CIGRE International Conference on Large High Tension Electric Systems 112, boulevard Houssmann ~ Pais 1968 Session — 10-20 June 33-04. ° DESIGN OF OVERHEAD TRANSMISSION LINES FOR BETTER LIGHTNING PERFORMANCE by J.J, HURLEY, M. DARVENIZA & G. J, LIMBOURN. (Australia) SUMMARY This paper deals with methods adopted in Australia for improving the lightning performance of transmission lines: For important 132 kV double circuit steel tower lines a design with separately grounded overhead earth wires has been chosen. A lightning proof 330 kV double circuit steel tower design has been developed using an additional earth wire beneath the hase conductors. For wood pole lines designs have been adopted which take advantage of the insulation strength and arc quenching properties of timber, Model investigations and computer analyses were applied in predicting the performance of These lines, Design, Lightning Performance Improvement, Transmission Line. REPORT 1. INTRODUCTION In the Electricity Commission of New South Wales (ECNSW) system, approximately 70% of all faults are caused by lightning. In the case of double circuit lines of conventional design Figure 1 = 182 kV double eireuit separated OHEW configuration 1 = ONEW jumper support insu- lators 2 = QHEW jumpers 3 = Fibreglass strain insulator 4 = Downwires 5 = Location for magnetic links 5 + Steel tower 4 significant proportion of these faults involves both circuits. It frequently happens that at certain early stages in the development of the transmission network, supply to particular areas is depen- dent on one double circuit steel tower line. A few years ago a preliminary investigation was started with the object of providing a more reliable supply with one double circuit line, It was concluded that for 132 kV double circuit lines, a de- sign in which the overhead earth wires (OHEW) were not electri- cally connected to the tower top but separately earthed offered the best prospect of improved performance, The provision of separate support structures for the earth wires was rejected for aesthetic reasons and the study was concentrated on a design in which the earth wires were supported on the main structures, but isolated from them by fibreglass insulators, and earthed through low surge impedance down leads separated from the towers, The earthing arrangement finally decided upon is shown in figure 1, In the case of double circuit 330 kV steel tower lines it was found that the desired performance could be achieved with conven- tional designs using a third earth wire below the main conductors to improve the coupling factor from the earth wires to the phase conductors, In the country areas of New South Wales wood pole lines are extensively used. Frequently a single radial line has suf- ficient capacity to supply a load area, It is therefore desirable that the lightning outage rate of these lines be as low as possible, and this has led to the development of ‘lightning resistant’ designs which utilise both the insulating and are quenching properties of the timber,33.04 Bae 2.1, Theoretical Studies 2.1.1, Preliminary Design Studies - Before a 132 kV separated OHEW design could be prepared with confidence It was necessary to make a thorough study of the voltages appearing across the fibreglass insulators due to the flow of lightning currents. The potentials arising on lines of this type and on conventional designs were determined by means of a 1/20 scale model line and by theoretical studies using computer techniques for the solution of lattice diagrams as described by Grant in reference [1]. Allowance was made for the non-linear effects of co- rong and coupling factors between the OHEW and the phase conductors. The lowest stroke cur- rent causing flashover was then computed for flat topped ramp waveshapes with rise times of 1/2, 1, 2 and 4 microseconds and for exponential waveshapes of the type (I ~e-*). It was shown in reference [1} that the tower voltages for an exponential front are very different to those for a ramp front, This difference can be seen by comparing curves (c) and (e) of figure 2 ; table 1 gives a comparison of the calculated and measured peak potential dif- ferences per ampere of lightning stroke current across the insulation for the types of tower studied, ‘The mea- sured values were obtained on a scale