International Journal of Emerging

Electric Power Systems

Volume 6, Issue 2 2006 Article 6

Magnetic Saturation Effects in a Synchronous

Generator During Unbalanced Faults
Kwok-Wai K. W. Louie∗

∗
kwlouie@hvdc.ca

Copyright 2006
c The Berkeley Electronic Press. All rights reserved.
 Magnetic Saturation Effects in a Synchronous
Generator During Unbalanced Faults∗
Kwok-Wai K. W. Louie

Abstract

This paper reviews a phase-domain synchronous generator model and investigates the effects
of the non-uniform air gap saturation on the performance of a three-phase salient pole synchronous
generator during a single-phase-to-ground short circuit. Accurate representation of magnetic satu-
ration effects in synchronous machines is required when studying their behavior closely. Modeling
a synchronous machine directly in the physical phase-domain instead of the dqo-coordinates per-
mits an easy and accurate representation of magnetic saturation in the machine. The reviewed
model has been verified to be accurate and effective in representing the behavior of synchronous
generators. The test results have showed the strong impact of the non-uniform air gap on the
magnetic saturation in a three-phase salient pole synchronous generator.

KEYWORDS: phase-domain synchronous machine modeling, non-uniform air gap saturation,

unbalanced faults

∗
The author wishes to thank Dr. Jose R. Marti and Dr. Hermann W. Dommel for their support
during this project.
 Louie: Magnetic Saturation Effects in a Synchronous Generator at Faults

I. INTRODUCTION

Full scale power system simulators have become increasingly important in

electric power industry. A simulator is to be continuously running and should be
able to perform in “live-mode” a full range of power system studies, from
optimum power flow to transient and from dynamic stability to EMTP-type fast
transient analysis. These types of applications have particularly strong demands
on a synchronous generator model. Since the simulator is running continuously,
error accumulation inherent in the prediction schemes that are applied in
conventional models is not acceptable. Also since the model should be able to
simulate a wide range of system phenomena, approximations valid for some types
of studies (e.g. balanced three-phase transient stability) may not be valid for other
studies (e.g. negative sequence current effects during a line-to-ground fault).
The reviewed synchronous generator model is based on direct phase-
coordinates, as opposed to the transformed dqo-plane [1]. There is less advantage
in working in the dqo-plane when a full range of transient phenomena (e.g.
negative sequence currents) is to be considered. On the other hand, a direct
solution in the phase-plane can greatly facilitate the representation of physical
machine characteristics such as saliency and saturation. From a numerical
solution point of view, phase-domain modelling permits the direct interface of the
generator and network representations and avoids a number of numerical
predictions in the electrical variables that are needed in dqo representations.
Traditionally, the modelling of saturation effects in synchronous machines has
been done with the dqo analysis which uses the superposition principle to solve
for the d-axis path (along the poles) and the q-axis path (in the quadrature with
poles) independently [1-6]. However, superposition is not applicable in modelling
saturation effects because of the non-linearity of the saturation phenomena.
According to the direction of the resultant of magnetomotive force in the air gap
at each time instant of the solution, the direct phase-coordinates solution can
easily and accurately represent saturation by using the correct magnetizing
characteristics. In a salient pole synchronous machine, the air gap is non-uniform
and the reluctance of the main magnetic flux path is a function of angle. Thus the
magnetic fluxes along the d-axis and the q-axis are changing and the degree of
saturation along these two axes is also varying. Accordingly, the saturation along
both axes should be included in the machine model. However, saturation along
the q-axis in a salient pole machine is usually neglected in most of the machine
models.
This paper focuses on the aspect of accurate d-axis and q-axis saturation
representation and its effects on unbalanced fault simulation.

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 International Journal of Emerging Electric Power Systems, Vol. 6 [2006], Iss. 2, Art. 6

II. SYNCHRONOUS GENERATOR MODEL IN THE PHASE-DOMAIN

A three-phase synchronous generator essentially consists of a field structure and a

set of armature coils [1-2]. The field winding on the rotor carries direct current to
produce a rotational magnetic field in the air gap between the stator and the rotor.
In addition to the field winding, there are a D-damper winding and a Q-damper
winding on the rotor. The three-phase windings of the armature are distributed in
space 120o apart around the periphery of the inner face of the stator, as shown in
Figure 1. These six coils are magnetically coupled. In steady state operations,
voltages displaced by 120o in phase are produced in the armature windings,
regardless of the speed of the rotational field. The voltage-current-flux
relationship in this coupled six-coil system can be expressed as [1-7]

