!

98 Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 7 No.1,January 1992

A NEW FAULT LOCATIONTECHNIQUE FOR TWO-AND THREE-TERMINAL LINES

Adly A. Girgis David G.Hart William L. Peterson*

Senior Member IEEE StudentMember IEEE Member IEEE

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Clemson University
Clemson, South Carolina 29634-0915
ABSTRACT- This paper presents a new method for the computa-
tion of fault location in two- and three-terminal high voltage lines. The
method is based on digital computationof the three-phasecurrent and
voltage 60/50 Hz phasors at the line terminals. The method is inde-
pendent of fault type and insensitive to source impedancevariation or
fault resistance. Furthermore, it considersthe synchronizationerrors in
sampling the current and voltage waveforms at the different line ter-
minals. The method can be used on-line following the operation of
digital relays or off-line using data transferred to a central processor
&om digital transientrecording apparatus. The paper startswith a two-
tefininalline to explain the principles and then presents the technique
for a three-terminal line. The proposed technique was first tested using
data obtained from a steady state fault analysisprogram to evaluate the
convergence, observabilityand uniquenessof the solution. The techni-
que was then tested using Em-generated transient data The test
results show the high accuracy of the proposed technique.
KEYWORDS: Fault Location, Computer Relaying, Multi-Terminal
Lines
INTRODUCIION
The developmentof digital fault location techniques for transmis-
sion lines has been a subject of interest to researchers and power
enginems tor the last decade. An accurate fault locationtechniqueis of
special importancein improving postfault analysis for line inspection
and routine maintenance. A fault location technique can be imple-
mented as part of a digital distance relay, a stand-alonedevice, or an
independentalgorithm using data obtainedby digital fault recorders for
post-fault analysis. Many of the algorithms assume data to be available
at one. terminal of the line. In this case,the apparentimpedance and the
prefault currentscan be used to computethe fault location t1-41. Infeed
currents and fault resistancesare sourcesof errors in these fault location
algorithms. Different approaches were implemented to reduce the
effect of fault resistance. One approach considered the fault current
flowingin the fault resistancefor single-line-to-groundfault cases to be
proportional to the zero-sequence current at the relay [2]. Therefore,
the apparentimpedance is considered to be
9 1 W 167-7 PURD A paper recommended and approved
by the IEEE Power System Relaying Committee of the
IEEE Power Engineering Society for presentation at
the IEEE/PES 1991 Winter Meeting, New York, New York,
February - 3, 1991. Manuscript submitted
September 1, 1990; made available for printing
December 18, 1990.
*M.
W. L. Peterson is presently with err anti International control^
Corporation
1992 IEEE
ot385-~977/911$3.000
where Vr is the relay voltage signal
Iris the relay current signal
I, is the zero-sequencecurrent at the relay
D is the distance to the fault.
RIandXi are the line resistance and reactance per mile
RF is the unknownfault resistance
Using the real and imaginq components of equation (1) leads to
two equations in two unknowns (D and RF). The equations are then
solved for D. In case of interphase faults (bc fault for example), the
current flowing in the fault resistance was assumed to be proportional
to the difference in the superimposed ments of the faulted phases.
This procedure gave highly accurate results in single-lineto-ground,
line-to-lie and three-phase faults. The error was slightly higher is
double line-to-ground faults. Also, the enor increases as function of
fault resistance and phase angle differencebetween the two sources.
Another approach [3] utilized data at one terminal using current
distribution factors. As the positive-sequence impedance does not
depend on tower footing and ground resistances. it was suggested to
eliminate the zero-sequencecurrent and use positive- and negativese-
quence current components. The final dishbution factors became a
functionof faultlocation,linepositive-sequenceparameters, and source
impedance. A quadratic equation was then solved for fault location.
This method requires precise informationon source impedances.
To improve the computationof fault location, many authors sug-
gested the use of information fromboth line ends. One approach 151
used the apparent impedanceand the magnitude of the currents at both
ends of the line to obtain accurate fault location. An error of less than
4% for most of the cases studied was reported. Higher error was also
reported for certain fault locations.
Other techniques suggested the use of synchronizeddata at both
ends of the line with the apparent impedance concept [6,7],or the
traveling wave concept for fault locationcomputation[SI. It shouldbe
mentionedhere that all these methods are based on the concept of the
apparent impedance which assumes the line to be ideally transposed
with constantpositive- and zero-sequence impedances per mile.
Fault location in multi-terminallines represents a problem due to
the infeed currents of the different sources and the presence of fault
resistance. This paper presents a new approach for fault location. The
approach does not depend on the apparentimpedance. It considers the
three-phasevoltage and current 60/50 Hzphasors at each end of the line
to be obtained, with local synchronization[9]. Data from differentends
are communicated to another processor to calculate the fault location.
The local phasors are considered to have a common reference, but
synchronizationat the different terminals is not required. Furthermore,
the method uses the phase components. The method presented here
considers the line sections to be untransposed. No assumptions were
made for fault boundary comditions or fault resistances. It is assumed
that the line series impedance matrix, &&,per mile remains constant
for each line section.
To explain the concept, the paper starts with a two-terminal line
considering the data first to be synchronized and second to be un-
synchronized. Extension to a three-terminal l i e is then presented with
synchronizeddata and then with unsynchronizeddata.
 99
FAULT LOCATION TECHNIQUE The availability of advanced communication systems in conjunc-
tion with digitalrelays would allow the implementation of the described
1. Two-Terminal Line method to determine the fault location. However, in some cases
synchronizationerror may be unavoidable. In this case the synchroh-
a. tion error needs to be considered in the fault location process. This is
describedin the next subsection.
This sectiondescribesthe principlesof the fault locationtechnique
using the three-phasevoltage and current phasors for both ends of the b. 7
line to compute the fault location. Consider the system depicted by
Figure 1. Ifthevoltage andcurrentphasorsatterminal2arenotsynchronized
0 L b
relative to the data at terminal 1, the voltage equationscan be modified
W O R K NEIWORK as shown in equations 11 and 12.
Vatel = VFdc + D Z d a k l (11)