model and a full-sized tower. Exponential waveshapes of 1/2 micro- second rise time were used and the peak potential dif- ferences occurred at approximately the same time in in each case. Table 1 Comparison of Calculated and Measured Peak Potential Differences \ \ Calculated | Mearured Potentiais i ‘rower type| Quantity | Potentials | Volts/Ampere T Yoits/Ampere | —fioaal | Ball Seale tsa ev [Peak potentiat | 22.8 [asa e158] 28 e208 Te ems) | Double aiference \ Cireuit - across top N Separated insulator ue string. \ Design tl 12a. ev [peak potentian | 28.6 [30.5 218] 23 + 20% Dowie falfference Cireutt - lover fibreglass Separated |rod insulator. ouEW Design tszev [Peat potential] 7.0 |4s.0 215%) Double Jaitterenee Civeust —_|reroms top Figure 2 - Variation of tower top poten- Conventional [insulator tial with change of parameters. Dosige fsteu ‘8) 20 chm stroke to quarterspan - Bxpo- hential wave 5) 20 ohm stroke to tower - Exponential ¢) 5 ohm stroke to quaterspan = Expo- ential wave 4). 5 ohm stroke to tower - Exponential 2) 5 ohm stroke to tower - Ramp wave Span 900 ft, no corona effect, time to crest of wave 2 mieroseconis It can be seen from table 1 that the potential differences across the insulator string are lower with the separated OHEW design than with the conventional design. As a consequence a larger stroke current is required to cause flashover of the separated OHEW design, as can be seen from table 2.33.04 Table 2 Minimum Current Required to Cause Flashover Footing Minimum Stroke Tower Type Resistance | Waveshape | Current Required ones) to Cause Flashover ) 132 kV Double Cirouit - 5 Ramp 124 Conventional Design - 10 Insulators Exponential 99 182 kV Double Cireuit - 8 Ramp 353 Separated OHEW Design - 10 Insulators Exponential 264 Using accepted lightning stroke distributions. currents of 264 kA and 353 kA have pro- abilities of occurrence of 0.004 % and 0,0001 % respectively. For this reason it was conclu- ded that the separated OHEW construction would withstand any likely direct lightning stroke and therefore would satisfy the original requirements, 2.1.2, Prediction of Double Circuit Outage Rates of Transmission Lines - The method of Sargent and Darveniza [2] for predicting outage rates for single circuit transmission lines takes account of the non linear effects of corona and coupling. A basic difference between the methods of references {1} and (2] is that in the latter statistically distributed data is manipu- lated by a Monte-Carlo technique. This data includes stroke current magnitude, shielding fai- lure probability, yearly variation of isoceraunic level, tower footing resistance and the pro- bability of a stroke terminating at the tower or at quarter or half span. The Monte-Carlo tech- nique consists of taking a random sample of values from each distribution involved, determi- ning the type of outage caused by the selected stroke conditions, i.e. withstand, single circuit outage, and repeating the procedure a sufficient number of times so that a significant long term average outage rate can be derived from the accumulated results. An outage was assumed to occur when the voltage appearing across the insulation inter- rupted either the positive or negative volt-time characteristic of the insulation. AAs described in reference [2] and in subsequent work, satisfactory agreement was ob- tained between calculated single and double circuit outage rates for several lines, including 110, 132 and 220 kV lines operating in Australia, and 161 and 345 kV lines in North America In addition, it was possible to theoretically duplicate a number of complex outage forms re- corded on a double circuit 220 kV line, 2.1.3, Tower Surge Impedance Studies - The models used in reference [1] were so cons- tructed that Height, footing resistance, span length, point of stroke, conductor size and type of tower could be varied, Measurements of tower top voltage and voltage across the insulation were taken and the tower surge impedance computed. The results indicated that the tower surge impedance may be considered constant at a value of the order of 120 ohms and this figure was used in the theoretical computations of tower potentials, A Time Domain Reflectometer (TDR) [8] was also used to determine the tower surge impedance, Similar investigations by Sargent and