10th CIGRE Southern Africa

Regional Conference
2nd – 4th November 2021
Johannesburg, South Africa
Investigation into 8.5 mm diameter 40 % copper-clad steel rod as replacement
for 10 mm diameter copper rod for substation earthing applications

TJ Marais
Eskom
South Africa

SUMMARY

Copper conductors are widely used for earthing applications in substations, both for
the main earth electrode as well as the structure earth tails. The main advantages of
copper conductors for earthing applications are that their electrical properties and
behaviour during earth fault conditions are well known, and it is relatively easy to work
with. The major disadvantage is its high scrap metal value which increases the risk of
theft and installation vandalism.

Copper-clad steel conductors are used as a theft deterring alternative to copper

conductors in some countries. Two factors count against the wider implementation of
copper-clad steel for earthing applications, namely its reduced conductivity and
workability or ductility compared to similarly dimensioned copper conductors.

This paper reports on the investigation into the suitability of the proposed 8.5 mm
diameter 40 % solid copper-clad steel rod as proposed replacement for the 10 mm
diameter solid copper rod for substation earth grid and earth tail application for earth
fault currents up to 63 kA. At the same time the current ratio split between structure
earth tails as stipulated in the Eskom substation earth grid design standard (240-
134369472) is verified as applicable.

KEYWORDS

Asymmetrical earth fault current, CDEGS, Copper (Cu), copper-clad steel (CCS), dc
offset, dead soft annealed (DSA), exothermic connection, structure earth tails,
substation earthing, symmetrical earth fault current.

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 10th CIGRE Southern Africa
Regional Conference
2nd – 4th November 2021
Johannesburg, South Africa
1 INTRODUCTION
[1] stipulates that each element forming part of the earthing system, including grid
conductors, connections, connecting leads, and all primary electrodes, shall be
designed to meet the following requirements throughout its intended installed life:
• Have sufficient conductivity so that it will not contribute substantially to local
voltage differences,
• Resist fusing and mechanical deterioration under the most adverse combination
of a fault magnitude and duration,
• Be mechanically reliable and rugged to a high degree,
• Be able to maintain its function even when exposed to corrosion or physical
abuse.

In addition, the conductors must be easy to work with and to install. For that reason
only adequately dimensioned dead soft annealed (DSA) rods are specified for use by
Eskom.

In order to ensure the integrity of the earthing system all components must comply with
a set of specific requirements. In addition to the conductor material properties the
connection type applied between the various conductors as well as the fault clearing
time also have an impact on the “system” transfer capacity. The earthing system short
time rating requirement for sub-transmission substations is 800 ms and 500 ms for
transmission substations, both associated with backup protection requirements.

For substation earthing Eskom specifies a single solid 10 mm diameter dead soft
annealed (DSA) copper (Cu) rod to be used for the main earth grid. The same copper
rod is used for structure earth tails in transmission substations, but with two conductors
in parallel. The required quantity of earth tails to be installed per structure is a function
of the fault current and is stipulated in [2] Table 2, while the required earth tail current
rating is stipulated in [2] Table 3. For ease of reference these two tables are
summarised in Table 1 below. The 10 mm diameter dead soft annealed copper rod
has been proved to comply with these requirements when the earth grid has been
optimised for personnel safety, i.e. step and touch potentials within safe limits. Cu rods
are included in this analysis for comparative purposes and is the baseline reference.

It was determined that the biggest DSA 40 % copper-clad steel (CCS) rod currently
available on the market that can possibly be considered as a replacement for the
10 mm diameter Cu rod has a diameter of  8.5 mm. In addition to verifying the current
requirements stipulated in Table 1 this paper also documents the investigation to
confirm if this CCS “conductor” can be considered as a viable replacement alternative
for the 10 mm diameter Cu rod.

Table 1 : Structure earth tail requirements (external connections to structures only)

Earth fault current Number of earth Required earth tail current capacity
(kA) tails per structure (% of earth fault current)
0 – 25 2 80 % (20 kA)
25 – 40 3 66 % (26.4 kA)
40 – 63 4 55 % (34.7 kA)

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 10th CIGRE Southern Africa
Regional Conference
2nd – 4th November 2021
Johannesburg, South Africa
2 STRUCTURE EARTH TAIL BONDING PRACTICE
The structure bonding practices as indicated in Figure 1 based on the limits given in
Table 1 are applied in Eskom transmission substations. Each earth tail’s capacity
requirement is based on the worst case condition for the installation.