-D -- L-D where V,,kze ia and l k z L represent the synchronizedphason with 6 as

the unknown angle.
Figure 1: Two-Terminal Line From 11 and 12
Assuming that the phasorsof the three-phasecurrentsand voltages V k l - Vabc2e$= DZabJabcl-LWak2ei'+ DZab,dabc2eJS(13)
at buses 1 and 2 are synchronously obtained, the three-phase voltage
vectors at bus 1 and 2 can be represented in terms of the three-phase Rearranging equation 13 in terms of the unknowns (D and e?
current vectors as shown in equations2 and 3. leads to
Vabcl=VFdc + DZabJabcl (2) %=Mlj D +M2j ei'+M3j D ej' (14)
Vabc~= VFabc+ ( L 4 W L ~ h c 2 (3) vfl
where
From 2 and 3
Vabcl - Vabc2+L ZobJobcz= DZabc [labcl + I h 2 1 (4)
where & is the three-phase series impedance of line per mile.
V F h is the voltage vector at the fault.

[i] E]
Equation 4 can be rewritten as

= D or Y = MD
j = a,b,c
where
Defining xi and x2 to be D and e j', equation (14) can be rewritten as
Yj = Vjl - VS + L ZjiIa
i=cr,b,C
Yj=Mlj X I + M2j ~ 2 M3j
+ X I ~2 (15)
or
Mj = zji (Iil +liz) (7)
Vjl
kb.c Yj=M&) , where Yj=-vfl
j = 4b.c
Equations 14 or 15 represent three complex measurements in two
Equation 5 represents three complex equations or six real equations in
unknowns. One unknown is real (xi), while the other unknown is
one unknown, D.
The solution for D can be then obtained using the least-squares complex e$. Starting with initial conditions xi,, and x20, the values of
estimates as xi and x2 can be updated using least squares state estimation as
D = (M+M)-' M+ Y (8)
where M' is the conjugatetransposeof M.
where H is the Jacobian matrix (dYjldxi). and
It should be noted that this procedure is independent of fault type or
fault resistance. AY = Yk - Yk-1
Using the computed value of D, the fault boundary conditions This iterative process may be terminated when the test for convergence
V F h and IF& can be obtained as follows is satisfied. That is when the differencein the estimated values of D in
- DWabcl
VFdc = V ~ M (9) successiveiterations is less than a prespecified value, 0.05 percent for
example.
= Iob~l+Iabc2 (10) The elements of the Jacobian matrix can be then obtained as
Using the voltage and currentvectors at the fault, the fault type may also
be identified.
 Each of equations (23)and (24) represent three complex equations in
one unknown (real) or six r d equations in one unknown, A solution
for D can then obtained fiom (23)as
where
j = 4b.c
It is assumedhere that the process starts with kl.
To initialize the estimation process, initial values for for D and
-
D = (McA4)-1M+ Yl

+D -t
L1
L,-D
L2-
(3)

ciamnceded. Iftheprobabilitydiseibutionoffaultlocationisknown,
the mean value for fault location can be used for D and a value of zero
can be used for 6. A reasonable initial value for D may be 0.5L. Also
a value of zero for both D and 6 can be used as initial values. The
technique thenproceeds as shown above. SYSTEM 1 SYSTEM2
L3
2. ThreeTenninalLines
a.

Now consider a three-terminalline as shown in Figure 2. The

difFerent fault coladitions are shown in Figures 2-42-b,and 24. Let
S Y s i m5
h i , zlbcz and 2&3 represent the series impedancematrix of the line
sections Li, L z and L s respectively.
For a fault in lineL1 at F1, the three-phase voltages at buses (1).
. L1
2-a
42-
(2)and (3) can be expressed in terms of the three-phase currents as
follows
VFabc + D &cl I0bc1
Vob~l= (18)
. D b

Vobc~ = VFdc +LL Zllbc2Ia~+ (L1- 0)&CI + Iabc3) (19)

V0bc3= VFdc + L3 zcrbc3 Iabc3 + (L1- D) &I (Idc2+ 10bc3) (20)
SYSTEM 1 SYSTEM 2
Eliminating the voltage at the fault location from equations (18)and

