CALCULATION OF SHEATH VOLTAGE OF UNDERGROUND

CABLES USING VARIOUS CONFIGURATIONS

M. Shaban*, M. A. Salam*, S. P. Ang*, W. Voon‡
*Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Institut Teknologi Brunei, Tungku Gadong, P.O. Box 2909,
Brunei Darussalam, E mail:m_shaban_khan.com, masalam@ieee.org, ang.swee.peng@itb.edu.bn
‡
Berakas Power Management Company Sendirian Berhad, Berakas Power Station, Jalan Rimba Link, BE1514, Brunei
Darussalam, E-mail: william.voon@bpmc-brunei.com

Keywords: Sheath voltage; single core cables; trefoil and flat grounded at one or at both ends in order to reduce the sheath
formations; three segment transpositions. voltages. IEEE Std. 575 initially proposed the proper
application of equations in order to calculate the induced
Abstract voltages and currents in cable sheaths. In the revised version,
IEEE Std. 575-1988 [6] recommends that the induced
This paper presents the calculation of sheath voltages of flat voltages must be calculated for each case using proper
and trefoil cables by varying phase currents. These sheath equations and simulations. According to [6], sheath voltages
voltages are calculated by considering phases A, B and C must not exceed 65-90 V under normal operational state.
respectively. The sheath voltages are compared and it is found Conversely, according to the IEEE Std. 80-2000 [7], the
that phase B current is more appropriate for both flat and maximum limit of sheath voltage is 50 V. Consequently, it is
trefoil formations due to the consistent growth in sheath obvious that there are some guidelines about the sheath
voltage. In addition, the same sheath voltages are calculated configuration. In [8], aanalytical formulas are attained for the
by varying the spacing and radius. calculation of the positive-sequence resistance for transposed
and not transposed conductors to explain clearly the reasons
1 Introduction due to which losses increase when the conductors are
transposed. Numerous connection situations like the earthing
The research on single core power cables is increasing over of the cable sheaths at one or both ends and the application of
the last decade because of their implementation in Medium sheath cross-bonding are studied in [9]. In [10], types of
Voltage (MV) and High Voltage (HV) installations. As the underground cables, their bonding and grounding methods
urban population keep on increasing, a large number of and the fundamental differences between overhead
underground power cable lines are implemented in transmission lines and cable electrical characteristics are
distribution network and single core power cables of a large discussed in detail. In [12], an experimental examination into
section with large length are put into operation.The cable both induced voltages and cable resistances related with the
conductor in a single core cable acts as a primary transformer installation of these cables within the buildings.
and protection layer acts as a secondary transformer which In this paper, the induced voltages at the cable sheaths are
creates a magnetic coupling chain. When the current passes investigated under various cable arrangements and operating
through single core cable, induced voltage will appear on both characteristics.
ends because of the generation of magnetic field lines on
metal sheath. The magnitude of induced voltage is directly
2 Sheath Voltage Calculation
proportional to the length of cable line and current passing
through conductor. In new cable line , the induced voltage of 2.1 Phase A for trefoil and flat formations
the metallic layer may jeopardise human safety; particularly
during short-circuit fault, or exposed to lightning over- Equations (1) to (3) are used for trefoil formation and
voltage, breakage of insulation and operation mishap of cable equations (4) to (6) are for flat formation. These equations are
sheathing line may occur. Induced voltage will cause the derived from the basic equations given in [6] only for the
metallic layer circulation, resulting in energy loss, which current in phase B. Here, those equations are derived for
extremely affects the cable rating and reduce the safe phase A and calculated sheath voltage. The ratio of spacing to
operation of the cable. So there are many hazards of induced radius (S/d) is considered to simplify the problem. With the
voltage that’s why calculation and reduction techniques are increment in S/d value, the sheath voltage for both trefoil and
important in transmission system. flat formations tend to increase, but after a certain value
The different cable sheath configurations along with sheath voltage in flat formation increases more than trefoil.
simulation of MV cables have been studied in [1-5]. The reason is sheath voltage is directly proportional to
Numerous configurations have been suggested that effects spacing and spacing between phase A and C is double than
sheath voltages. In case of the common configuration that are the spacing considered in trefoil that’s why sheath voltage is
usually used in small lengths cables, the cable sheaths are much more for flat as compared with trefoil.
 2S increase and it can be seen in Figure 2, the sheath voltage in
Ea  j I a  2.107  ln V/m (1) both trefoil and flat formations is almost increasing with same
d
pace. It’s because phase B is considered and in trefoil and flat
1 3 2S
Eb  j I a  2.107  (  j ) ln V/m (2) formations the spacing is same that’s why the sheath voltage
2 2 d is also almost same for both formations. Figure 2 displays the
sheath voltages comparison for both trefoil and flat
1 3 2S formations when considering phase B.
Ec  j I a  2.107  (  j ) ln V/m (3)
2 2 d

Figure 1 shows the sheath voltage comparison for both trefoil

and flat formations when considering phase A.