Darveniza [4] using both scale models and theore- Uical methods also found that for the purpose of travelling wave calculations a tower may be accurately represented by a surge impedance which is constant in magnitude and time, The conventional double circuit steel tower could be conveniently approximated by a cone, and a theoretical analysis based on field theory gave the tower surge impedance as 60 n(¥2) Z where S is the sine of the half angle of the cone Table 3 gives a comparison of the surge impedance of various types of Australian towers using the conical representation, model measurements of voltage and current,and the TDR.33.04 Table 3 Comparison of Calculated and Measured ‘Tower Surge Impedances eigre| Base Surge Impedance (ohms) Dimensions Tower Type (my ‘Measured (nt) Calculated | ygoyay —_ 132 kV Double Cireuit (Ecnsw) [102 | 19x19 | 140-165 [119 +11 % [190 + 20% 380 kev Single Circuit (BCNSW), | 95 | 21 x 10 a 98 +11% | 1304 20% 220 kV Double Circuit (SECV)(*) [100 | 24 x 24 125 - 150 |120 - 145 P (*). Method not applicable for portal type towers. (*] State Electricity Commission of Victoria. 2.1.4, Study of Three Barth Wire Design - ‘The conventional double circuit tower design has two OHEW's. The use of a third earth wire or coupling wire below the phase conductors is not a new concept, MeCann [5] showed that the increase in coupling factor by a third earth wire was in the order of 20%. The travelling wave method of reference [1] was extended to cover this case. Table 4 shows the comparison between the minimum stroke currents required to cause flashover with the conventional 330 kV double circuit tower and the same tower con- figuration with a third earth wire attached Table 4 Minimum Stroke Currents to Cause Flashover fon 930 kV Double Circuit Designs Footing | gipoxe | StFoke Current to Construction [Resistance | SMe. | Cause Flashover (ohms) i (kA) 330 KV Double 5 Ramp Yet Circuit 5 | Exponential 158 Conventional | 20 Ramp 129 Design - 20 | mxponential 118 20 Insulators 40 Ramp 1m 40 | txponential 0 330 kY Double 5 Ramp 388 Cireuit - 5 | Exponential 343 3rd Earth Wire| 20 Ramp 214 Design - 20 | Exponential 231 20 Insulators 40 Ramp 178 40 _| exponential 153 Applying the accepted distributions of lightning current to these figures, no outages would be expected for footing resistances up to 20 ohms, The probability of a lightning outage with 40 ohms footing resistance is in the order of 0,3 % which should be quite acceptable for most 330 KV double circuit transmission lines, Consequently, a third earth wire could be used for 330 kV double circuit lines either a) to achieve a lightning proof design ‘or b) to achieve an acceptable performance with a much higher structure footing resis- tance than with the conventional design, and so reduce the cost of earthing. 2,2, Application of Design Studies 2.2.1, 132 kV Double Cireuit Design - The first application of the 132 kV double circuit separated OHEW design was to a short line from a 330/132 kV substation on the outskirts of Sydney to an inner city suburb, No duplication of this supply was possible for some period sos- 33.04 that @ highly reliable design was called for. For this reason the separated OHEW construction, fully described in reference [6], was selected, An added advantage of a low outage rate is that the hazard of step and touch potentials in the vicinity of the tower base is reduced, a matter of considerable importance for lines passing through densely populated areas 2.2.2, 330 kV Double Circuit Design - Previous papers on estimating lightning perfor- mance (7, 8) showed that conventional 330 kV double circuit designs with 20 insulators should be satisfactory if the structure footing resistance was reduced to 5 ohms An estimation of the performance using the technique of reference {1] confirmed that the design would withstand more than 300 kA for ramp waveshapes, exponential waveshapes of type (1 ~e-s) and a composite wave of front {ett 1) with a flat top for wave fronts of 1/2 to 6 microseconds The study was repeated using the program of reference @] with the same waveshapes as above, Table § gives the results of an analysis of 408 randomly selected strike incidents (cor- responding to about three years of service for 100 miles of line), together with those obtained using the methods