SYSiEM 3
2-b
Ll L2-

SYSTEM 1

1abcg.i
F3
Li = 30 miles
L.2 = 10 miles
L3 = 50 miles

SYSTEM 3

24
Figure 2. Possible Fault Locations in a Three-TerminalLine

Another solution can be also obtained using (24)as

D' = (M'M)-' M+ Y2 (26)
For a fault at Fz,assuming that the per mile line impedancesare equal,
it can be shown that Equation (23) stillholds. However, equation (24)
becomes
 101
Similarly,from equations (29)and (31),the followingequationsresult
[?i]=F]L1 (27)

Similarly, for a fault at F3, assuming equal line impedances per mile,

I:[; =E]
equation (24) still holds, but equation (23) becomes

Li

Thus,it can be easily shown that for equal line impedances per mile,
(28)

equations (25) and (26) would lead to the followingsolutions.

or in compact form as
(i) D<LiandD'<Li
if the fault is in sectionLi (at F i )
2
%
= M6,D + M 7 j e* +M8j ea +M9,D e* + MlOP ea (36)
(ii) D>L1 andD'=Li
if the fault is in sectionL2 (at F2) j = a,b,c
(iii) D = Li but D' > Li (ii) lk?Lhha
if the fault is in sectionL3 (at F3)
It is interesting to know that only equations (24) and (25) need to Rewriting the voltage equations for a fault at F2 with the distance
be solved independently for a fault in section L1 or L2 or L3. This vi2 However.
Dmeasuredfrombus(l)alsoresultsinequation(34)for~.
algorithm is independent of fault type, insensitive to fault resistance,
and does not require any information on source impedance. Further- equation (36) will be satisfiedif D is replaced by Li.
more it does not assume transposition.
(iii)
b. 7 51
Equation (36) still holds, but for equation (34) the ratio -will be

-
Considerthe voltage and currentphasors at bus ( 1 ) to be reference. v,
The voltage and currentsmeasuredat bus (2) have synchronizationerror only satisfied if D is replaced by Li.
of -61 and the voltages and currents measured at bus (3) have Forequallineimpedancespermile,solvingequations(34)and(36)
synchronizationerror of -62. Thus; independently with the results denoted by D and D' for the distance to
the fault leads to the followingresults:
6)
1. Fault on L1 (at F i )
VFdc + D L l h c l
Vab~i= (29) D < L1 (from equation 34) and
D' c L1 (from equation 36)
2. Fault on La (at F2)
D > L1 from (34) and
D' =L1 from (36)
3. Fault on L3 (at F3)
D=Li
D' > L1

Using the above procedure the fault location can be obtained in any of
the threesections.
. .
for Fault
Equation(32) represents three simultaneous non-linear algebriacequa- To solve equation (34) for D or equation (36) for D' initial values
*,
tions functionsof (D. e e"). Rearranging equation (32) results in are required. One method is to have a flat starting as:
D = O , e*=ej%=lLO
Vi1 and -.
This leads to the computed values of - Vi1
vn '13
The vector [D. e*, e&] can be then iteratively estimated as

Equation (33) can be rewritten as

2
vfl
= M1P + M2j e + M3j ea +M4P e* + M5,D eib (34)
where Hlk-1 is the Jacobianmatrix computed at step k-1.
j = 4b.c
102

The elements of the Jacobian mahix Hl&i(ij] can be obtained as 0.02453+ 0.01451+ 0.01417+
&&Xj wherefi is the right hand side of k
! and xj isjth element of the j 0.08418 j 0.03650 j 0.02982
VP 0.01982+ 0.01451+
unknown vector. Thus, zobc= j 0.08346 j 0.03650

I
0.02453+
(Mla + M4a e is, + M5a e 4
(M2,+M4a D) ( M a + M5a D) - j 0.08418
(M1b+M4bea + M 5 b e 9 (M?b+M4bD) (hf3b+M5bD)
(Mlc + M4, e is,+ e '"L>
(M& +M4, D) (MC + M5c D) The voltage and currentvectors (in per unit) for a single-line-to-ground
fault on phase A at 5 miles from bus 1, obtained from the fault analysis
program, are as follows:
(38)
unnptedwithvaluesofD, e & , eh atstepk-1.
Similarly using the Jacobian matrix H2 and equation (34) leads to vabd =
0.41116- jO.44443
-0.46270- j 0.824981,
-0.45694+ j 0.91119
[
4.30996- j 5.42317
Iki = 0.21988- j 0.405431
0.18471- j 0.35920
0.54412- j 0.37226 3.31969- j 3.69772
vabc2=
-O.42367+j 0.92512 -O.18468+j 0.35919

These voltage and current vectors were used to compute the Y vector
and the M matrix shown in equations 6 and 7. The fault location was
then computed using equation 8 to be 5.0 miles from bus 1.

