n d u c t o r d i a m e t e r d,,.
The g r i d i s
b u r i e d a t a d e p t h h i n a homogeneous s o i l w i t h
r e s i s t i v i t y p . The o v e r a l l a r e a of t h e g r i d i s A .
Figure 1

Step 3:

A g r o u n d i n g g r i d i n homogeneous media.
Area of g r i d = A, number o f meshes = N .

C a l c u l a t i o n of t h e r e s i s t a n c e due t o a
g r i d buried
on
the
surface
Of
a
homogeneous s o i l , "&f2"

3 . Comparison of Results
F o r comparison p u r p o s e , t h e r e s i s t a n c e c a l c u l a t e d
by t h e f o r m u l a d e v e l o p e d i n t h i s p a p e r i s compared
t o t h e r e s i s t a n c e obtained b y v a r i o u s formulas i n
the literature.
The f o r m u l a s i n t h i s comparison
study are:
1. Dwight f o r m u l a [ l ]

F
i g u r e 2 shows
i d prlea sc iesdt i voni t yt h e p .t o p ofThe
a
homogeneous
s o ial g rof
r e s i s t i v i t y of a i r f a c i n g
g r i d i s assumed i n f i n i t y .
grid
image
coinciding
Therefore t h e r e s i s t a n c e
given by

t h e upper p a r t of t h e
T h i s c o n d i t i o n forms a
with
original
grid.
due t o t h i s s y s t e m i s

R,,, ="

(7)

S u b s t i t u t i n g t h e v a l u e of K i n t o e q u a t i o n ( 7 ) ,
get

2 . L a u r e n t and Nieman f o r m u l a [ 3 1 .
I E E E s t d 80 f o r m u l a

R,

Also c a l l e d t h e

:G+

3 . Nahman and S k u l e t i c h f o r m u l a I 4 1
we

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(11)

738
most accurate results as compared to the other five
formulas given by equations ( 1 1 - 1 5 ) .
Figure 4
shows the error in the calculated grounding grid
resistance as compared to EPRI results.
It is
clear from the figure that the error is very low
( 2 . 3 6 % at 0.25111 depth) and it decreases as the grid
depth increases (0.13% at 1 m depth). Only three
grid depths were available in EPRI report [ 2 1 ] for
this comparison (0.251~1, 0.5m, 1.01111. Most of the
other formulas show opposite trend in error as
depth of the grid increases.
Figure 5 shows the calculated resistances of a
substation grounding grid for different grid
lengths, using the seven formulas. The grid length
is the total length of the conductors used in the
grid.
In this figure the area of the grid is
varied from 20m x 20m to lOOm x loom, and the depth
of the g r i d i s kept constant at 0.5m, while the
conductor size of the grid is taken as 0.01m. The
number of meshes in the grid is 7 x 7 .
The
resistances calculated from the proposed formula
are the most accurate results compared to the EPRI
results as shown in curves 7 and 6 in figure 5 .
Figure 6 shows the effect of varying the number of
meshes in a given grounding grid system as
calculated by the seven different formulas. The
results of the proposed formula (curve 6 in figure
6) show a very close agreement with the results
obtained from the computerized EPRI report [ 2 1 1 .
In this analysis, grid size = lOOm x loom, grid
depth = 0.5m, and grid conductor size = 0.01m.

4. Schwartz formula [ 5 1

where
h'

h'

= 0.5 for conductor buried at depth zero

K,

= -0.04W+ 1.41,

K,

K,

= -0).05W+ 1.13,

= length/width

K,

Kz

= 0.10W+4.68,

K,

= -0.05W+4.40,

for conductor buried at depth h

-0.05W+1.2,

for h = o
for h

=1z f i

1
for h =$

ofthegrid
for h = o

0.15W+5.50,

1
for h = z &
1
for h = ; f i

5 . Sverak formula [ 7 , 8 ]

32'00

6 . EPRI Computerized analysis results [ 2 1 ] .

This method was developed by the Georgia Institute
of Technology. The results of these computerized
analysis was presented in the following form.