of references (1) and [7]. A 900 ft average span, a structure footing resis~ tance of 5 ohms and an average isoceraunic level of 30 was assumed for these studies Reference [7] states that "fronts of 2, 4 and 6 microseconds were used in the study with a 40 microsecond tail in all cases" and it is assumed that a practical exponential wave was used. The figures in table 5 clearly indicate that the method of reference [2] does not predict a lightning proof line particularly for the exponential wave, even if the primary insulation was increased to 28 insulators. Further studies were made using this method with a separated OHEW design similar to the 132 kV design described above, Table 5 Comparison of Predicted Performance of Proposed 330 kV Double Circuit Designs Predicted Number of Outages in 3 year period Predicted Outage Rate/100 miles per 100" miles Number of ‘Waveshape Sargent and ‘Yearly Outage Rate and Toeaene Tyee Darveniza(2)(*) | Mfinimum Current to | Yearly Outage Rate Sage Dame Gauge Pashover’ | tayton & Young (7) circuit | Circuit 20 Ramp 1 a 0.1 (181 kA) - Practical Exponential ° 1 : Exponential 6 a 0.2 (158 kA) - (ees) 24 Exponential 6 2 1 (190 ka) : 28 Ramp - - (295 ka) - 28 | Practical Exponential ° 1 : o 28 Exponential 5 1 0.0 (221 kA) = (*) Maximum stroke current considered 190 kA ‘The results of this study are shown in table 6 for an average span of 900 ft, structure footing resistance 5 ohms,and isoceraunic level 30, A 330 kV double circuit "Lightning proof ne" 11 miles long is required to supply an in- door 330 kV substation in the inner metropolitan area of Sydney. The OHEW's are to be 0.5 in? copper equivalent steel cored aluminium and each phase is to have a quadruple bundle of identical conductors. Because of the importance of this line and the uncertainty of the esti. mated performance using conventional designs it has been decided to take advantage of the im- proved coupling factor of a third earth wire. The proposed arrangement is illustrated in fi- gure 333.04 Table 6 Predicted Number of Outages/100 miles in Three Year Period for Separated OHEW 330 kV Double Cireuit ‘Transmission Line Predicted Number of Outages Number of Insulators | Waveshape Type In 3 Year Period Single Double 20 Ramp 0 1 20 Practical Exponential 0 1 20 Exponential 2 1 Figure 4 ~ Determtuation of flashover of line Ingulation 2) Volt-time characteristic of insulation ~ positive po- larity b) Potential difference across insulator string Figure 3 - 980 kV double circult tower arrangement ¢) Volt-time characteristic of insulation ~ negative po: 2) provision for third overhead earth wire, larity Footing resistance = 5 chms maximum €) Volt-time characteristic restarted at time T No, of insulators = 20, ©) Interruption of volt-time characteristic i.e, Mashover. 2.3. Discussion of Estimating Methods - Reference [1] considered strokes to tower only whereas reference [2] assumed 50% of strokes to tower, 30% to quarter. span and 20% to mnidspan, For strokes to tower the two methods yielded almost identical results. All the ou- tages listed in tables 5 and 6 using the method of reference [2] were caused by strokes to half of quarter spans resulting in flashovers at the tower. For a linear system the tower top potential for strokes to tower and along the span will be identical until the first reflected wave from adjoining towers appears at the tower as shown in figure 2 curves (a), (b) up to 1.5 mi- croseconds, With a single exponential wavefront an oscillatory voltages appears at the tower and, as can be seen from figure 2, the most severe condition of insulation stress for nega- tive polarity occurs for low footing resistances and strokes to quarter span. If the corres= ponding power frequency voltage is of opposite polarity, the second peak (at 2 microseconds in fig. 2) may result in flashover because of the decreasing insulation strength with time. Such a flashover was accepted as possible in the calculations using the method of reference (2) If, however, the volt-time characteristic of the insulation is assumed to start again at the instant of a polarity reversal of the tower potential as shown in figure 4, there is evi- fence that the outages shown in table 5 and 6 would be eliminated and good correlation with the method of reference [1] and the previous estimating papers