2. Two-Terminal Line with Unsynchronized Data

For the unsynchnizedcase the voltage V h 2 and the currentlh2

vectors at bus 2 were shifted by ten degrees. The shifted phasors were
then used as Vpacz and I& in equation 13. These voltage and current
(40) phasors were used to determine the Jacobian matrix shown in equation
17, which was thenused to obtain the estimate of fault location (0) and
computed with values of D, cia, ,and ea at step k-1. the correction for the synchronization error e$. The estimated values
are as follows:
for -C

The solution is certainly iterative. The iteration process is ter-

minatedwhen the maximumdifference in the computed values of the
distanceD and D' in successive iteration steps is l b s than0.05 percent.
1 4.8541 0.98453-j 0.172917
TESTING THE CONCEPTS OF THE PROPOSED SCHEME 2 4.9997 0.984807- j 0.173648

The proposed method was f i i t tested using a three-phase Zbus-

based fault analysis program [lo]. The program starts with the three-
phase primitive (3x3) impedancematrix for each line section. The line
shunt capacitances were neglected. The fault location is applied in
increments of ten percent of the line. The fault location program used
the same line parameters of the fault analysis program. For a two-ter-
rninalline, the total line length was 50 miles. FoTty short circuit studies
were simulatedfor three-phase,line-to-lie, double-line-to-ground,and
single-line-to-ground faults. "he first case studied was a two terminal
line with synchronizeddata. The second case tested was a two-terminal
line with unsynchnizd data. h this case,the phasor quantities for the
voltages and currents at bus 2 were intentionally shiftedby ten degrees.
The third case tested was a three-terminalline with synchronized data
As shown in Figure 2, the line lengths were selected to be 30.10. and - -
50 miles for Li, Lz andL3, respectively. The forth case tested was the miles fromius 1.
three-terminal line with unsynchronized data. In this case,the phasor
quantitiesof the voltage and currents at buses 2 and 3 were shifted by 0.33951- j 0.42885 2.11879-j 3.10864
ten and fifteen degrees, respectively.
4.48951+ j 0.89587 0.17844- j 0.41393
0.49852- j 0.35822 1.72528- j 2.27658
1. Two-Terminal Line with SynchronizedData -0.43975+ j 0.91042 0.02481- j 0.02248
Thetestsystemusedis showninFigure 1. A50-mileuntransposed 0.62665- j 0.29275 2.73706- j 3.25332
line was considered. The line percent impedance per mile is as follows:
-O.41313+ j 0.92198 -0.20325+ j 0.43640
 103
Using the above voltage and current phasors as described in equations Values computed using Jacobian matrix H2
18. 19. and 20 the values of D and D' were 3.0001 and 3.000 miles.
respectively. Since D is less than L.1 (30) and D' is less than L.1 (30),
the fault is in determinedby the algorithm to be in L1 section at F1 at
3.0001 miles from bus 1.
1 1.9446 0.82400-j 0.32883 0.98480-j 0.17365
Case (ii): Fault on L2 (at F2). A single-line-to-groundfault was 2 3.0007 0.96306-j 0.26703 0.98480-j 0.17364
applied at 8 miles from bus 2. The voltage and current vectors, in P.u., 3 3.W 0.96589-j 0.25895 0.98480-j 0.17364
are as follows:
Since D is less than Li and D' is less than Li, the algorithm correctly
0.46333- j 0.41243 1.98498- j 2.44211 computed the fault to be between 3.0001 and 3.0007 miles from bus 1
onLi (at A).
-O.44197+j 0.91504 0.04095- j 0.05922 The shiftingneeded to synchronizethe data was correctlyindicated
to be minus ten and minus f i i e n degrees,respectively. The algorithm
0.39743- j 0.44174 2.15062- j 2.79394
converged in three iterations.
-0.46757+ j 0.90783 0.11232- j 0.24863
Case (ii): Fault onL2 (at F2) at 8 miles from bus 2

1
0.57184- j 0.35254 3.31856- j 3.77992 Values computed using Jacobian matrix Hi
-O.41765+j 0.92604 -O.15328+j 0.30786
The algorithm computed D and D' to be 32.0 and 30.0 miles, respec-
tively. Since D is greater thanLl(30) andD' is equal toL1, the algorithm
determined that the fault is on L1 at 2 miles from the tap.

Case (iii): Fault on L3 (at F3). The third example shown here is
for a single-line-to-groundfault at 5 miles from bus 3. The voltage and Values computed using Jacobian matrix H2
current phasors (in pa.) are as follows:

I Iteration
1 Fault
1 I
1
0.59508- j 0.34504 Number Location ,-j61
Miles
(0')
-O.41034+j 0.93042
1 29.8397 0.97551-j 0.21992 0.98480-j 0.17364
0.56327- j 0.36271

1 2 30.0001 0.97530-j 0.21994 0.98480-j 0.17364

II 1 II 1
3 30.oooO 2.19600- j 0.38848 0.98480-j 0.17364
-O.41766+j 0.92713
0.41116- j 0.44443 Case (iii): Fault on L3 (at F3) at 5 miles from bus 3
Values computed using Jacobian matrix Hi
-O.45694+j 0.91119
The values of D and D' were computed as 30.0 and 75.0 miles. I t e I Fault e;-
Number Location e-lzl
respectively. Since the value of D is equal to L1 and the value of D' is (D)Miles
greater than 151, the fault is determined to be on L3 (at F3) at 75 miles 30.0310 0.96592- ' 0.25881 0.00270- '0.10797
from bus 1 or 45 miles from the tap.
29.9999 0.96592- ' 0.25881 0.00250- ' 0.10791
4. Three-Terminalh e with Unsynchronized Data 29.9999 0.96592- ' 0.25881 0.72052- ' 0.17513