R6 = KRRW

(16)

3 N&S

30.00

c
U

.E 28.00
m

where
IEEE Std 80
formula (equation 12)
K, the grid resistance correction factor [ 2 1 1 .
R,, the resistance predicted by

7 . The proposed formula in this paper, equation

(10)

The variables in the above seven formulas

(equation 11 - 1 6 ) are as follows:
p the resistivity of the soil in 0hm.m
A the area of the grid in square meter
L the total length of the buried conduction in
meter
h the depth of the buried grid in meter
n the number of parallel conductors in one
direction of the grid
n =n'+l
n' the number of meshes in one direction
In this comparison study the EPRI computerized
results [ 2 1 ] are taken as a reference to check the
accuracy of all other formulas, including the one
proposed in this paper.
Figure 3 shows the calculated resistances of a
substation grounding grid buried at different
depths in the soil using the above seven formulas
(equations 1 0 - 1 6 ) . The grid area is 20m x 20m, the
number for meshes in each direction is 4, the
conductor diameter of the grid is 0.01m.
The
results obtained using the proposed method
(equation 10) are represented by curve X7 in figure
3, while EPRI results are represented by curve X6.
It is clear that the proposed method yields the

3
0

7
* 1 HD

L 22.00

c3

34

20.00 , I , , , I , , , I , I
0.60
0.40

, , , , , (

,,(,,,

0.40

( ) ,

, , , , , , , , , , , I

o.$o

. I / ,

0.80"'1.6b"

,,,,

,
i.40

Grid Depth (m)

Figure 3 Grounding grid resistance versus grid
depth.
Grid area = 20m x 20m, the number of
meshes in each direction is 4 , the
grid-conductor diameter = 0.01m.
Curve 1 for Dwight formula (HD), curve 2
for Laurent and Niemann formula (L&N),
curve 3 f o r Nahman and Skuletich formula
( N & S ) , curve 4 for Schwartz formula ( S S ) ,
curve 5 for Sverak formula (JS), curve 6
for EPRI method (EPRI), curve 7 for the
proposed method in the paper (PM).

739

30.0s

1. HD
2 . L&N

3 . N&S

c
_z! 25.00
VJ

'Z

$ 20.GC

- 5 00

-15%

4.

ss

5 . JS
6 . EPRI
7 . PM

31

:
4

1,
,

3.30

/(

0 40

:y,,

0 80

1 20

Grid Dep';h (rn)

F i g u r e 4 The e r r o r i n p e r c e n t as compared t o EPRI

method for t h e r e s u l t s shown i n F i g u r e 3 .
Grid
dimensions
as
in
Figure
3.
D e f i n i t i o n s of c u r v e s 1-7 a r e i n F i g u r e
3 .

F i g u r e 6 Grounding g r i d r e s i s t a n c e v e r s u s t h e
number of meshes.
Grid s i z e
lOOm x l o o m , g r i d d e p t h =
0.5m, g r i d c o n d u c t o r d i a m e t e r
0.01m.
D e f i n i t i o n s of c u r v e s 1-7 a r e i n F i g u r e
3.

1. HD
2.

L&N

32.00

3 . N&S
4 . ss
5 . JS

3 N&S

6. EPRI
7 . PM

F i g u r e 5 Grounding g r i d r e s i s t a n c e v e r s u s g r i d
length.
Grid depth
0.5m, c o n d u c t o r d i a m e t e r =
0.01m. t h e number of meshes = 7 x 7 .
D e f i n i t i o n s of c u r v e s 1-7 a r e i n F i g u r e
3.

The e f f e c t of w i r e d i a m e t e r on t h e g r o u n d i n g g r i d
r e s i s t a n c e i s shown i n f i g u r e 7 .
Only one EPRI
r e s u l t was a v a i l a b l e f o r t h i s comparison s t u d y a n d
it i s shown i n t h e f i g u r e .
The r e s u l t s of
S c h w a r t z ' s formula and t h e proposed f o r m u l a have
shown a dependancy of t h e c a l c u l a t e d r e s i s t a n c e on
t h e conductor s i z e of t h e g r i d ( t h e d i a m e t e r d o ) .
I n t h i s a n a l y s i s t h e g r i d a r e a = lOOm x l o o m , t h e
I , the grid
number o f meshes i n one d i r e c t i o n
d e p t h = 0.5m.