would then be obtained, While there is no experimental knowledge concerning the volt-time characteristic under oscillating voltage conditions, it is considered that ‘restarting’ the characteristic tends to give33.04 results more in accordance with experience, It is hoped to study the effect of non-standard waveshapes in a near future, 3. WOOD POLE LINES 3.1, Theoretical and Experimental Studies 3.1.1, Impulse Strength and Are Quenching Properties of ‘Timber - Considerable research has been carried out at the University of Queensland h,v. laboratory on the impulse strength and are quenching properties of Australian hardwoods, Darveniza [9] postulated as a design criterion that transition from an impulse are to a power are was unlikely to occur if the peak system voltage appearing across the wood insu- lation is less than the minimum voltage necessary to maintain the arc in the wood, Minimum are voltages were investigated using typical 11 kV, 33 KV and 66 kV wood-porcelain combi- nations, (9, 10, 11] and this data, given in figures 5 and 6, indicated that the operating vol- tage gradient which appeared across the wood after a lightning flashover should not exceed 0.5 kV r.m.s. /in-of wood to minimise the possibility of transition from an impulse to a po- wer are, Curve (a) of figure 6 trom reference [12] gives the probability of a lightning flash- over developing Into a power are, calculated from the measured distribution of the minimum are voltage and the time variation of the power frequency voltage. Figure 5 ~ Minimum are voltege gradient (kV peak/in) Figure 6 - Power frequency voltage gradient Distribution of minimum are voltage gradients (Total Probability of lightning flashover with power arc as a number of results = 1,206) function of power frequency voltage gradient a) Darveniza, Limbourn & Prentice (12) b) Corrected tield data - Ekvall (13) ©) Burgsdor? (14) 4d) Armstrong (15) Field and laboratory experience of the are quenching property of wood [18, 14, 18] is also given in curves (b), (c), and (d) of figure 6, and it is clear that there is excellent agree- ment concerning the operating gradients required to prevent power follow currents, namely 0.3 kV r.m.s./in, This agreement supports the view that the are quenching capability of wood is directly related to its are voltage properties and that the previously stated design eriterion can be applied to predictions of wood pole outage rates, However, there is a conflict between the data for higher operating gradients, particularly between curves (a) and (d) of figure 6, It is considered that the probabilities predicted from Armstrong's data (curve (d)) are too pes- simistic, because his experiments only established the minimum lengths of wood required to Prevent a power fault arc (i.e.p: = 0). This experimental approach would ignore the fact that wood exhibits a distribution of minimum are voltage gradients as given in figure 5 ; this di- tribution shows that in fact the majority of the recorded are gradients were larger than the value of 0.42 kV peak/in (which corresponds to the previously mentioned figure of 0.3 kV rims, fin, ), 3.1.2, Voltage Distribution Study - With the published data available it was not possible for a transmission line designer to assess accurately the impulse strength of wood-porcelain- air combinations ,33.04 It was thought that by studying the impulse voltage distribution between the wood and por- celain the necessary design information could be obtained. This investigation was carried out by Limbourn (10, 11] with the aim of obtaining relationships between breakdown voltages, wood Tength and physically measurable quantities such as the resistivity and dielectric constant of the wood and porcelain, This study confirmed that much of the variability of published data was the result of well known cireuit phenomena rather than any erratic behaviour of wood. Using a simplified impedance model for the representation of a wood porcelain combi- nation, it was found that the flashover voltage of the combination could be calculated to within 15% using the expression g, Vere where BH, is the flashover voltage of the combination B, is the flashover voltage of the porcelain E, is the flashover voltage of the timber. Further, provided partial flashovers do not occur prior to total