Practical method for evaluating ground fault current distributionin station, towers and ground wire

The paper presents an original analytical procedure which enables a quick and, for practical purposes sufficiently accurate evaluation of the significant parts of the ground fault current, for a fault at any of the towers of a transmission line of an arbitrary number of spans. The advantages of the method are the simplicity and accuracy of the formulae for solving uniform ladder circuits of any size (from one up to an infinite number of pis) and any terminal conditions. The formulae are obtained by applying the “general equations of the line represented by discrete parameters” on a specific electrical circuit formed by a transmission line ground wire during ground faults. The presented method is suitable for analyses aimed at evaluating the maximum substation grounding system fault current, at selecting the ground wire capable of withstanding the fault currents and at the prediction of step and touch voltages near transmission towers