(a) 0 – 25 kA: 2 earth tails (b) 25 – 40 kA: 3 earth tails (c) 40 – 63 kA: 4 earth tails
Figure 1: Structure earth tail connections

Equation 1 ([1] Equation 37) together with the conductor material constants in Table 2
and temperature limits in Table 3 are used to calculate the symmetrical current (with
no dc offset) in the conductor/connection combination. For each earth tail two capacity
conditions must be tested, i.e. the above ground connection to the structure and the
underground connection to the main earth grid, indicated as (1) and (2) in Figure 1.
The above ground initial temperature is taken as 40 C, and the underground initial
temperature as 25 C. For copper the connection maximum allowable temperatures
are 250 C above ground for the bolted connection and 450 C for the underground
crimped connection. To maximise the CCS earth tail capacity only exothermic
connections are considered for both above and underground connections. The
calculated earth tail current capacities and Table 1 requirements are given in Figure 2.

𝑇𝐶𝐴𝑃 ∙ 10−4 𝐾0 + 𝑇𝑚
𝐼𝑐 = 𝐴𝑐 ∙ √( ) 𝑙𝑛 ( ) (1)
𝑡𝑓 ∙ 𝛼𝑟 ∙ 𝜌𝑟 𝐾0 + 𝑇𝑖
with
Ac - conductor cross sectional area - mm2
Ic - maximum expected RMS current in the conductor - kA
TCAP - thermal capacity per unit volume - J/(cm3 C)
tf - fault clearing time -s
0 - thermal coefficient of resistivity at 0 C - 1/C
r - thermal coefficient of resistivity at reference temperature Tr - 1/C
r - resistivity of the earth conductor at reference temperature Tr - -cm

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 10th CIGRE Southern Africa
Regional Conference
2nd – 4th November 2021
Johannesburg, South Africa
K0 - 1/0 or (1/r) - Tr - C
Ti - conductor initial temperature - C
Tm - maximum allowable temperature - C
Tr - reference temperature for material constants - C

Table 2 : Conductor material constants

Resistivity Thermal
Material r factor K0 at Fusing
at 20°C capacity
Description conductivity at 20°C 0°C temperature
r TCAP
(% IACS) (1/°C) (°C) (°C)
(μΩ-cm) J/(cm3°C)
Copper,
annealed 100 0.00393 234 1083 1.72 3.4
soft-drawn
Copper-clad
40 0.00378 245 1084 4.40 3.8
steel rod

Table 3: Temperatures used for conductor capacity calculations

Condition Temperature
Underground initial temperature 25 ⁰C
Above ground initial temperature 40 ⁰C
Bolted connection maximum allowable temperature 250 ⁰C
Crimped connection maximum allowable temperature 450 ⁰C
Exothermic connection maximum allowable temperature (Cu & CCS) 1050 ⁰C

In Figure 2 it can be seen that the limiting condition is the above ground connection to
the structure legs, connection (1). It is also clear that the CCS 500 ms capacity limit is
30.0 kA and only 23.7 kA for 800 ms.

Figure 2: Conductor/connection temperature dependent current capacities

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 10th CIGRE Southern Africa
Regional Conference
2nd – 4th November 2021
Johannesburg, South Africa

3 STRUCTURE EARTH TAIL SHORT TIME CURRENT INVESTIGATION

To determine if the current split between the structure earth tails conforms to the
requirements set in Table 1 the process followed was to apply an earth fault to the
structure closest to one of the outside corners of a generic earth grid and observe the
short time current behaviour in the earth tails.

It has been confirmed through simulations that the fault current divides more equally
in the earth tails when the faulted structure is closer to the centre of the earth grid. For
that reason the results discussed herein will only focus on the outermost structure
closest to one of the earth grid corners where the current split has the highest degree
of inequality, representing the worst case condition.

The earth grid models used included earth tails for only the three structures forming
part of the installation under investigation where the earth fault has been applied. In
order to observe the time dependent current behaviour in each earth tail the CDEGS
HIFREQ module was used for simulation purposes. For each case a simulation was
done with the standard 10 mm diameter DSA Cu rod as well as the proposed 8.5 mm
diameter DSA 40 % CCS rod as earth grid and tail material. Each simulation covered
a duration of 1 s. Symmetrical fault currents were used for the simulations and the
asymmetrical component added to the earth tail with the highest current loading to
confirm compliance to the requirements listed in Table 1.

3.1 Asymmetrical fault current calculation

As indicate in [1] the asymmetrical fault current must be considered when doing earth
grid conductor capacity calculations. It is therefore necessary to apply a decrement
factor to the symmetrical fault current that takes the effect of the dc offset into account,
giving the asymmetrical fault current. [1] Equation 84 reproduced below as Equation 2
is used to calculate this decrement factor. For Sub-transmission applications an X/R
of 20 is used and for Transmission applications an X/R of 15. The asymmetrical current
is the product of the symmetrical current and the decrement factor (Df).