[v(t )] = −[R][i(t )]− d [λdt(t )] (1)

where [λ(t)] = [L(t)][i(t)]; [v(t)] is the vector of the voltages across the coils;
[i(t)] is the vector of the currents through the coils; [λ(t)] is the vector of the flux
linkages linking the coils; [R] is the diagonal matrix of the coil resistances; [L(t)]
is the matrix of the inductances which are functions of the rotor position θ. Please
note that the negative signs in (1) are used to be consistent with the currents
through and voltages across the windings in “the generator convention”.
The mechanical part of the generator consists mainly of the masses associated
with the rotor, the turbine (or turbines), and the exciter machine. The equation of
acceleration of the mechanical part is given by [1-3]

[J m] d [θ2 m] + [D m] d [θ m] + [K m][θ m] = [T net (t )]

2
(2)
dt dt

where subscript m stands for the mechanical side of the generator; [Jm] is a
diagonal matrix of the moments of inertia of the masses on the shaft; [θm] is the
vector of the position angles of the masses; [Dm] is the matrix of the damping
coefficients of the fluid around the masses; [Km] is the matrix of the stiffness
coefficients of the amortisseur springs between the masses; [Tnet(t)] is the net
torque on the shaft.

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 Louie: Magnetic Saturation Effects in a Synchronous Generator at Faults

III. INCORPORATION OF A SATURATION MODEL

Figure 2 shows the spatial positions of the magnetic axes in a three-phase salient
pole synchronous generator. Using the magnetic axis of phase-a winding as
reference, the total magnetomotive force at any instant is obtained by

a
c-axis

b’ d-axis
c’ f
Q
D

a-axis
Q’
f’
c
D’
b

a’ q-axis
b-axis

Figure 1. Cross sectional view of a three-phase salient pole synchronous

generator
r r r
F = F s + F r = F∠β (3)

with

r 2π 4π
F s = N a i a (t )∠0 + N b i b (t )∠ 3 + N c i c (t )∠ 3 ;

r ⎛ π⎞
F r = N f i f (t )∠θ + N D i D (t )∠θ + N Q i Q (t )∠⎜θ − ⎟ ;
⎝ 2⎠

Na, Nb, Nc, Nf, ND, and NQ are the number of turns of phase-a winding, phase-b
winding, phase-c winding, field winding, D-damper winding, and Q-damper
winding, respectively. Equation (3) gives the magnitude and the phase angle of
the resultant magnetomotive force in the machine. Once the position of the rotor

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 International Journal of Emerging Electric Power Systems, Vol. 6 [2006], Iss. 2, Art. 6

represented by θ(t) and the position of the total mmf represented by β(t) are
known, the angle α(t) defining the direction of the main magnetic path with
respect to the pole axis is calculated by

α (t ) = θ (t ) − β (t ) (4)

c-axis

d-axis
α
F
θ β
a-axis

b-axis q-axis

Figure 2. Spatial positions of magnetic axes of six windings and axis of total
magnetomotive force

The reluctance of the main magnetic flux path depends on the lengths of the air
gap, the rotor core path, and the stator core path as shown in Figure 3. In the
diagram lr is the radius of the arc section of the salient pole rotor (in the cross
sectional view) and h is the distance between the surface of the non-arc section of
the rotor (in the cross sectional view) and the d-axis. The reluctance of the main
magnetic flux path for a given angle of α can be expressed as

Rrel (α ) = Rrel −r (α ) + Rrel − a (α ) + Rrel − s (α ) (5)

where Rrel-r(α) is the reluctance of the rotor core path; Rrel-a(α) is the
reluctance of the air gap path; Rrel-s(α) is the reluctance of the stator core path. In
Figure 3, let us define αo as

⎛ 2h ⎞
α o = arctan⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ (6)
⎝ lr ⎠

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 Louie: Magnetic Saturation Effects in a Synchronous Generator at Faults

In the ranges of -αo ≤ α ≤ αo and π-αo ≤ α ≤ π+αo Rrel(α) can be expressed as

1
Rrel (α ) = R A − R B (7)
sin(α o )

main-mmf
c-axis

β d-axis
φ/2 b

ls θ
a α h

lg lr φ/2 a-axis

b-axis
q-axis

Figure 3. Main magnetic flux path of a three-phase salient pole synchronous

generator

with

1⎧ ⎛π ⎞ ⎡ ⎛π ⎞ ⎤⎫
R A1 = ⎨ R rel (0) + R rel ⎜ ⎟ + ⎢ R rel ⎜ ⎟ − R r (0)⎥ ⎬ ;
2⎩ ⎝2⎠ ⎣ ⎝2⎠ ⎦⎭

