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Earthing Systems Design Steps - Pt.1
Earthing Systems Design Steps - Pt.1
Earthing Systems Design Steps - Pt.1
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In Article " Electrical Properties of the Earthing System ", I indicated that the electrical properties of earthing system depend essentially on the following
parameters:
Earthing resistance,
Configuration of the earth electrode and favourable earth surface potential distribution,
Adequate current carrying capacity,
Long durability.
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1. Data Collection,
2. Data Analysis,
3. Grounding Design Calculations.
1- Data Collection
Once a need for grounding system design is established, data collection must begin.
These needed data provide the basis for all grounding design and will be obtained
from:
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Earthing Systems Design steps – Part One ~ Electrical Knowhow http://www.electrical-knowhow.com/2013/06/earthing-systems-design-st...
1. Facility Name,
2. Facility owner,
3. Facility A/E Consultant (for new construction),
4. Facility address.
2- Facility Characteristics
A- Purpose Of Facility:
1. Commercial building,
2. Industrial building,
3. Power Substation,
4. Airports,
5. Railways,
6. Fences and Gates,
7. Satellite station,
8. Marine communications centre,
9. Data centers,
10. Cellular radio site,
11. Oil and gas site,
12. Others.
The life time of the earthing system (which called The durability of the
earthing system) is from construction up to the time when, due to the
corrosion of metallic parts, electrical continuity is lost. The life time of
the earthing system should exceed the expected lifetime of the
installation.
For the majority of power installations, lifetime can exceed 25 years and
for power lines, 35 – 50 years. The earthing system should be included in
repair and maintenance cycles.
Many installations are over 50 years old and during that time fault levels
have, in some cases, more than tripled. Therefore, the old design may
not be electrically safe or sufficiently robust to withstand the increased
fault levels.
The earthing design practices for small dimension sites like small
substation have been quite well established.
Earthing system for large installation like power stations and coal
processing plants require more sophisticated calculations to achieve safe
cost-effective designs.
For example, adding extra spare numbers of grounding and bonding bars
for bonding and grounding any future additions and equipment for the
facility.
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Earthing Systems Design steps – Part One ~ Electrical Knowhow http://www.electrical-knowhow.com/2013/06/earthing-systems-design-st...
The area surrounding the facility usually has a reasonable effect on the earthing
system of that facility, this effect can be represented by the following points:
1. The older facilities may not comply with the currently accepted international
standards.
2. Uncertainty concerning both the condition and effectiveness of the existing
eathing system.
3. In old facilities, in many instances the electrical hardware becomes
inadequate to handle the increasing fault currents with the required degree of
safety.
4. Many installations are over 50 years old and during that time fault levels have,
in some cases, more than tripled. Therefore, the old design may not be
electrically safe or sufficiently robust to withstand the increased fault levels.
If any nearby metallic structures are exist in the vicinity, the earthing
details and locations are required for these structures which including:
1. Pipelines (e.g. water, gas, oil) stating the method of installation in the soil
(insulated or not insulated, on pipe supports and bridges),
2. Fences (e.g. bare metal fences, bare wires or insulated wire),
3. Building construction details (e.g. Steel or reinforced concrete),
4. Railway tracks, stating the foundation (e.g. Ballast or directly embedded in
paved soil) and isolation details,
5. Poles and other steel structures in immediate contact with the soil or water or
connected with the soil or water through concrete,
6. Rivers, streams, lakes, headwaters and soil water ponds of hydro-electric
power stations or pumped storage stations,
7. Communication lines,
8. Disused buried metal works.
The electric utility company needs to provide electrical data regarding the facility,
tower or substation under consideration.
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Earthing Systems Design steps – Part One ~ Electrical Knowhow http://www.electrical-knowhow.com/2013/06/earthing-systems-design-st...
B- For Substation And Overhead Transmission Lines Towers: The required data will
be as follows:
5- Engineering Data
A- Site Drawings:
The property map and general location plan of the substation should provide good
estimates of the area to be grounded.
The proposed site drawings should show the layout of the high-voltage tower or
substation, and any additional construction for new equipment that may be occurring
on the site, including fencing and gate radius. Incoming power and Telecom runs should
also be included. In the case of high-voltage towers, the height and spacing of the
conductors carried on the tower, and any overhead ground wires that may be installed
on the tower, need to be detailed during the survey. This information is needed to
properly address all the touch and step voltage concerns that may occur on the site.
Many codes and standards contain different grounding and bonding requirements, it is
important to know the standard or code requirements for each installation’s earthing
systems under design.
A list of the most common Applicable Standards and codes for earthing systems are
represented in the below image.
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Earthing Systems Design steps – Part One ~ Electrical Knowhow http://www.electrical-knowhow.com/2013/06/earthing-systems-design-st...
A- Rainfall Data:
By comparing Recent rainfall data against the seasonal average, maxima and minima for the area it
may be ascertained whether the results are realistic or not.
B- Seasonal Variations:
Recent weather patterns, moisture relative to maximum and minimum and the magnitude of effect
of seasonal variations. While difficult to quantify such information does provide a useful context in
which the resistivity test results may be interpreted and a set of design data determined.
7- Geological Surveys
Geological data regarding strata types and thicknesses will give an indication of the water
retention properties of the upper layers and also the variation in resistivity to be expected due to
water content.
A- Geological Data:
Topography, nature of soil material, presence of varouis layers, water table, prevouis
test data and civil earthworks (eg. Cut and fill).
Where there is an option, a site should be chosen in one of the following types of
situations in the order of preference given:
Dry sand, gravel, chalk, limestone, whinstone, granite, any very stony ground, and all
locations where virgin rock is very close to the surface should be avoided if possible.
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A site should be chosen where the moisture content is ideally continuously within the
range of 15% to 20%. A waterlogged location is not essential unless the soil is sand or
gravel.
Care should be taken to avoid a site where water flows over it (e.g. the bed of a
stream) for the beneficial salts can be entirely removed from the soil in such situations.
Determine Corrosion properties of the soil. Ascertain performance of any existing earth electrode
by inspection.
Important Note:
Soil resistivity can be calculated from soil resistivity syrvey or can be estimated from tables. In
case that soil resistivity will be estimated from tables the no need to perform the Geological
Surveys.
In the next Article, I will explain How to Perform Soil Resistivity Survey. Please, keep following.
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