The examples shown above for the three-terminal line with

synchronizeddataarerepeatedhereaftershiftingthevoltage andcurrent Iteration Fault
vectors at bus 2 (Vk2 and Idc2)by ten degreesand shifting the voltage Number Locanon e- ib e- is2
Miles
(0')
and current vectors at bus 3 ( V b 3 and l k 3 ) by fifteen degrees.
The new voltage and current vectors were then used to compute
the Jacobian matrices given by equations 38 and 40. A flat start was
used for these cases, i.e. zeros for D, D', 61, and 62. The results for the
three cases were as follows

Case (i): Fault on L1 (at F1) at 3 miles from bus 1. SinceDisequaltoL1 andD'is greaterthanL1inthefinaliteration,
the algorithm correctly determined that the fault is in L3 (at F3) at 45
Values computed using Jacobian matrix H1 miles from the tap.

DISCUSSION OF TESTING THE CONCEPTS OF THE

TECHNIQUE USING STEADY STATE FAULT ANALYSIS
PROGRAM

Fault Location
In testing the algorithm for a two-terminalline with synchronized
data, the maximum error in computing fault location was less than 0.05
percent. When the data at bus 2 were shifted by ten degrees, the
104

algorithm convergedin two iterations. The maximum error, in all cases

tested, was less than 0.05 percen~In the case of a three-terminal line I 3 I 3.0557 I 1.86
Values computed using Jacobian matrix H2
I -5.2714 I -5.43 1
with unsynchronized data, the algorithm converged in three iterations
with maximum error less than0.05 percent. Iteration Fault Lucation 4 2 (degrees)
Number @)miles Em% Computed Error%
1 3.0125 -9.7734
For faultsin line sectionLi atF1 the computationof 61and &using 2 3.0155 -9.8021
equations (37)and (39)converged to the same values. However, for a 3 3.0155 ,0.516 -9.8021 1.98
fault at F2 in line sectionLz the computationof 61 becomes unobserv-
able when.7'1 and V3 are used. Thus, 61 and 62 are observableand their (ii) Fault at (Fz)32miles from bus 1.61 = 10". 62 = 15". Rf = 0.1 p.u.
computed values are accurate from the voltages Vi and V2. Using Vi Values computed using Jacobianmatrix Hi
and V 3 . k is observablebut h becomes unobservable. Similarily. for I

f a u b at F3 in line section L3, b is observable but 62 becomes unob- Iteration

Number
Fault Location I -81 (degrees)
servable in the equations using the voltages at bus 1 and bus 2. @)miles I &or% 1 complted I &or%
1 31.0236 -9.3 1
TESTING THE FAULT LOCATION SCHEME USING EMTP 2 32.044 -9.833
GENERATED DATA 3 31.9851 0.05 -9.8723 - 1.278

The fault location technique was then tested using data obtained
from the EMTp software. A three-phase load flow analysis program
was run first to obtain the prefault voltage conditions. The Eh4TF'
program was then used to obtain the samples of currents and voltages
at each terminalfollowingthe faultoccurrence. The program used a flat
line configuration, with a spacing of 12 feet between conductors, to
computethe line parameters per mile, L,C, and R matrices. The series
impedanceand shunt admittancematrices, at 60 Hz, per mile are shown
m the Appendix. Although different line impedames were used in the
three-terminal cases, D and D' were calculatedas before. An estimation
program was then used to obtain the phasor quantities of the 60/50 Hz
voltage and currentwaveforms. Thesephasor quantitieswere then used
in the fault location program. Different fault resistances, different
synchronizationerrors and load flow conditionswere considered. Some
examplesthatshowedarelativelyhighpercen~eenorareshownhere.
Two-Terminal Line
Data Synchronized
Fault h t i m Miles
Exact I camplted I Error%
Iteration FaultLocation Error% -&(degrees)
Number
1 4.957 -11.9412
2 4.9984 -0.032 -11.9812
Values computed using Jacobianmatrix HI
2
1
Values computed using Jacobianmatrix H2
-14.9196
-14.9184
(iii) Fault at F3 75 miles from bus 1,61= 15". & = 20". Rf= 0.2 p.u.
Values computed using Jacobian matrix Hi
Values computed using Jacobian matrix H2
1 71.2763 -20.5873
2 74.8017 -20.2452
Error% 3 74.9805 -0.026 -20.2431 1.215
CONCLUSIONS
-0.157 Using the three-phasevoltage andcurrentphasorsfor fault location
techniques is certainly advantageous when data are available at line
terminals. This concept is not affected by fault resistance. The techxi-
que is general for any type of fault. No fault classificationis required.
When the technique was tested using a steady state fault analysis
program, the errors were less than 0.05 percent. However, when the
techniquewas tested using the E m generated data, the error in most
cases was less than 1percent. The high range of the percentageerrors
was at close in faults and low fault resistance. Many factors contribute
to these errors. These factors are: inaccuracy in the three-phase load
flow, inaccuracyin the line model in the EMTP program and any error
in the estimation of the phasor quantities. Also, even though the
properties that allow idenMicationof the faulted section are based on
the assumption that all line impedances per mile are the same, the
algorithm still performed well when relatively close impedanceswere
Used.
Research in this area will continue using EMTP generated and
actual recorded data to account for inaccuracy in line parameters and
mutually coupled lines.