⎡1 + sin(α o) ⎤
R A = R A1 ⎢ ⎥;
⎣1 − sin(α o) ⎦

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 International Journal of Emerging Electric Power Systems, Vol. 6 [2006], Iss. 2, Art. 6

⎡ ⎛π ⎞ ⎤ ⎡1 + sin(α o) ⎤
RB = ⎢ R rel ⎜ ⎟ − R rel (0)⎥ ⎢ ⎥.
⎣ ⎝2⎠ ⎦ ⎣1 − sin(α o) ⎦

Similarly, in the ranges of -π+αo ≤ α ≤ -αo and αo ≤ α ≤ π-αo Rrel(α) can be

found by

1
Rrel (α ) = R A − R B (8)
sin(α )

Knowing the reluctance of the main magnetic flux path and with i being the
current of a winding, the total magnetic flux on the winding of N turns is given by

F (θ , α , i ) λ (θ , α , i )
φ (θ , α , i) = = (9)
Rrel (α ) N

The total flux linkage and the total magnetomotive force can be normalized
with respect to the number of turns of phase-a winding and that of the field
winding as

λ (θ , α , i)
λn (θ , α , i) = (10)
Na

F (θ , α , i )
Fn (θ , α , i ) = (11)
Nf

where Nf is the number of turns of the field winding and subscript n stands for
“normalized”. From (7)-(11) in the ranges of -αo ≤ α ≤ αo and π-αo ≤ α ≤ π+αo
we have

F n (θ , α , i )
λn (θ , α , i) = (12)
RB
RA −
sin(α o)

And in the ranges of -π+αo ≤ α ≤ -αo and αo ≤ α ≤ π-αo we get

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 Louie: Magnetic Saturation Effects in a Synchronous Generator at Faults

F n (θ , α , i )
λ n (θ , α , i ) = (13)
RB
RA−
sin(α )

Equations (12) and (13) are referred to as magnetizing curve generating

functions. Figure 4 shows some magnetizing curves of different magnetic flux
paths generated by these functions using the d-axis (α = 0) and q-axis (α = π/2)
data from [5]. With ∆t being the time increment, the total normalized flux linkage
at time t is given by

∆λn
λ n (t ) = λ n (t − ∆t ) + [F (t ) − F n (t − ∆t )] (14)
∆Fn n

where ∆λn/∆Fn is the slope at Fn(t) on the magnetizing curve of the main
magnetic flux path.
If there were no saturation, the unsaturated normalized flux linkage would
become

λn −u (t ) = LFn (t ) (15)

where L is the unsaturated inductance. Equation (15) gives the relationship

between the total flux linkage and the total magnetomotive force under the
unsaturated condition. L can be obtained as the slope of the linear region on the
magnetizing curve of the generator. Combining (1), (14), and (15) gives

v(t ) = −[R ][i (t )]− d {[λ (t − ∆t )] + λ 1} (16)

dt

with

∆ λn
λ1 = [L(t )]{[i(t )] − [i(t − ∆t )]};
∆ Fn L

[L(t)] is the matrix of the coil inductances. The self and mutual inductances
across the stator and rotor windings in the matrix [L(t)] are functions of the rotor
position θ.

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 International Journal of Emerging Electric Power Systems, Vol. 6 [2006], Iss. 2, Art. 6

IV. CASE STUDY

A test case of a single-phase-to-ground fault in phase-a at the terminal of a three-

phase salient pole synchronous generator has been considered. An analytical
solution of the short circuit can be performed using the technique of symmetrical
components. During the fault, the terminal voltages of the healthy phases and the
current of the faulted phase in terms of phasor quantities are given by

Vb =
Z
[( ) ( )
a − a Z1 + a 2 − 1 ( X s − 2 M s )
Vo 2
] (17)

Vc =
Vo
Z
[( )
a − a 2 Z1 + (a − 1)( X s − 2 M s ) ] (18)

3Vo
Ia = (19)
Z

with

1 ⎡⎛⎜ T d/ T d// ⎞⎟⎛ 3 ⎞ ⎤

Z1 = ⎢ +
⎜Xs Ms + X ⎟ Z a1⎥ ;
+
2 ⎢⎜⎝ T do
/ // ⎟⎝
do ⎠
2 m⎠ ⎥⎦
⎣ T

⎛ T q/ T q// ⎞
Z a1 = ⎛⎜ X s + M s + X m ⎞⎟⎜
3 ⎟;
⎝ 2 ⎠⎜ T qo
/ // ⎟
⎝ T qo ⎠

3
Z = Z1 + 2 X s − M s + Xm;
2

a = 1∠120 o ;