F i g u r e 7 Grounding g r i d r e s i s t a n c e v e r s u s t h e
conductor d i a m e t e r .
G r i d s i z e = l O O m x l o o m , t h e number of
meshes = 7 x 7 , g r i d d e p t h = 0.5m.
D e f i n i t i o n s of c u r v e s a r e i n F i g u r e 3 .

Conclusion
s i m p l e and a c c u r a t e f o r m u l a f o r c a l c u l a t i n g t h e
g r o u n d i n g g r i d r e s i s t a n c e i s proposed i n t h i s
paper.
T h i s method i s based on a t h e o r e t i c a l
m a n i p u l a t i o n of t h e n u m e r i c a l moment method a n d of
t h e c u r r e n t image.
T h e e f f e c t of g r o u n d i n g g r i d
d e p t h , g r i d s i z e , number of meshes, g r i d - c o n d u c t o r
diameter a n d s o i l t y p e can be r e a d i l y d e t e r m i n e d
u s i n g t h e proposed f o r m u l a .
4.

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740
The grounding grid resistances calculated using
the proposed formula are very accurate when
compared to a sophisticated computer-based method
[ 2 1 ] . The formula is simple and easy to use with
hand calculator. Since this formula is based on
rigorous theoretical basis, it can be modified, to
This modification
ac ount for two-layer soil.
wi 1 be presented in a future paper.
5 . References

H.B. Dwight, "Calculations of Resistances to

Ground", AIEE Transactions, December 1936, pp.
1319-1328.
[2 J. Niemann, "Unstellung von Hochstspannungs Erdungsanlagen AufDen Betrieb Mit Starr
Geerdetem Sternpunkt", E-2, vol. 73, No. 10,
1952, pp. 333-337.
131 "IEEE
Guide
for
Safety
in
Substation
Grounding", IEEE Standard 80, 1976.
[41 J. Nohman and S. Skuletich, "Irregularity
Correction Factors for Mesh and Step Voltages
of Grounding Grids", IEEE Transactions on
Power Apparatus and Systems, vol. PAS-99, No.
1, 1980, pp. 174-180.
[51 S. J. Schwartz, "Analytical Expression for
Resistance
of
Grounding
Systems",
AIEE
Transactions, vol. 73, Part 111-B, 1954, pp.
1011-1016.
161 Substation Committee Working Group 78 .l, "Safe
Substation Grounding - Part
II",
IEEE
Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems,
vol. PAS-101, 1982, pp. 4006-4023.
[71 J.G. Sverak, "Optimized Grounding Grid Design
Using Variable Spacing Technique",
IEEE
Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems,
vol. PAS-95, 1976, pp. 362-374.
[ 8 ] J.G.
Sverak,
"Simplified
Analysis
of
Electrical Gradients Above a Ground Grid: Part
I - how Good is the Present IEEE Method?", IEEE
Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems,
vol. PAS-103, 1984, pp. 7-25.
[9] "IEEE Guide for Safety in AC
Grounding", ANSI/IEEE Standard 80

Substation
1986.

[lO]P.J. Lagace, J.L. Houle, Y. Gervais and D.

Mukhedkar, "Computer Aided Design of a
Toroidal Ground Electrodes in a Two Layer
Soil", IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery,
vol. 2, No. 3, 1987, pp. 744-749.
[11]P.J. Lagace, D. Mukhedkar, H.H. Hoang, H.
Greiss, "Evaluation of the Effect of Vertical
Faults on the Voltage Distribution Around HVDC
Electrodes Using a Super-Computer", IEEE
Transactions on Power Delivery, vol. 5, 1990,
pp. 1309-1313.
[ 1 2 ] F . Dawalibi, C.J. Blattner, "Earth Resistivity
Measurement Interpretation Techniques", IEEE
Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems,
vol. PAS-103, 1984, pp. 374-382.
[13]D.P. Ghosh, "The Application of Linear Filter
Theory
to
Direct
Interpretation
Of
Geoelectrical
Resistivity
Ground
Measurements", Geophysical Prospecting 19,
1971, pp. 192-217.
[14]J. Lazzara, N. Barbieto, "Simplified Two Layer
Model
Substation
Ground
Grid
Design
Methodology", IEEE Transactions on Power
Delivery, vol. 5 , 1990, pp. 1741-1750.
[15]F. Dawalibi, N. Barbeito, "Measurements and
Computations of the Performance of Grounding
System Buried in Multilayer Soils", IEEE
Transactions on Power Delivery, No. 6, 1991,
pp. 1483-1490.
[16]T. Takahashi, T. Kawase, "Analysis of Apparent
Resistivity in a Multi-layer Earth Structure",
IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, vol. 5,
1990, pp. 604-610.