breakdown, the flashover voltage of a seasoned timber-porcelain combination can be expressed as - Cr+ Gy SF Ey where C, = capacitance of the porcelain element C, = capacitance of timber element 3.1.9. Application of Travelling Wave Theory - The digital computer prediction methods using the travelling wave theory outlined in Section 2 have also been applied to estimate the performance of wood pole lines with OHEW., Allowances have to be made for the additional impulse strength of any timber element, Having determined that a flashover would occur, the probability of transition from an impulse to a power arc,given in figure 6, must be taken into account in determining the outage rate. ‘These modifications have been incorporated into the existing computer program [2] to~ gether with the Monte-Carlo selection of an are voltage gradient for each stroke incident. 3.2, Design Aspects 3.2.1, Timber Insulation Strengths - For Australian conditions, rain generally precedes a thunderstorin by at least three minutes, which is sufficient time to reduce the insulation Strength of timber to that corresponding to wet timber-approximately 60% of the dry strength. Consequently it is reasonable to base the calculation of impulse strengths on wet seasoned tim- ber values, For Australian hardwoods a figure of 100 KV/f may be used for both positive and negative polarities at the minimum flashover level, By comparison, the strength of fibreglass insulation is about 160 kV/ft dry or wet. 3.2.2, Length of Timber Used - The electrical design of transmission lines of nominal voltage 33 kV and below is based upon providing an operating gradient of 0.5 kV r.m.s. fin, Of timber, This results in a probability of transition from an impulse to a power are of 5 % assuming that all flashovers involve wood. For 66 kV and 182 kV, mechanical considerations Yimit the operating gradient to 0.7 kV r.m.s. fine with subsequent increase in the probability of obtaining a power are to 15 %. 3.2.3, Co-ordination of Air Flashover Paths - Because of the different shape of the volt time characteristics of wood-poreelain and air-porcelain combinations, it is necessary to co- ordinate air clearances at the minimum flashover level and at some shorter time to flashover such as the 2 or 4 microsecond values, Where wood-porcelain combinations are concerned the 4 microsecond value is preferred for two reasons =-9- 33.04 3) the steepness of the volt-time characteristic for shorter times makes co- ordination difficult and ii) severe lightning strokes have a time to crest of this order, To ensure that the insulation strength and are quenching properties of timber are fully utilised it is necessary for the minimum and 4 microsecond flashover strength of the wood. Porcelain combination to be less than the corresponding air gap strength. To achieve this requirement on unshielded structures it is usually necessary to increase the air gap length relative to the wood length by deliberately short-cireuiting part of the tim. por « Hor a flat conductor configuration, bonding of the pole-crossarm joint is necessary for the prevention of pole fires. The timber length has thus been effectively decreased by approx 2 ft relative to the air length between phase conductors and this is sufficient to provide the necessary co-ordination With the single pole parallel crossarm type of structure there is usually far too much tim- ber in the phase-to-phase flashover path resulting in an air flashover between conductors in the come vertical plane. To obtain co-ordination it is necessary to provide an increased crosaarm se. Paration, or a short-cireuiting of part of the timber, or a combination of both, It is impracticable to provide co-ordination under all wind conditions. For this reason, the minimum clearances between conductor and earthed metal are generally specified for still air conditions only. For maximum wind conditions it is desirable to provide a clearance which will withstand the maximum switching surge likely to be encountered, 3.2.4, Damage to Timber Elements - As the moisture content of timber varies, the flashover path changes. For timber of moisture contents in the order of 60‘, breakdown oc- curs completely within the timber and under these conditions a stroke of magnitude 8 kA is sufficient to shattor a crossarm or pole [16]. As