Figure 2. Trefoil and flat types sheath voltages with phase B

2.3 Phase C for trefoil and flat formations

For trefoil and flat formations, equations (7) to (9) and
equations (10) to (12) are derived respectively from the basic
Figure 1. Trefoil and flat types sheath voltages with phase A
equations given in [6]. Now, phase C current is considered in
the equations to see the difference. The result of phase C
current is more or less similar to the result of phase A. The
 1 3 S 
   j  ln   reason is there was no effect in trefoil, but in flat when phase
  2 2  d  A or C is considered, the spacing was always double and
Ea  j I a 1.107    V/m (4) sheath voltage increased gradually. That’s why these
 3 3  4S  selections are not recommended and phase B current is
  2  j 2  ln d  always considered while doing sheath voltage calculations.
  
 1 3  2S  1 3  2S
Eb  j I a  2.107     j  ln V/m (5) Ea  j I c  2.107     j  ln V/m (7)
 2 2  d  2 2  d
1 3 2S
 1 3 S  Eb  j I c  2.107  (  j ) ln V/m (8)
   j  ln   2 2 d
 2 2  d 
Ec  j I a 1.107  
2S
 V/m (6) Ec  j I c  2.107  ln V/m (9)
d
 3 3  4S 
   2  j 2  ln d   1 3 S 
      j  ln  
7  
2 2  d 
2.2 Phase B for trefoil and flat formations 
Ea  j I c 1.10    V/m (10)
 3 3  4S 
All the equations for trefoil and flat formations using phase B   2  j 2  ln d 
current are given in [6]. Only the graph is presented to show
  
the difference. Spacing to radius (S/d) ratio is always taken to
simplify the problem. With the increment in S/d value, the
sheath voltage for both trefoil and flat formations tend to
  1 3  2S
Eb  j I c  2.107     j  ln V/m (11)
 2 2  d
 1 3 S 
   j  ln  
7  
2 2  d 

Ec  j I c 1.10    V/m (12)
 3 3  4S 
   2  j  ln
2  d 


Figure 3 demonstrates the comparison of the sheath voltages

of flat and trefoil formations when phase C current is
considered.

Figure 4. Constant d and variable S in trefoil formation

Due to this reason when calculating the sheath voltages in

cables, always take S and d as a ratio because if they are taken
separately and keep on varying them, the sheath voltage will
be much more. Figure 5 displays the sheath voltage variations
in flat formation when radius is constant and spacing is
varied.

Figure 3. Trefoil and flat types sheath voltages with phase C

3 Sheath Voltage Calculation considering

Spacing and Radius variations
3.1 Radius (d) constant and varying spacing(S) in
trefoil and flat formations

Previously, S/d was taken as a ratio, after that vary both of

them to see which one is distressing the sheath voltage more.
In this case, put the radius (d) as a constant and vary spacing
(S). First value of S taken was 0.1m and then tend to increase Figure 5. Constant d and variable S in flat formation
as the value of S is increased the sheath voltage also increased
steadily as shown in Figure 4.
3.2 Spacing (S) constant and varying Radius (d) in
Figure 4 shows sheath voltage in flat formation when radius trefoil and flat formations
(d) was kept constant and spacing is varied starting from 0.1
m. The sheath voltage keeps on increasing along with the
increment in spacing. Sheath voltage has almost same In this case, spacing is taken as a constant and radius as
behaviour for both trefoil and flat when Spacing was variable. As it is seen from the ratio S/d, radius is
increased and radius was kept constant. This is because denominator. The less value taken for radius, the ratio will be
spacing is directly proportional to the sheath voltage and it more. In this case, the first value taken for radius is 0.01m
will increase steadily as the spacing will be increased. and S/d ratio became 100, that’s why sheath voltage is very
much high at first stage. As the value of radius is increased,
the sheath voltage will keep on decreasing because the ratio
S/d value is decreasing.
 considering phase A current and observing which component
value is more than other, then repeat the whole process for
both phase B and C. But, here only the results of phase B are
presented because the results of other phases were
nevertheless same. Figure 8 shows the contribution for trefoil
formation and it can be seen that all three components Ea, Eb
and Ec have same values and same contribution in sheath
voltage. It does not matter whether phase A, B or C is taken,
because the value of sheath voltage will be same and
contribution of components will also be the same.