171 T. Takahashi, T. Kawase, "Calculation of Earth

Resistance f o r a Deep Driven Rod in a
Multi-Layer
Earth
Structure",
IEEE
Transactions on Power Delivery, vol. 6, 1991,
pp. 608-614.
18lD.L. Garrett, H. J. Holley, "Calculation of
Substation Grounding System Resistance Using
Matrix Technique", IEEE Transactions on Power
Apparatus and Systems, vol. PAS-99, No. 5,
1980, pp. 2008-2011.
[19]Y.L. Chow, J.J. Yang, K.D. Srivastava,
"Grounding Resistance of Buried Electrodes in
Multi-Layer Earth Predicted by Simple Voltage
Measurements
Along
Earth
Surface
- A
Theoretical Discussion", Paper presented at
the IEEE Summer Meeting, 1992, Seattle.
l2OlY.L. Chow, M.M. Yovanovich, "The Shape Factor
of the Capacitance of a Conductor", Journal of
Applied Physics, vol. 53, no. 12, 1982, pp.
8470-8475.
[21lEPRI report, "Analysis Techniques of Power
Substation Grounding Systems; volume 1: Design
Methodology and Tests", EPRI EL-2682, October
1982.
L22lR.F. Harrington, "Field Computation by Moment
Methods",
Robert
E.
Krieger
Publishing
Company, Florida, 1968.
f23lY.L. Chow, K.D. Srivastava, "Non-Uniform
Electric Field Induced Voltage Calculations".
Revised.
Report No. 117 T 317 Canadian
Electric Association, Research and Development
Dept., February 1988.

Appendix A: Calculation of the Capacitance of a

Grid Buried in a Homogeneous Medium

a Theoretical Manipulation of the
Numerical Moment Method.

Foxmulation of the Solid Plate

The capacitance of a grid is derived from the

capacitance of a solid plate of the same
dimensions.
The moment method divides the solid plate of area
A in N equal sub-areas: AAo. Each AAo has the same
potential V, (a constant) and different sub-areas
and charge q,, the resulted matrix is:

Following [23], the self potential term is given

by
p..

'-

- (0.8814)
41E0.\l;iAa

and mutual potential term is

(A -3)

r,,

distance between centers of sub-areas

i and j.
The charges q, of (A-1) can be solved by matrix
inversion. The total charge and the capacitance
of the solid plate are then given by
=

N
Qo=i:l

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qi

(A -4)

74 1
and

where d, is diameter of the wire [ Z Z ] . There are

two wire segments in a sub-area. Following the
fact [ 2 3 ] that the capacitance C, is proportional
to the square root of the surface area and that
P,i =
we have the self potential term of a

C O =Qv,
If the charges q, were known, the capacitance can
be written by simple matrix multiplication without
matrix inversion through the variational principle

=i

sub-area as

[231t

P,

The variational principle

is
an
accurate
formulation that tolerates errors at the input.
That is if the values of the input q, are only
approximately known, with a first order error, the
resulted output l/Co, or C,, is very accurate, with
only a second order error.

= PJfi

--

2Al

(A -14)

Following the procedure of the pseudo-grid we can

(A-8) and get the
substitute (A-14) with
capacitance C from ( A - 1 2 ) .

