Effect of high resistive barrier on earthing system

Abstract

Substation earthing provides a low impedance path and carries current into ground under normal and fault conditions without adversely affecting continuity of service. Under a fault condition, the ground voltage may rise to a level that may endanger the public outside the vicinity of the substation. In such a case a high resistive barrier can be inserted around the vicinity of the substation to reduce the surface potentials immediately beyond the barrier. In this paper the effect of barrier on the overall performance of the earthing system has been investigated experimentally and computationally based on an earthing system consisted of combined grid and rods in a water tank. The effect of the position and depth of the barrier to the resistance of the earthing system and surface potentials in and around the substation have been examined