Grounding System Design and Studies

Safe operation of power systems relies upon proper grounding of the system and equipment. While standard grounding electrodes such as ground rod arrays may satisfy national electrical codes, these types of electrodes will not provide adequate shock protection in many environments. In additon, without a complete comprehensive analysis of grounding systems, unexplained equipment damage can ocurr.

Any industrial or large commercial complex in which the owner has power substations that they own and operate, safe operation of these substations requires grounding grid designs that comply with IEEE Std. 80. Quadrelec Engineering has the experience to design and evaluate existing grounding systems to ensure safety for those operating in and around these substations.

System modeling and design using state of the art software such as XGSLab. This powerful software has the ability to model complex structures in or around grounding systems using complex algorithms encompassing both electric and electromagnetic fields from conductors. There is almost unlimited capabilities of this software in analyzing systems even in the high frequency domains.

Safet touch and step voltages around equipment can be displayed graphically relative to the physical model along with voltages along the grounding conductors. Even above ground conductors impacted by such fast transients as lightning strokes can be modeled to determine arcing and side flash distances.

Quadrelec has the in-house test equipment and ability to gather all soil resistivity data at a site without involving other subcontractors.

The plot above shows the touch voltages around a substation ground grid including the effect of a buried tank in the upper right which distorts the current field in the ground.

The above plot shows the voltages along the surface for a grid with two buried structures nearby.

The plot above is modeling a lightning strike to a building at the location of the red stroke symbol. The plot below is showing the voltages along the structure as a result of the lightning strike.