−2𝑡𝑓
𝑇𝑎
𝐷𝑓 = √1 + (1 − 𝑒 𝑇𝑎 ) (2)
𝑡𝑓
with
Df - decrement factor taking into account the effect of the dc offset
𝑋 1
Ta - dc offset time constant for 50 Hz = 𝑅 ∙ 314.159
tf - fault time duration in seconds
X/R - components of the system sub-transient fault impedance

3.2 Earth grid layout and soil model used for simulations
For each of the current ranges a different earth grid layout is used to represent a
realistic worst case scenario associated with that earth fault level. For all studies a
1000 m uniform soil and three structures with the required number of earth tails were
used.

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 10th CIGRE Southern Africa
Regional Conference
2nd – 4th November 2021
Johannesburg, South Africa

3.3 Two earth tails with 25 kA maximum earth fault current

The earth grid size used for this study was 50 m x 50 m with block sizes 5 m x 5 m
which is feasible for a small sub-transmission high voltage to medium voltage
substation. The three structures with earth tails were positioned in the bottom left hand
corner of the earth grid, with the left hand structure 4 m both vertically and horizontally
from the corner of the earth grid. 25 kA was injected into the left hand structure giving
the symmetrical short time current variations per earth tail as indicated in Figure 3.
Although the initial currents per earth tail differ for the two conductor types, the currents
for both stabilises at similar values. It is observed that for this case the 800 ms loading
of earth tail 2 is 75 % of the earth fault current, which is acceptably close to the 80 %
stated in Table 1.

Figure 3: 25 kA application, symmetrical currents per earth tail

The asymmetrical current in earth tail 2, which has the highest loading is indicated in
Figure 4 together with the earth tail capacities per conductor type and the required
earth tail capacity. It is observed that both conductors have adequate capacity at
800 ms for this application.

Figure 4: 25 kA application, earth tail 2 asymmetrical current (X/R = 20)

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 10th CIGRE Southern Africa
Regional Conference
2nd – 4th November 2021
Johannesburg, South Africa

3.4 Three earth tails with 40 kA maximum earth fault current

The earth grid size used for this study was 105 m x 105 m with block sizes 5 m x 5 m
which is feasible for a medium to big sub-transmission high voltage to medium voltage
substation. The three structures with earth tails were positioned in the bottom left hand
corner of the earth grid, with the left hand structure 4 m vertically and 6 m horizontally
from the corner of the earth grid. 40 kA was injected into the left hand structure giving
the symmetrical short time current variation per earth tail as indicated in Figure 5.
Although the initial currents per earth tail differ for the two conductor types, the currents
for both stabilises at similar values. It is observed that for this case the 800 ms loading
of earth tail 3 is only 40.6 % of the applied earth fault current. This is as a result of the
earth grid being optimised for safety (touch potentials within safe limits) resulting in
smaller earth grid blocks and the current sharing more equally between earth tails.

Figure 5: 40 kA application, symmetrical currents per earth tail

The asymmetrical current in earth tail 3 which has the highest loading is indicated in
Figure 6 together with the earth tail capacities per conductor type and the required
earth tail capacity. Although the CCS earth tail does not meet the 800 ms capacity
requirement listed in Table 1, the current in the earth tail is a lot less than the
requirement. For these conditions (reasonably small earth grid, high earth fault
currents and high soil resistivity) it is necessary to reduce the earth grid block sizes to
ensure touch potentials are within safe limits, with the added result that the outermost
structure will not necessarily end up in the outermost earth grid block anymore. This

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 10th CIGRE Southern Africa
Regional Conference
2nd – 4th November 2021
Johannesburg, South Africa
will ensure a more even current distribution between the three earth tails with the result
that the current in the highest loaded earth tail will be reduced to a level below the CCS
800 ms capacity. CCS is therefore suitable to be used under these conditions.

Figure 6: 40 kA application, earth tail 3 asymmetrical current (X/R = 20)

3.5 Four earth tails with 63 kA maximum earth fault current

The earth grid size used for this study was 255 m x 255 m with block sizes 15 m x 15 m
which is feasible for a medium sized Transmission extra-high to high voltage
substation. The three structures with earth tails were positioned in the bottom left hand
corner of the earth grid, with the left hand structure 11 m both vertically and horizontally
from the corner of the earth grid. 63 kA was injected into the left hand structure giving
the symmetrical short time current variation per earth tail as indicated in Figure 7.
Although the initial currents per earth tail differ for the two conductor types, the currents
for both stabilises at similar values. It is observed that for this case the 500 ms loading
of earth tail 3 is 48 % that of the applied earth fault current, which is acceptably close
to the 55 % requirement specified in Table 1.

