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METHODOLOGY FOR MEASURING AND ENHANCING TOWER FOOTING

RESISTANCE FOR LIGHTNING PROTECTION IN AN 88KV LINE

Conference Paper · January 2017

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 METHODOLOGY FOR MEASURING AND ENHANCING TOWER
FOOTING RESISTANCE FOR LIGHTNING PROTECTION IN AN
88KV LINE

E. Singh* and I.E. Davidson** G.K. Venayagamoorthy***

* Discipline of Electrical, Electronic & Computer Engineering, University of KwaZulu-Natal,

Howard College, Durban, 4041, South Africa E-mail: singhh@eskom.co.za
** Department of Electrical Power Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment,
Durban University of Technology, Steve Biko Campus, P.O. Box 1334, Durban, 4000, South Africa
E-mail: innocentd@dut.ac.za
*** Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Clemson University, 303-D Riggs Hall Clemson
University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA, Email : gvenaya@clemson.edu

Abstract: Lightning strikes tend to terminate on the earthwire and/or tower. Depending on factors
such as the conductor, tower, soil impedance and magnitude of the strike, it will result in flashover
across an insulator and the resultant fault surge will propagate along the line until it is extinguished or
the breaker operates. This movement of the surge currents
of associated equipment such as circuit breakers and transformers and impacts network performance
adversely. The paper investigates the concept of tower footing resistances and the factors that
influence the earthing resistances. Tower footing resistance needs to be kept uniform and as low as
possible to prevent back flashovers across the insulator under lightning conditions. Theoretical
simulations were conducted on the different methods that are available to improve the tower footing
resistance values. A case study was undertaken to ascertain the tower footing resistance of an 88kV
Eskom line. The crows earthing configuration was then utilized to reduce the footing resistance to a
value less than 30 ohms. Results obtained are presented and discussed.

Keywords: Tower Footing Resistance, soil resistivity, electrodes, earthing, lightning.

1. INTRODUCTION An earth electrode is a metal plate, pipe or conductor

electrically connected to earth. They are usually made of
Tower footing resistance is the resistance offered by the copper or aluminium or mild steel or galvanized steel.
metal parts of the tower combined with the ground Some of the factors that influence the earthing are [5],
resistance to the dissipation of current. The significance [6]:
of a low value of tower footing resistance results in less
voltage stresses across the line insulation. A lightning (i.) Resistance of the electrode or group of electrode
strike to the tower results in high currents flowing into (ii.) Composition of the soil in the immediate
the ground through the tower footing. This gives rise to neighbourhood.
soil ionisation and thermal effects. As a result, the ground (iii.) Temperature of the soil
resistance of the tower base decreases by an amount (iv.) Moisture content of the soil
depending on the soil resistivity, the current magnitude (v.) Depth of the electrode
and tower footing construction [1], [2], [3], [4]. Hence the
tower footing resistance value should be as low as 2.2 Soil Resistivity
possible to prevent line back flashover and maintain the
ground potential rise within safety tolerance. The lower Soil resistivity can be defined as the resistance of a cube
the tower footing resistance, the more negative reflections of soil of 1 m size measured between any two opposite
are produced from the tower base towards the tower top. faces. It is usually expressed in Ohm-metres. This is a
This assists in lowering the peak voltage at the tower top. key factor in determining the resistance of the charging
electrode and the depth level it should be plant to obtain
2. FACTORS AFFECTING TOWER FOOTING low resistance.
RESISTANCE
The resistance of the soil differs from place to place and
There are two key factors the affect the tower footing fluctuates seasonally. Soil resistivity depends on the
resistances: These are: following factors [5], [7]:

(a.) Electrode configuration (i.) Moisture

(b.) Soil Resistivity (ii.) Minerals
(iii.) Dissolved salts
2.1 Electrode Configuration
The lower the soil resistivity is, the less the number of
electrodes required to achieve the desired earth resistance
value. An additional factor that needs to be considered is
the layer thickness. The soil environment can be
considered as an upper layer and a more conductive lower
layer [5]. Normally the grid or the electrode is buried in
the upper layer. Detailed modelling is required to
determine the soil resistivity for multi-layer and depth of
soil.
3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
There are different types of earthing methods and
configuration available for improving tower footing
resistance. There are different types of earth electrodes
[8]. These are:
(i.) Vertical electrode (Driven rod)
(ii.) Horizontal electrode
(iii.) Earthing grid
(iv.) Ring electrode
3.1 Vertical electrode (Driven rod)
The more common method of earthing towers is by the
vertical electrode method. Here an electrode is driven
vertically into the ground. Should the desired resistance
not be met with a single electrode, additional electrodes
can be driven into the ground. These electrodes would be
in parallel, which would reduce the resistance. A genetic
model was developed in MATLAB to calculate tower
footing resistance. This was developed based on the
following formula [5], [7]:
R= *[ln ((L/a) + ((rods- 1)*D))]/(2*rods*pi*L) (1)
Where:
R = Tower footing resistance
= soil resistivity
L = length of conductor (meters)
a = radius of conductor (meters)
D = distance between rods (meters)
Rods = number of electrodes
Figure 1: Relationship between number of electrodes and
tower footing resistance
The model was written with the variables been inputs to
the program and the tower footing resistance been the
output. At this stage the soil resistivity is considered to be
uniform.
Figure 1 shows the relationship between the number of
electrodes and tower footing resistance. From the graph,
one can deduce that the tower footing resistance tends to
converge towards a particular number as the number of
electrodes increases. Based to this, it is not economically
viable to increase the number of electrodes beyond the
3.2 Horizontal electrode (crows foot)
Horizontal electrodes are particularly effective when a
down wire is connected to a point in the middle of the
electrode. This configuration has the effect of halving the
surge inductance due to the parallel transmission paths
created. They can be effective when used in combination
with spike electrodes, located close to the junction of the
down conductor. The resistance maybe calculated using
the expression:
Rg = (2)
Where:
= soil resistivity in ohm-meter
L = Buried length of the electrode in meters
d = Diameter of the electrode in meter
h = buried depth of the electrode in meter
A genetic model was developed in MATLAB, to
calculate tower footing resistance. This was developed
based on equation (2). The parameters used are:
90 ohm-meter
h = 0.5 meters
d = 10 mm
L = 10 meter and increased to 60 meters
Figure 2: Relationship between earth resistance and
length of conductor
From figure 2, it can be deduced that there is a significant
reduction in the earthing value as the conductor length
increases. The reduction is approximately 78%, which is
significant. A further scenario was considered where the
length of the conductor was maintained at 50meters and
the depth to which it is buried varied between 0.5 to 4
meters.
Figure 3: Relationship between earth resistance and depth
From the graph it can be seen that the reduction of earth
resistance is 19.6%. In both scenarios, once again a
electrode used against further benefit of a reduction of
earthing values.
3.3 Radial conductors
Due to the interaction of the radial conductors, doubling
the number does not have affect the resistance. The
increase in resistance is approximated by:
Rg = (3)
Where
= Soil resistivity in ohm-meter
L = Buried length of the electrode in meters
d = Diameter of the electrode in meter
h = buried depth of the electrode in meter
n = number of radials
Table 1 shows the relationship between the number of
radials and resistance. The following unit parameter
values were used: = 90, L = 50, d = 0.01, h = 0.5
Table 1: Number of radials and resistance
N* 2 3 4 6 8 12
N(n) 0.7 1.53 2.45 4.42 6.5 11
Rg-ohms 2.19 1.61 1.34 1.09 0.96 0.85
* Number of radial conductors
From figure 4 shows once again that
reached, in terms of the amount of electrode used against
further benefit of a reduction of earthing values. This
information is valuable in carrying out optimum
economic design of earthing systems.
Figure 4: Relationship between resistance values and
number of conductors.
3.4 Options to improve high tower footing resistance
The tower footing resistance can be minimized by
adopting the following techniques:
(i.) Use of short length radial conductors bonded at the
injection point, rather than a single long length
conductor. This produces the effect of having a
number of conductors in parallel.
(ii.) Terminating radial conductors with vertical
electrodes. These measures are more effective in
low to medium soil resistivity.
(iii.) Using large bending radii when changing the
direction of horizontal conductors. Sharp bends
tend to increase the inductance.
(iv.) The use of earth enhancing compounds to improve
the soil resistivity in the proximity of the
conductor, which will reduce the tower footing
resistance
3.5 Measurement of tower footing resistance
Various instruments can be used to measure tower
footing resistance. These meters should inject a high
frequency lightning-like pulse into the base of the tower
and measures the voltage response as a function of the
injected current to give one an impedance value. This is
often referred to as the fall of potential method.
Meters, such as the Zed Meter varies from conventional
three/four terminal low frequency earth testers. These
testers use a low frequency generator that measures the
power system resistance of a tower and adjacent parallel
towers. Due to the high frequency nature of lightning, the
affected tower is treated as isolated and ignores the
parallel effect of adjacent towers. To simulate the high
frequency response of the single affected tower, a high
frequency pulse generator is required to calculate the
towers impedance.
It should be noted that a low frequency generator will not
give one the same high frequency response and as a result
will under read the impedance value since the shield-wire
and adjacent towers dampen the frequency response of
the injected current pulse.
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The tower footing resistance of an 88kV line was
established during 2014/15. This line passes through
different terrains, which includes forestry and rocky
surfaces. The measured value is shown in figure 5.
Figure 5: Tower footing resistance values along a terrain
It can be seen that the resistance value varies along the
length of the 49km line. In certain case, high values are
recorded. The impact of these high values is that under
lightning condition, a high number of back flashovers
may occur. This would lead to the circuit breaker
operating resulting in a poor quality of supply to the
customers. In cases, the customers with sensitive
equipment may have their production or parts of their
production stopped due to these interruptions.
4.1 Earthing Improvement
Figure 6: Tower footing resistance values along a terrain
The earthing on the towers with high resistance value
were improved. This was done by including copper in the
on selected towers where the resistance value was greater
than 30 ohms. Figure 6 illustrates the additional earthing
installed to improve the resistance on selected towers on
an 88kV line.
The new tower footing resistance values superimposed on
the old values are shown in the figure 7.
Figure 7: Old and new tower footing resistances
5. CONCLUSIONS
Various methods are available to calculate, measure and
correct tower footing resistance. The measurement on the
88kV line was carried out on a majority of the towers.
These towers were located in flat level terrain and in hilly
rocky areas. The values obtained varied from 3 56
ohms. Additional horizontal electrodes based on current
standards were then added to the towers with high
resistance. Measurements were then taken to ensure that
the values were reduced to values close to or below 30
ohms. Various simulations were undertaken using
MATLAB software to reduce tower footing resistance.
The installation of additional copper electrode would
assist, but the cost factor associated is high and that needs
to be included and justified using a cost-benefit analysis.
This is particularly significant if this has to be carried out
on a large number of towers. Hence a trade-off or break-
even point has to be reached between the number/amount
of copper electrodes to be used and the cost/benefit of
further earthing resistance reduction.
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