I 1
2
I
I
3.0607
3.0557
I
I
I
I
-5.3228
-5.2714
I
I I
 I

105
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT For line L2
The authors acknowledge the support of the National Science 0.143 1354
Foundation and Clemson University Electric Power Research Associa- +j 1.309240
tion (CUEPRA). The authors would like to thank Mr. William Quain- 0.09313005 0.1431354
&= ohms/mile
tan= for preparing the data using the Eh4TP. +j 0.6285601 +j 1.309240
0.09311420 0.09313005 0.1431354
REFERENCES +j 0.5444561 +j 0.6385601 +j 1.309240
[l] T. Tagaki, et al., "Development of New Type Fault Locator using
the One-Terminal Voltage and Current Data, "
I Power A
IQ
1982, pp. 2892-2898.
V Vol. PAS-101, NO.8, August

[2] Adly A. Girgis. "A New Kalman Filtering-BasedDigital Distance

R e l a y . " ~ P o w e r Vol.
j 5.271202
Y& = -j 0.9876106 j 5.432694
-j 0.3934571 -j 0.9876106 j 5.277202
pmhos/mile
I
The two-terminalline uses the same impedance and shunt admittance
matrices as L1.
The prefault voltages for the two-terminal line are
PAS-101, No. 9, September 1982, pp. 3471-3479.
[3] L. Erikson,M. M. Saha.andG. D. Rockefeller. "AnAccurate Fault
Locator with Compensation for Apparent Reactance in the Fault
ResistanceResultingfrom RemoteEndFeeds."-
M Power Vol. PAS-104, pp. 424-436.
1.025928 10.2331'

1.032294I 120.1970 -1
0.965000 1-5.6810"
0.982000 1-125.4520
0.985000 I 114.2790
The prefault voltages for the three-terminalline are
P.U.

[4] K. Srinvsansanand A. St. Jacques, "A New Fault Location Algo-

rithm for Radial TransmissionLines with Loads," JEF.ETranSac-
don on Power Deh've.rv. Vol. PWRD-4, No. 3, July 1989, pp.
1676-1682.
[5] M. S.Sachdev and R. Agarwal, "ATechniquefor Estimating Line
1.03093910.1253

[
VI = 1.030939 1-119.8747
1.030939I 120.1253 I [
P.U.
1.028642 10.1266
V2= 1.034807 1-119.91153 P.U.
1.034893 1120.1185 1
-1
0.965000 1-5.6810

[
Fault Locations from Digital Impedance Relay Measurements,"
' V3 = 0.982000 1-125.4520 P.U.
, Vol. PWRD-3, No. 1,
January 1988, pp. 121-129. 0.985000 / 114.2790
[6] E. Schweitzer, "Evaluation and Development of Transmission The base values were 138 KV and 100 MVA.
Line Fault Locating Techniques Which ' 2 Sinusoidal Steady-

-
State Information," paper presented to the 9th Annual Western
Protective Relay Conference, Spokane, WA, October 1982.
[7] V. Cook, "Fundamental Aspects of Fault Location Algorithms
used in Distance Protection," m,
Proce Vol. 133, Pt. C,
No. 6, September 1986, pp. 359-368.
[8] A. 0. Ibe and B. J. Cory, "Fault Location Algorithm for Multi-
Phase Power Lines," IF.E Procee Vol. 134, Pt. C, No. 1,
January 1987, pp. 43-50
[9] I. S.Thorp,A. G. Phadke, and S.H. Horowitz, "Some Applications
of Phasor Measurements to Adaptive Protection,"IEEF.Transac-
on Power Svstems. Vol. PWRS-3, No. 2, May 1988, pp.
79 1-798.
[lo] E. B. Makram and Adly A. Girgis, "A Generalized Computer
Techniquefor the Development of Three-phaseImpedanceMatrix
for Unbalanced Power System." mctric Power Svstem Reseadl
a Vol. 15, 1988, pp. 41-50.
APPENDIX
The series impedance and shunt admittancematrices at 60 Hz for
the system used are as follows for the three-terminalline.
For lines L1 and L3
Bglv A. Gig& (SM '81) received the B.S. (with distinction first
class honors)and the M.S .degreesin ElectricalEngineering from Assuit
University, Egypt, in 1967 and 1973. respectively. He received the
Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University in
1981. From 1967 to 1976, he was an Instructor in the Electrical
Engineering Department, Assuit University. From 1976 to 1981, he
was teaching and perforrning research in computer relaying of power
systems at Iowa State University. From 1981 to 1985, he was Assistant
Professor of Electrical Engineeringat North Carolina State University.
He is currently Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at
Clemson University, Clemson. SC. Dr.Girgis has published numerous
technical papers and holds four U.S. patents. He is the recipient of the
1989 McQueen Quattlebaum-Faculty outstanding achievementaward
and the 1990 Edison Electric Institute Power Engineexing Education
award. His present research interests are real-time computer applica-
tions in power system control, instrumentation,and protection. signal-
processing. and Kalman filtering applications. Dr.Girgis is a member
of Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Xi, and is a registered ProfessionalEngineer.
DavidG. W w a s b o m i n 1962inUnion,SC. In 1985. hereceived
the B.S. degree (summa cum laude) in Mathematics and Physics from
Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC. He received the M.S.degree in
Electrical Engineeringin 1987 from Clemson University in Clemson,