Vo is the open circuit voltage; Td/, Td//, Tq/, Tq//, Tdo/, Tdo//, Tqo/, and Tqo// are the
short circuit and open circuit time constants for the d-axis and the q-axis,
respectively; Xs is the constant component of the self reactance of a stator
winding (such as phase-a winding, phase-b winding, phase-c winding); Ms is the
constant component of the mutual reactance between any two armature windings
(such as the mutual reactance between phase-a winding and phase-b winding, the
mutual reactance between phase-a winding and phase-c winding, the mutual

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 Louie: Magnetic Saturation Effects in a Synchronous Generator at Faults

reactance between phase-b winding and phase-c winding); Xm is the amplitude of

the second harmonic component of the self reactance of an armature winding. In
terms of modal currents for a line-to-ground fault, there are positive, negative, and
zero sequence currents of equal amplitude. Two rotating armature magnetomotive
forces (mmfs) exist in the air gap: one generated by the positive sequence currents
and the other produced by the negative sequence currents. These two mmfs are
rotating in opposite directions. In addition to the two rotating armature mmfs,
there are the main field mmf generated by the field current and a pulsating mmf
created by the zero sequence currents. The vector sum of all these mmfs gives the
resultant mmf along the main magnetic flux path in the machine. During the
transient state, the instantaneous total mmf is not small and saturation can be
significant. Also, the direction of the resultant mmf does not coincide with the
machine’s d-axis, and therefore, saturation along the q-axis should also be taken
into account.
The simulation of a single-phase-to-ground short circuit at phase-a of a typical
salient pole generator has been performed using the phase-domain synchronous
machine model. The data for the test machine is given in Appendix A. The
machine is initially operated in the unloaded steady state condition when short
circuit is applied to phase-a at t = 16.667 ms. Since the armature currents are zero
before the fault, the direction of the total mmf coincides with the d-axis. After the
short circuit occurs, the current in phase-a is large and produces positive,
negative, and zero sequence mmfs. As a result, the total resultant mmf in the air
gap deviates from the d-axis and has a large value.
Figures 5-10 show the terminal voltage of phase-b, the torque exerted on the
shaft, the rotor speed, the field current, the D-damper current, and the Q-damper
current obtained with the reviewed model and with the EMTP synchronous
machine model. Here the plots of the voltages, torques, speeds, and currents
obtained by the phase-domain generator model and the EMTP are almost
identical. The wave forms of the shaft torque and rotor speed clearly show the
vibration caused by the pulsating mmf generated by the zero sequence currents.
Figures 11-13 show the terminal voltages of phase-a, phase-b, and phase-c,
respectively. Figure 14 shows the current in the faulted phase-a. The waveforms
in Figures 12 and 13 indicate the distortion on the voltages of the healthy phases
introduced by the saturation effects. In the figures, “linear” stands for not
including the saturation effects; “d” stands for the inclusion of the saturation
effects along the d-axis; and “q” stands for the inclusion of the saturation effects
along the q-axis.

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1.4

1.2 0o

50 o 90 o
1.0
60 o
0.8
λ (p.u.)

0.6

0.4

0.2

0.0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5
F (p.u.)

Figure 4. Magnetizing curves of different magnetic flux paths

1.5

1.0
va(t) (104 V)

0.5

0.0

-0.5

-1.0

-1.5
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30
Time (second)

Figure 5. Phase-b voltage of generator

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 Louie: Magnetic Saturation Effects in a Synchronous Generator at Faults

1.5

1.0

0.5
Torque (106 N.m)

0.0

-0.5

-1.0

-1.5

-2.0
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30
Time (second)

Figure 6. Torque on the shaft of generator

3600

3598

3596
Speed (rpm)

3594

3592

3590

3588

3586

3584
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30
Time (second)

Figure 7. Speed of the rotor of generator

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 International Journal of Emerging Electric Power Systems, Vol. 6 [2006], Iss. 2, Art. 6

4000

3500

3000

2500
if (A)

2000

1500

1000

500
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30
Time (second)

Figure 8. Field current of generator

3500

3000

2500

2000

1500
iD (A)

1000

500

-500

-1000
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30
Time (second)

Figure 9. D damper current of generator

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 Louie: Magnetic Saturation Effects in a Synchronous Generator at Faults

2500
2000

1500

1000
500
iQ (A)