Figure 6. Constant S and variable d in trefoil formation

Figure 6 shows sheath voltage for trefoil formation, if radius

is less sheath voltage will be more and if radius is more
sheath voltage will be less. But in real life there is a limit for
radius that’s why it is increased till a specified limit and
optimizes the spacing and radius ratio so that sheath voltage
value is minute as described in standards. Figure 7
demonstrates the sheath voltage variations in flat formation
when spacing is constant and radius is varying.

Figure 8. Phase contribution in trefoil formation

Figure 8 shows the component contribution for trefoil

formation when phase B current is considered as a reference.
It can be observed that second component i.e. Eb did not
contribute much as other two components, this is because the
phase current of the same component i.e. Ib is taken as a
reference that means the spacing of phase B is taken in
reference to itself that’s why the sheath voltage in second
component will not contribute a lot. The other two
components will contribute same because they have same
spacing from our reference phase and will have same value of
sheath voltage because of equal spacing from phase B. Figure
9 displays the component contribution for flat formation when
phase B current is considered as a reference.

5 Calculation of Sheath Voltages in Cables

Figure 7. Constant S and variable d in flat formation operated in Double Circuits
4 Individual Phase Contribution
All the calculation done before or in the literature given was
when there is single circuit. It is rare case when there are two
4.1 Phase contribution in trefoil and flat formations circuits or double circuits and need to measure the voltages in
the cables. This part needs more study to be explored further.
Initially, sheath voltage was calculated; now consider all the Twin circuits are considered and aimed to derive the
three phases individually to determine which one contributes equations by considering chains. Figure 10 demonstrates the
more in sheath voltages. Many cases are considered like cables operated in double circuit.
 LA1-B2-C3
S1:

E1  I A Z A A  I B Z B  A  I C Z C  A  I a Z a  A 
(14)
I b Z b  A  I c Z c  A
I A  I a , I B  Ib , IC  I c (15)
 1 1 1 
E1  j 2 104  I A ln  I B ln  I C ln  (16)
 D .DAa DAB DAb DAC DAc 
S2:

E2  I A Z A B  I B Z B  B  I C Z C  B  I a Z a  B 
(17)
I b Z b  B  I c Z c  B
I A  I a , I B  Ib , IC  I c (18)
Figure 9. Phase contribution in flat formation
 1 1 1 
E2  j 2 104  I A ln  I B ln  I C ln 
 DBA .DBa D DBb DBC DBc 
a S1 S2 S3

A (19)
S3:
b

B
E3  I A Z AC  I B Z B C  I C Z C C  I a Z a C 
c
(20)
C
I b Z b  C  I c Z c  C

Figure 10. Cables operated in double circuit

I A  I a , I B  Ib , IC  I c (21)

 1 1 1 
The respective three phase cables in first cable lines are A, B, E3  j 2 104  I A ln  I B ln  IC ln 
and C while the cables in the second line are a, b and c, where  DCA .DCa DCB DCb D DCc 
type, size and material used in these are the same. When it is (22)
assumed that the two cable lines are operated parallel, the
current flow in cables is as equation 13. After summing up all the result is:

I A  I a , I B  Ib , IC  I c
(13) E  E1  E2  E3 (23)
Three segments transposition of cable shield is often used to
lower the induced voltage in metal shield of high voltage  DBC DAC DAB 
power cable if it is a long cable. In such long cables, the E  j 2 104  I A ln  I B ln  IC ln 
cables are then cut into three parts making smaller sections of  DAa .DBa .DCa DAb .DBb .DCb DAc .DBc .DCc 
1, 2 and 3. The first cable line then becomes section 1 of
phase A cable shield, 2 of phase B and 3 of phase C; section 1 (24)
of phase B cable shield, 2 of phase C and 3 of phase A and
section 1 of phase C cable shield, 2 of phase A and 3 of phase Equation 14 shows the relation obtained after summing up all
B cable shield cross connect to make a “shield chain” as other components for the chain LA1-B2-C3.
follows:
LA1-B2-C3, LB1-C2-A3, LC1-A2-B3 Similarly after the derivation for the chains LC1-A2-B3 and
LB1-C2-A3
For example, if the shield chain LA1-B2-C3 is taken, induced
voltage in cable shield can be calculated.
 DAB DBC DAC 
Section 1 of phase A cable shield, section 2 of phase B cable E  j 2 104  I A ln  I B ln  IC ln 
shield and section 3 of phase C cable shield is represented as
Section I , Section II and Section III respectively, for
 DCa .DAa .DBa DCb .DAb .DBb DCc .DAc .DBc 
convenience as shown in Figure 10. (25)
Equation 15 displays the relation derived for chain LC1-A2-B3 [3] Drossos, N., et al., “Examination of alternative
formations for 150 kV cables–Possibilities and
advantages from the use of trefoil formation”, Proc. of
 DAC DAB DBC 
E  j 2 104  I A ln  I B ln  IC ln  MedPower (2004).
 DBa .DCa .DAa DBb .DCb .DAb DBc .DCc .DAc  [4] Ruiz, JR Riba, Antoni Garcia, and X. Alabern Morera,
(26) “Circulating sheath currents in flat formation
Equation 16 expresses the relation for the chain LB1-C2-A3 underground power lines”, Proc. International
Conference on Renewable Energies and Power Quality
The overall induced voltage and distribution of the voltage (ICREPQ'07). 2007.
along shield can be calculated by the use of the [5] Nasser D. Tleis, Power Systems Modeling and Fault
aforementioned four formulas, no matter how the parallel Analysis, Published by Elsevier Ltd, 2008, pp. 140-186
double circuits are arranged. Then the safe operation of cables [6] IEEE Guide for the Application of Sheath-Bonding
can be analysed and evaluated. Methods for Single-Conductor Cables and the
Calculation of Induced Voltages and Currents in Cable
Sheaths, ANSI/IEEE Std. 575-1 988
6 Conclusion [7] IEEE Guide for Safety in AC Substation Grounding,
IEEE 80-2000, 2000.
[8] Moghe, Prajakta, and Francisco de León, “Parametric
The present paper proposes how to calculate sheath voltages Study of Losses in Cross-Bonded Cables: Conductors
in underground cables with different arrangements. With this Transposed Versus Conductors Non transposed”, pp. 1-1
study the impact of phase current variations, spacing and 2013.
radius alterations has been analyzed. Induced voltage [9] Gouramanis, K. V., et al., “Sheath voltage calculations in
endanger the personal safety that’s why it is recommended to long medium voltage power cables”, PowerTech, 2011
use phase B current as a reference always because if phase A IEEE Trondheim. IEEE, 2011.
or phase C currents are taken, sheath voltages will be more [10] Tziouvaras, Demetrios A, “Protection of high-voltage
and will endanger the human as well as equipment safety. AC cables”, Power Systems Conference: Advanced
That’s why phase B is always recommended no matter which Metering, Protection, Control, Communication, and
formation is used. Distributed Resources, 2006. PS'06. IEEE, 2006.
[11] Du, Y., X. H. Wang, and Z. H. Yuan, “Induced Voltages
As Spacing is directly proportional to sheath voltage and
and Power Losses in Single-Conductor Armored Cables”,
when spacing is increased, the sheath voltage increases no
Industry Applications, IEEE Transactions p. 2145-2151,
matter what arrangement is considered. Moreover, sheath
2009.
voltage also increases when radius is less, so there should be
some optimization between choosing spacing and radius.
That’s the reason mostly ratio is taken because in this way it
will lessen the sheath voltage. Taking the personal safety of
operators and safe operations of cables in mind, optimised
ratio of spacing and radius (S/d) is better than all other
options.
In trefoil formation, all components contribute same sheath
voltage because in trefoil the spacing between all the
components is equal and there is no difference between the
radius and spacing. In flat formation phase B contributes less
because phase B current is taken as a reference. That’s why it
will contribute less and other two components contribute
same because both have same spacing from phase B.

References
[1] E. H. Ball, E. Occhini, G. Luoni, "Sheath over voltages
in High Voltage Cables resulting from Special Sheath-
Bonding Connections”, IEEE Trans. on Power
Apparatus and Systems, Vol. PAS-84, No. 10, pp. 974-
988, 1965.
[2] C. Adamson, H. Taha, L. M. Wedepohl, “Comparative
Steady State Performance of Cross bonded Cable
Systems”, Proc. IEE, Vol. 115, No. 8, pp. 1147-1155,
Aug. 1968