Z& =
0.2088354
+j 1.358336
0.0931313 0.2088354
Oh/mile
1I SC. In September of 1991, he completed the Ph.D. programinElectrical
and Computer Engineering at Clemson University. His area of interest
is power system protection and control. Mr. Hart is a Phi Beta Kappa
+ i 0.6447627 + i 1.358336 and a studentmember of IEEE.
I+
0.-0931191 Ob31313 0.2088354
j 0.5606579 +j 0.6447627 + j 1.3583361 (M '82) received the B.S. degree in Electrical
Engineering from GeorgiaTech in Atlanta, GA, in 1982. From 1982
j 4.986234
j 0.9532975
-j 0.4042021
j 5.135725
-j 0.9532975 j 4.986234 1 pmhos/m'le to 1986 he worked in the System Operations Department at Carolina
Power and Light Company. In 1987, he received the B.S. degree in
Applied Physics from Georgia Tech. In 1988, he received the M.S.
degree in Electrical and Computer Engineeringfrom Clemson Univer-
sity in Clemson, SC. He is presently with Ferranti InternationalCon-
trols Corporation, Sugar Land, TX. Mr. Peterson is a registered
ProfessionalEngineer in North Carolina and Georgia.
106
Discussion deduce the faulted section. Could the authors comment on what would be
behaviour of the variables D and D in comparison to L, for an external
Prof. A. T. Johns, (Power and Energy Research Centre, The City fault, particularly for faults just outside any of the three sections, L,, L,
University, Northampton Square, London EClV OHB, England, U.K.): I and L,.
would like to thank the authors for a most interesting paper on an area of
increasing importance and I would like to offer the following comments:
me method proposed neglects the effect of shunt capacitance. My M. S. Sachdev (Power System Research Group, University of Sas-
experience as related in Reference 1 given below, is that such neglect can katchewan, Saskatoon, Sask., Canada.): The paper presents a method to
be justified only if the faulted current is relatively high, as in the case of compute fault locations in two- and three-terminal transmission lines. The
solid or near solid faults. However, fault location is of importance technique uses transmission line models and voltages and currents ob-
operationally under contingency fault conditions, e.g., high impedance served at the terminals of the lines. The discusser offers the following
faults involving vegetation, where in many cases, no significant visual comments on the paper.
evidence exists. Under such conditions the shunt capacitance current The fault location technique described in the paper, uses transmis-
component can attain a much more significant proportion of the total sion line models which consist of series impedances only. It is well
current than is the case for solid faults and in consequence, significant known that long and high-voltage transmission lines have significant
errors can arise if shunt capacitance is neglected. Can the authors’ capacitances and, therefore, it is not appropriate to represent these
algorithm be extended to include the effect of shunt capacitance and have lines by their series impedances only. Substantial errors in the
they any results to offer which show how accurately the method might be estimates of the fault locations can result if the line capacitances are
under high resistance fault conditions? neglected.
In many situations, parallel lines run in close proximity, e.g., a The accuracy of estimates provided by the proposed technique will
double-circuit line. On the face of things, the method proposed will be also depend on the accuracy of the line parameters which change due
affected by signal components induced from parallel circuits. Could the to changes in the environment, e.g., temperature. Even the line
authors give some indication of the effect of parallel circuits on the length is not known with great accuracy.
accuracy of the algorithm?
It would appear that in common with other methods relying on phasor
values, the overall accuracy attainable is critically dependent on being able
to extract accurate phasor measurands from information that contains
transient components. Experience shows that this is not always particu- ADLY A. GIRGIS, DAVID G. HART (Clemson University,
larly easy to achieve with very high accuracy, particularly in situations Clemson S.C.), AND WILLIAM L. PETERSON (Ferranti
where high speed fault clearance provides only a small window of heavily Control, Sugarland Tx). The authors thank the discussers for their
corrupted post fault information. Hardware errors also conspire to reduce interestingcomments and questions.
the level of overall accuracy attainable. Can the authors provide the The discussers raised concerns about the effects of line capacitance.
benefit of any experience they may have in overcoming such problems and Ignoring the line capacitance would affect the calculation of the fault
perhaps also give an indication of the order of overall accuracy they location when a single equation is used to determine the fault
expect to achieve when the cumulative effect of all sources of error is location. However, the error is minimizeddue to the redundancy of
included in the computation? the fault location equations. For example. in the weterminal case,
as illustrated by equation 5; the unknown distance to the fault is
References obtained from the solution of three complex equations or six real
equations. This leads to a least squares estimate which reduces the
[I] A. T. Johns & S. Jamali: “Accurate Fault Location Technique for effect of enws due to ignoring the l i e capacitance. That is because
Power Transmission Lines,” IEE Proceedings, Part C, No. 6, Nov. each of the six equations can be solved separately to obtain the
1990, pp. 395-402. distance to the fault. The result would include an error due to the
line capacitance, if the line is too long. However, when all six
equations are used to obtain the least square estimate, the error is
R. K. Aggarwal and D. Coury, (Power and Energy Systems Research greatly reduced. Similar arguments apply to the two-terminal
Group, School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of unsynchronized case (equation 13) and the synchronized three-
Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, BA2 7AY, England, U.K.): Developments terminal case (equations 23 and 24). In the three-terminal
of techniques for very accurately locating faults on high voltage transmis- unsynchronized case, there are two sets of equations. Each set
sion systems is becoming increasingly important and, in this respect, the represents six equations in the unknowns D (distance to the fault)
authors have presented one such technique which we found quite interest-
ing. Our first comment is regarding the degree of inaccuracy in the and 6 (the synchronization correction angle). This also leads to a
convergence of the iterative method employed for solving for the fault least squares estimate of the fault location. The algorithm in this
distance via the Jacobian matrix. It would be interesting to know from the paper was tested using data obtained from the EMTP program. The
authors whether they attained the same degree of accuracy for all types of lines were modeled using line series impedance and shunt
different system and fault conditions. admittance matrices. However, the total error was less than 1% in
The method developed has been tested using power frequency voltage most of the cases tested. This total error includes the effect of line
and current phasors from very simple steady-state models of the high capacitance. However, in very long transmission lines, the effect of
voltage system and the fault algorithm totally ignores the line shunt the line capacitance may be greater.
capacitance. Whilst the latter assumption could be somewhat justified for Dr. M.S. Sachdev raised an important issue involving the
relatively short lines of the type considered by the authors, however, the inaccuracy in line parameters and line length. These inaccurate
line shunt capacitance can become quite significant as the line length goes parameters will certainly affect any fault location algorithm. These
up and this in turn could cause quite significant errors in the actual inaccuracies, as well as others, may be most severe in algorithms
location of the fault, using the proposed algorithm. Furthermore, although which solve for the fault location using one equation with one
the authors have also presented a limited study using more realistic voltage unknown. Their effect here is minimized by use of redundant
and current waveforms attained from the EMTP, however, there is no equatlons.
mention of the effect of CVTs, CTs, transducer/recording-equipment In response to other remarks by Dr. A.T. Johns: By use of
interfaces and in particular, the filtering technique used for extracting the measurement data at two or more buses, the fault resistance is
fundamental components of voltage and current phasors from the fault eliminated from the fault location algorithm. In principle, the
generated noisy waveforms. Could the authors comment on how the algorithm becomes independent of the fault boundary conditions.
accuracy of their technique would be affected in a more practical situation However, special consideration may be given to very high
and also upto what maximum line lengths could the high accuracy be impedance fault cases, where the line charging current is more
sustained. dominant than the fault current. Parallel lines are not considered in
Their extension of the technique for locating faults on three-terminal this study. As before, the redundancy of equations may provide
lines is also very interesting, in particular the method adopted for identify- some minimization of error due to parallel lines. However, if the
ing the faulted section of the system. It essentially hinges upon deriving lines are strongly coupled and the measurements from the other lines
values for the two variables D and D’ and then devising a logic check in are available, the parallel line would have to be modeled in the
comparison with line length L ,, the length of the first section, in order to algorithm. The voltage and current phasor estimates were obtained