0
-500
-1000
-1500

-2000
-2500
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30
Time (second)

Figure 10. Q damper current of generator

1.5

___ linear
1.0

0.5
va(t) (x104 V)

_____________d

0.0

-0.5

-1.0

-1.5
0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06
Time (second)

Figure 11. Phase-a voltage of generator

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 International Journal of Emerging Electric Power Systems, Vol. 6 [2006], Iss. 2, Art. 6

1.5

1.0 _____d

0.5
vb(t) (x104 V)

______ d and q
0.0

-0.5

-1.0 ____linear

-1.5
0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06
Time (second)

Figure 12. Phase-b voltage of generator

1.5

1.0 _____d

0.5
vc(t) (x104 V)

____________d and q

0.0

-0.5

-1.0 ____linear

-1.5
0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06
Time (second)

Figure 13. Phase-c voltage of generator

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 Louie: Magnetic Saturation Effects in a Synchronous Generator at Faults

12
____linear
10
_____d

____________d and q
8
ia(t) (x104 A)
6

-2
0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06
Time (second)

Figure 14. Phase-a current of generator

V. CONCLUSIONS

This paper has reviewed a synchronous machine model that has been developed
based directly on phase coordinates (abc frame). The model has been verified by
comparing the simulation results of a test case obtained by the phase-domain
synchronous generator model and the results obtained by the EMTP without the
inclusion of saturation effects. The paper has also studied the effects of non-
uniform air gap saturation on the machine’s behavior during a single-phase-to-
ground short circuit. By avoiding the dqo transformation, the model retains the
physical picture of the actual machine, which greatly simplifies the inclusion of
magnetic saturation effects and facilitates the interface between the rotor and the
stator of the machine. It has also been shown that saturation along the q-axis is
important in unbalanced power system operations. The phase-domain
synchronous generator model has been proven to be suitable to represent the
magnetic saturation effects in synchronous machines.

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 International Journal of Emerging Electric Power Systems, Vol. 6 [2006], Iss. 2, Art. 6

VI. APPENDIX A

A.1 Data of the Synchronous Generator in the simulation test [8]

(1). Machine ratings:

Apparent power = 200.0 MVA,

Voltage = 13800.0 V,
No-load field current = 935.016 A.

(2). Machine characteristic quantities:

Armature winding resistance (per phase) = 0.003 p.u.,

Xo = 0.11 p.u., Xl = 0.1 p.u.,
Xd = 1.5 p.u., X/d = 0.37 p.u., X//d = 0.24 p.u.,
Xq = 0.75 p.u., X/q = 0.75 p.u., X//q = 0.34 p.u.,
T/d = 1.8 sec., T//d = 0.035 sec.,
T/q = 0.0 sec., T//q = 0.035 sec.

(3). Other information:

Number of Generator mass = 1,

Operating frequency = 60 Hz,
Number of poles = 2,
Moment of inertia = 7.6327e3 kg.m2,
Damping coefficient of the mass = 0.0 N.m/(rad/s),
Exciter winding resistance = 0.0 p.u.

VII. REFERENCES

[1] J. R. Marti and K. W. Louie, “A phase-domain synchronous generator model

including saturation effects,” IEEE Trans. on Power Systems, vol. 12, no. 1 ,
pp. 222-229, Feb. 1997.
[2] K. W. Louie, “A new accurate phase-domain synchronous generator model
for transient simulation,” IEEE CCECE 2006, Ottawa, Paper No. 185, May
2006.
[3] B. Adkins and R. G. Harley, The General Theory of Alternating Current
Machines, New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc., pp.58-97, 1975.
[4] H. W. Dommel, Emtp Theory Book, Vancouver: Microtran Power System
Analysis Corporation, pp.8.1-8.74, 1992.

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 Louie: Magnetic Saturation Effects in a Synchronous Generator at Faults

[5] M. A. Abbel-Halim and C. D. Manning, “Modelling saturation of laminated

salient pole synchronous machines,” IEE Pro. vol. 134. no. 4. pp. 215-233,
Jul. 1987.
[6] P. Kundur. 1994. Power System Stability and Control. New York: McGraw-
Hill, Inc.
[7] V. Brandwain, “Representation of magnetic saturation in the synchronous
machine in an electromagnetic transient program,” IEEE Trans. on Power
Apparatus and Systems. vol. Pas-99. no. 5, pp. 1990-2002, Sept-Oct. 1980.
[8] EMTP Development Co-ordination Group. 1989. Emtp Work Book III. Palo
Alto: Electric Power Research Institute.

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