the moisture content decreases the flashover path travels nearer to the surface and small slivers of wood may be blown out, For well seasoned timber, the flashover path huys the ‘surface of the timber and in general the only damage is the removal of small splinters of wood. Consequently more damage can be expected with timber insulated structures In the finst year's life of the line as the timber is seasoning. It is not unusual for damage to occur to a line under construction if unseasoned timber is used, Littler [17) quotes statistieal information obtained on unbonded lines in South-Eastern Queensland involving some 65,000 crossarms and 57,000 poles over a period extending from Seven fo ten years which indicates negligible damage. The majority of the poles and erosearms would have been fully seasoned for the period concerned, However recent experienee in North Western N.S.W. has indicated an alarming incidence Of total destruction of pressure impregated poles. This is undoubtedly due to the Impregnant retarding the natural seasoning of the timber with the result that a considerable proportion of the pole remains at a high moisture content. Under these conditions the timber is highly. sus- ceptible to severe damage due to direct lightning strokes and care should be taken when selec: ting unbonded treated poles for lines in high isoceraunic levels. 3.2.5. Typical Designs - Lightning resistant designs have been prepared for 33 kV, §6 KV and 192 kV transmission lines, some of which are shown in figure 7. A design for 330 kV. although not lightning resistant is also available. An equivalent of 3 1/2 insulators is added to the primary insulation by the timber element. This is also showa in figure 7, CHEW is used for the entire length of line for voltages of 192 kV and above, Below 192 kV OHEW is only used within 2/4 mile of a substation to limit the magnitude and severliy of surges within the substation, With unprotected structures the are quenching property of tirber le we major factor in the electrical desig, as almost every direct lightning stroke of the line will result in a flashover even when the additional impulse strength of any timber element is taken into account, ance of Lightning Resistant Lines - Three 132 kV lightning resistant trans- Mission lines, constituting 800 mile year of service, have been in operation for the ECNSW. Only four outages have occurred due to lightaing and on each occasion the line was antomatically reclosed successfully, The earthing for these lines consists of one 9 ft star stake at the base of exch33.04 10 Figure 7 ~ Typical 66, 192 and 390 kV wood pole structures A) 66 KV pole - 4 insulator 5) 66 KV single pole - 4 insulators 8) 2 f¢ of unbonded timber >) $19" minimum air clearance ) 182 KV timber crosaarm - 9 insulators 1) 9 fe of wnbonded timber Bonding around pole = crossarm joint to prevent pole |-)top fires ) Offset OMEW down lead 2/0" to utilise pole timber D) 330 KY timber crossarm - 20 insulators a) Fibreglass brace, pole, Using an isoceraunic level of 30, average span of 600 ft, 9 discs per phase and average Btrusture footing resistance of 40 ohms, a calculation based on reference (7] and figure 6 Substantiates the observed outage rate. Further experience with lightning resistant lines at Tio KV in South Eastern Queensland representing 774 mile year of service indicated an ou- tage rate of 026/100 miles/year, One 128 mile 66 kV transmission line has just been put in- torservice and another 104 miles is nearing completion, Using the method outlined in refe- rence [8] an outage rate of 6/100 miles/year is predicted for this type of line compared to 40/100 miles /year for a fully bonded construction. For 33 kV designs where the increased gradient is utilised the estimated outage rate is 2.5 outages /100 miles /year compared to the figure for existing designs of more than 8/100 mites /year. 3.3.2. Improved Performance of 132 kV Steel Crossarm Construction - The ECNSW has in service over 1300 miles of 182 KV wood pole lines with steel crossarms, Future duplicate lines will also be of the same construction, Consequently, it became necessary to give some thought to improving their performance. To achieve an acceptable reliability it is desirable to poduce structure footing resistances to the order of 10 ohms for isoceraunic