using a Kalman filtering algorithm. Properly defined, Kalman
filteringis the optimal linear estimator and is designed for estimation
in noisy transient environments. Thus, the Kalman filter will yield
the best possible estimates in the small window available. As the
Kalman filter is a state-variable timedomain technique, it is possible
to include measurement and other errors in the estimation process.
Thus, the filter may compensate for the time window and other
sources of measurement error.
In response to the other questions raised by R.K. Aggarawal: The
algorithm was tested using approximately forty cases of three-phase,
line-to-line, double line-to-ground, and single-line-to-groundfaults
and performed equally well in these cases. Thus, fault type or
location does not seem to affect the convergence of the solution
using the Jacobian matrix. As mentioned before, measurement
I
107
error, roundoff error, and other sources of error could actually be
modeled in the Kalman filtering algorithm used to obtain the phasor
estimates, and should not adversely affect the results. Redundancy
will also limit the effects due to these errors. The line length may
become a factor when the lines are so long that line capacitance is a
major factor. In this case, it may be included in the algorithm. Last,
in this study it is assumed that the fault is internal and there is no
need to apply the algorithm for an external fault. However, if the
fault is external, the voltage at the tie bus would be unique using the
voltage and current at any of the terminals as shown by equations 23
and 24. Therefore,the value of D and D would be L1.
Manuscript received August 2 3 , 1991.