Adjustment or the Pseudo-Grid

I I

Before we construct the wire mesh, let us construct

a pseudo-grid by shrinking the sub-areas from AA,
to
AA
leaving
gaps
between
sub-areas.
Evidentally, the capacitance C of such pseudo-grid
can again be found from the above equations except
that the self potential is increased to

AAo

----I---+-I--+-

i ; n ir
I

If we let change in the self potential term be

Mv = P;;-P;b = M O

(A - 8)

where MO is a constant independent of i. In matrix

form we have
[Pol = IPI-IM,l

(A -9)

where [AP] is a diagonal matrix of the form

[API =

(A - IO)

Substituting (A-10) into (A-6) we get

1
1
= -(4T{[Pl
CO
Q:

Figure A-1 Configurations of the sub-area

(a) sub-area of the solid plate,
(b) sub-area of pseudo grid,
(c) sub-area of a grid.

[Mllq)

The first term is a variational approximation to

1/C of the pseudo-grid and therefore is accurate
even if (q,) are the original (ql) of the solid
plate. In the second term, the qi is changed and
set to a constant q, causing a slightly larger
error in the variational expression. With such
change and making use of (A-lo), we get
_1 = 1_ - A -

CO

P
N

Appendix B: The Resistance of a Grid Buried at a

Depth h Below Ground Surfaces

Grid Model.

P,

(A - 13)

the Two

The CEA report of Chow and Srivastava [231 shows

that in a two equal parallel and thin plate
structure, the mutual potential function from one
plate to the other is

(A - 12)

The above is a relation of the capacitances C Of

the pseudo grid, CO of the solid plate, the change
AP in the self potential term due to surface
reduction in the sub-area AA, and the number N of
the sub-areas.
The Adjustment from the Pseudo-Grid t o 8 Wire Grid.
As shown in the figure (A-1). a sub-area of the
wire grid contains a pair of wire segments of
length A1 at right angle. Each wire segment has a
self term.

= p,,

-Z

(B - 1)

where

cp

E,-

@ -2)

the area of one plate

t the plate separation
P,, the self potential function of the plate
and is given by,

P,, = 1/

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(E,

0.94z

(B -3)

742
I f t h e two p l a t e s a r e a t t h e
p o t e n t i a l V, a n d
e a c h w i t h a c h a r g e Q,, t h e r e l a t i o n between V, a n d

Q, i s
(E -4)

= (PI, +P1zBe,

vo

t h e t o t a l c h a r g e of t h e two p l a t e i s 2Q., t h e r e f o r e
t h e c a p a c i t a n c e of t h e s e two p l a t e s t o i n f i n i t y i s

c,
S u b s t i t u t i n g PI, of

(B-1)

2
(PI1 + PI21

(E - 5 )

i n t o (B-51,

we g e t

(E - 6 )
T r a n s l a t e d i n t o a homogeneous ground medium w i t h
resistivity
p,
after
some s t r a i g h t
forward
r e a r r a n g e m e n t s u s i n g (B-1) t o (B-5), we g e t from
(B-6) t h e r e s i s t a n c e o f t h e two p l a t e s of e q u a l
p o t e n t i a l as

R,

%P
C,

I f t h e s o i l i s n o t homogeneous b u t a s y m m e t r i c a l
h a l f s p a c e w i t h a i r above, t h e second p l a t e i s
simply a n image due t o t h e a i r - s o i l i n t e r f a c e ,
hence t h e r e s i s t a n c e d o u b l e s . T h i s means t h a t

where

R,

2P
4.512fi

i s t h e r e s i s t a n c e of one p l a t e i n a homogeneous
ground.
From t h e above d e s c r i p t i o n o f geometry,
it i s e a s y t o see t h a t (B-8) i s a c t u a l l y t h e
r e s i s t a n c e of a t h i n p l a t e b u r i e d i n a d e p t h o f h,
with t = 2h.
I f t h e t h i n p l a t e i s r e p l a c e d by a g r i d o f ground
r e s i s t a n c e of Rnrl,* and s t i l l b u r i e d a t a d e p t h h ,
t h e n (B-8) can be w r i t t e n a s

(E - 10)
This i s equation ( 9 ) .

F i g u r e B-1 Two t h i n p a r a l l e l p l a t e c o n f i g u r a t i o n .

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