levels of 90. If this is to be attained at each structure the expenditure on additional earthing may well exceed the total cost of the line. One alternative is to earth only selected structures and this method has been adopted for lines of this type. The selection is based upon the relative exposure of a structure to a direct lightning stroke. With this selectivity it is possible to reduce the cost of additional earthing to within 10% of the overall cost of the transmission line erection and wnaterial, ‘The amount of additional earthing required is assessed by computer taking account of exposure, isoceraunie level and the design footing resistance=i 33.04 CONCLUSIONS: Considerable research has been carried out in Australia towards improving the lightning performance of both steel tower and wood pole transmission lines. The application of the re. Sults of this research has produced several new transmission line designs. ‘These designs ave being used to improve the overall reliability of the N.S,W. transmission system. Service experience with the lightning resistant designs is limited as the lines have only been operating for a relatively short period. 5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors wish to thank the Electricity Commission of New South Wales and the Blec- trical Research Board of the Electricity Supply Association of Australia who sponsored the research work at the University of Queensland referred to above. Thanks are also due to Messrs. 1.8, Grant, M.A, Sargent and Dr, Diesendorf for as- sistance generally in the preparation of this paper. 6. REFERENCES (1) GRANT 1,8. - The Bffects of Tower Height on the Lightning Performance of Transmission Lines (M.E. Thesis University of N.S.W., November, 1966) [2] SARGENT M.A, and DARVENIZA M, - ‘The Calculation of the Double Circuit Outage Rate of Transmission Lines. (Trans, IEEE Vol PAS 86, N* 6, June, 1967 pp. 665-678) (3) HEWLETT PACKARD - Time Domain Reflectometry (Hewlett Packard Journal Vol. 15 N° 6 Feb., 1954) {4] SARGENT M, and DARVENIZA M.- Tower Surge Impedance. (Paper submitted to IEEE for presentation at Winter Power Meeting Jan., 1968) [5] Mc CANN G.D. - The Effect of Corona on Coupling Factors Between Ground Wires and Phase Conductors. (Trans. AIBE Vol 62 Dec., 1943 pp. 818-826) [6] GRANT LS, and SHEARS D.P. - Design of a Lightning Resistant Overhead Transmission Line, (Paper 2209 presented at IE Aust. Conference March, 1967) {1] CLAYTON J.M. and YOUNG F.S, - Estimating Lightning Performance of Transmission Lines (Trans. IEEE Pt, {ll Nov., 1964 pp, 1102-1110) [8] AIEE COMMITTEE REPORT - A Method of Estimating the Lightning Performance of Trans- mission Lines. (AIEE Trans. Vol.69 Pt. 3 1950 pp. 1187 -96) 191 DARVENIZA M. - Some Aspects of Lightning Flashover and Power Outage Performance of Wood Insulated Transmission Lines. (Elec. & Mech. Trans, Instn, of Engineers. Aust Vol, EM4 N° 11 pp, 49-60, 1962) 10] LIMBOURN G.J, - Impulse Voltage Distribution Between Wood and Porcelain in Trans- mission Line Insulation, (M. Eng. Se. Thesis University of Queensland December, 1964) (11 LIMBOURN G.J. - Impulse Voltage Distribution between Wood and Porcelain in Transmis- sion Line Insulation (Paper 2210 presented at IE Aust. Conference March, 1967) 21 DARVENIZA M., LIMBOURN G.J. and PRENTICE $.A. - Line Design, the Electrical Pro- perties of Wood, (IEEE Paper 31 TP 66-94) 03] EKVALL H.N. - Minimum Insulation Level for Lightning Protection of Medium-Voltage Lines. (lec. Engineering Vol. 60 1940 pp. 128-132) {14] BURGSDORF V.V, - Lightning Protection of Overhead ‘Transmission Lines and Operating Experience in the USSR (CIGRE Paper No, 326, 1958) 13) AMSTRONG H.R., s iG H.O. and VEVERKA E.F. - Impulse Studies on Distribu- tion Line Construction, (Trans PAS 86 N° 2 Feb,, 1967 pp, 205-214) [16] DARVENIZA M. - A General Purpose Surge Current Generato: 39 June, 1963 pp, 34-38) (Blectrical Engineer Vol.33.04 ig [17] LITTLER G.E. - High Speed Reclosing and Protection Techniques Applied to Wood Pole Lines. (Blec, Eng. Trans, Instn of Engineers Aust, Vol EBI Sept., 1966 pp. 107-116) [18] LIMBOURN G.J. - The Electrical Design of Wood Pole Transmission Lines (Paper pre~ sented before Institution of Engineers April,1967) Extrait de la Gi iférence Internationale des Grands Réseau Electriques. Session 1968.