The asymmetrical current in earth tail 3, which has the highest loading is indicated in
Figure 8 together with the earth tail capacities per conductor type and the required
earth tail capacity. For this application the Cu earth tail is adequately rated at 500 ms,
whereas the current in the CCS earth tail exceeds the 500 ms CCS earth tail capacity
of only 30 kA. It has been found that for symmetrical earth faults up to 50 kA the
maximum earth tail current at 500 ms is below the 30 kA CCS earth tail capacity limit.

4 EARTH TAIL CURRENT SPLIT INVESTIGATION IN ACTUAL SUBSTATIONS

The principles above have been applied to two actual substations to verify the impact
of the proposed CCS rod in actual applications. CCS was used for both the main earth
grid and earth tails. For the sub-transmission substation a 40 kA symmetrical fault
current was applied to the outermost structure connected to the earth grid. Once the
earth grid has been optimised for personnel safety, i.e. touch potentials within safe
limits, the current loading per earth tail was simulated. The results showed that the

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 10th CIGRE Southern Africa
Regional Conference
2nd – 4th November 2021
Johannesburg, South Africa
asymmetrical current in the highest loaded earth tail was well below the CCS earth tail
rating at 800 ms.

Figure 7: 63 kA application, symmetrical currents per earth tail

Figure 8: 63 kA application, earth tail 3 asymmetrical current (X/R = 15)

For the transmission substation a 63 kA symmetrical fault current was applied to the
outermost structure connected to the earth grid. The asymmetrical current in the
highest loaded earth tail was higher than the 30 kA CCS earth tail capacity limit. It was
therefore necessary to apply layout modifications to the earth grid around the affected
structures to reduce the current in the heavily loaded earth tails.

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 10th CIGRE Southern Africa
Regional Conference
2nd – 4th November 2021
Johannesburg, South Africa

5 CONCLUSIONS
In Figures 3, 5 and 7 it can clearly be seen that the Cu and CCS rods react differently
to the applied currents for the first few hundred milliseconds, although the magnitudes
of the stabilised currents per earth tail are similar for the two rods. It is further observed
that the current stabilises faster between the earth tails for the CCS rod compared to
the Cu rod. This is attributed to the higher CCS resistivity and operating temperature
resulting in a higher thermal related increase in resistance which affects the current
distribution in the earth tails more.

Requirements stipulated in Table 1 were proved to be applicable, meaning that earth

tails should be rated higher than just taking the asymmetrical design earth fault current
value divided by the number of earth tails per structure. It is therefore supported that
the values in Table 1 are kept to ensure that earth tails are adequately rated, especially
if detailed simulations are not done to verify that the expected long term earth fault
current will not cause any of the earth tails to be overloaded under earth fault
conditions.

The earth tail with the lowest connected circuit impedance in relation to the rest of the
earth grid is loaded the highest, i.e. earth tail 2 for 25 kA and earth tail 3 for both the
40 kA and 63 kA cases. This is however dependent on the grid layout and earth tail
connections thereto, resulting in how the CDEGS models are set up.

It was also found that the soil model used have an impact on the current split between
earth tails. Lower soil resistivity ranges resulted in more equal current sharing between
earth tails compared to higher soil resistivity ranges. The soil model is obviously site
dependent and the site specific values should be used when doing similar
investigations.

For symmetrical earth fault current applications up to 50 kA (4 earth tails per structure)
where the substation earth grid has been optimised for personnel safety, i.e. step and
touch potentials within safe limits, the 8.5 mm 40 % round DSA copper-clad steel rod
was found to have adequate capacity to be used for structure earth tails (two parallel
conductors per earth tail) as replacement for the 10 mm round DSA copper rod.

When making use of the CCS rod for symmetrical earth fault levels above 50 kA it will
be necessary to identify the worst case positioned structures connected to the earth
grid where a fault can occur and determine the current split between the earth tails by
simulation. The 500 ms earth tail asymmetrical current loading must be kept below
30 kA. The structures that will constitute the worst case condition are those that are
closest to any earth grid corners and the edges of the earth grid. Small modifications
to the earth grid layout in these areas should ensure that the fault current split more
equally between the structure earth tails and thereby reducing the maximum earth tail
current to within acceptable levels, i.e. below 30 kA.

It is important to note that only exothermic connections should be used in association

with copper-clad steel in substations to ensure an adequate current transfer capacity
for the “earth tail system”.

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 10th CIGRE Southern Africa
Regional Conference
2nd – 4th November 2021
Johannesburg, South Africa
BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1] IEEE Std 80-2013, IEEE Guide for Safety in AC Substation Grounding,
11 December 2013
[2] 240-134369472, (Eskom) Substation Earth Grid Design Standard, March 2018

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