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Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection

 FAULT CALCULATION

Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam

Control and Protection Division (STPG)

Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection

Basic short-circuit current calculation

 A basic electrical theorem says the amount of current that

will flow through a short circuit depends on two variable
values:

1. The system voltage.

2. The connected total impedance of the current flow path

from the source to the point of the fault.
Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection
The connected total impedance of the short-circuit
current flow path needs a little clarification:

 This impedance normally includes the feeder conductors'

resistance and reactance, any transformers' impedances
(going from the point of fault back to the energy source), and
any other equipment connected in the path of current flow.

Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection

Types of Fault:

 A fault is an abnormal or unintended connection of live

elements of a system to each other or to earth. The
impedance of such connections are often very low,
resulting in large currents flowing. The energy contained
in fault currents can quickly heat components, creates
excessive forces and can result in devastating explosions
of equipment.

Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection

Typically we deal with three types of fault:

1. Three Phase Faults

2. Phase to Phase Faults
3. Earth Faults

The highest fault current is given by a three phase fault

(although there are exceptions).

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Standards:

 IEC 60909 'Short Circuit Currents in Three Phase

Systems' describes an internationally accepted method for
the calculation of fault currents. IEC 60781 is an
adaption of the 60909 standard and applies only to low
voltage systems.

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Applying these standards, two levels of fault based on
voltage factor are typically calculated:

• The maximum current which causes the maximum thermal

and electromagnetic effects on equipment (used to
determine the equipment rating)
• The minimum current (which may be used for the setting
of protective devices)

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 Click icon to add picture

The standards also idealize the fault, enabling each stage to be analyzed and understood. The
image (click for a larger version), shows this waveform.
Depending on the position within the cycle at which the fault forms, a dc offset will be present,
decaying overtime to zero. This creates an initial symmetrical short circuit I ''k, which will decay
over time to the steady state short circuit I k.
Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection
Three Phase Faults:

Three Phase Fault

Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection
In a three phase fault, all three phases (L1, L2 and L3) are
shorted together.
To find the fault current at any point in the network, a sum is
made of the impedances in the network between the source of
supply (including the source impedance) and the point at
which the fault is occurs.
To find the fault current Ik., the nominal applied voltage, U0
is divided by the summed impedance Z.

Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection

 Phase to Phase Faults:

In a phase to phase fault (L1

to L2 for example), two
phases are connected together.
The fault current is again, the
nominal applied voltage
divided by the summed
impedance.

Phase to Phase Fault

Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection
 Earth Faults:

In an earth fault, one phase is directly

connected to earth (L1 to earth for example).
To find the value of earth fault current at any
point in a network, a sum is made of the earth
fault impedances in the network between the
source of supply (including source impedance)
and the return path impedances.

Earth Fault
Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection
 Basic Fault Calculations:

One of the simplest ways to Fault Type Calculation

look at fault calculations is by 3-phase fault
the application of Ohm’s law. phase-phase fault
Knowing the impedance of the phase-earth fault
fault and the voltage across
enables the fault current to be
calculated:

Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection

 Motor Contributions:

 During fault conditions motors operate as a generators (until the

rotation reduces) and will contribute current to the fault. When
taking motor contributions into considerations, the IEC 60909
standard gives guidance on how to do this.
 To simplify calculations, the contribution of motors to the fault
can be disregarded if:

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 How to refer fault levels across a transformer?

The image shows a simple electrical system around

a transformer (primary voltage VP, secondary VS).
A fault, IFS (shown on the secondary), will also
been seen on the primary side of the transformer
IFP. Because, the voltage level on the primary of
the transformer is different than the secondary, the
two values of current will be different.
The value of the primary side fault current is
determined by the ratio of the transformer voltages:

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 That really all there is to it. If you wanted to refer from
the primary to the secondary, just reverse the ratio of the
voltages.

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Methods of fault calculation:

 Per Unit method

 Ohmic method

 MVA max method

Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection
 Fault Calculation - Per Unit System
 Per unit fault calculations is a method whereby system impedances
and quantities are normalized across different voltage levels to a
common base. By removing the impact of varying voltages, the
necessary calculations are simplified.
 To use the per unit method, we normalize all the system
impedances (and admittances) within the network under
consideration to a common base. These normalized impedances are
know as per unit impedances. Any per unit impedance will have
the same value on both the primary and secondary of a transformer
and is independent of voltage level.
Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection
 A network of per unit impedances can then be solved using
standard network analysis (see the example). From this
fault level can be readily determined.
 In applying the per unit method, the first step is to select an
arbitrary voltage (Vbase) and power (Pbase) base.

Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection

 Symbol Definition

I base per unit method current base

P base per unit method power base

V base per unit method voltage base

Y base per unit method admittance base

Z base per unit method impedance base

- percentage impedance

- per unit impedance

actual impedance

- per unit base impedance

Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection
Tip:
while the base power and voltage be any value, typically it
would make sense to select values related to the system under
construction (for example 11 kV and 20 MVA may be
appropriate for a distribution type system)

Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection

Per Unit Method:

Having selected a base Per Unit Single Phase Three Phase

power and voltage, the
base per unit values of
impedance, admittance
and current can be
calculated from:

Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection

Dividing a system element by it’s per-unit base value gives
the per-unit value of the element, for example:

Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection

 Some times per-unit values are available for a given base kV,
but the problem being solved is using a different base. In
this instance it is possible to convert the unit:

Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection

Fault calculation problems typically deal wit power
sources, generators, transformers and system
impedances. Per-unit values for these elements can
be quickly derived from:
Element Per-Unit Value
Source impedance
Generators
Transformers
Impedances

where V is in kV

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Example - calculating per unit values

 Consider a system of source impedance 4.48 Ω connected

to a 20 MVA transformer (11/0.4 kV) at 6% impedance.
We want to find the fault level at the transformer
secondary.
 Selecting Pbase as 20 MVA and Vbase as 11 kV and using the
above equations:

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 and

Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection

 The Line-Neutral voltage on the secondary of the
transformer is 0.4/√3 = 0.230 kV, giving:

Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection

 Three Phase Fault Example:

Per unit analysis can be used to calculate system

three phase fault levels and the current
distributions. To gain a better understanding, it is
worth running through the typical steps required to
solve a fault calculation problem.
Given the system single line diagram, construct and
simplify the per unit impedance diagram.

Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection

The fault level at the point under consideration is given by:

Where Zpu, is the total impedance between the source and the
fault.

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Fault flow through parallel branches is given by the ratio of
impedances. As illustrated this can enable fault flows to be found
through each branch

Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection

Having calculated the fault flow in each branch, it is then relatively
simple to find the current distribution using:

where:

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 MVA max method:

Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection

What is the MVA method for short circuit analysis?

 The MVA method is a modification of the Ohmic method

where the impedance of circuit equals the sum of the
impedances of components constituting the circuit.

 In practice, the MVA method is used by separating the circuit

into components and calculating each component with its
own infinite bus as shown in figures a and b below:

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Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection
Figure a) is a typical impedance diagram of a one line diagram.
Figure b) is an MVA diagram. The conversion from impedance
diagram (part a ) to MVA diagram (part b ) is a simple arifmetic.
The 1500 MVA power supply is merely given a short circuit MVA
rating.

Sometimes, if the system MVA is not available, but its voltage and
impedance are given, the short circuit MVA can be calculated by
MVASC = KV2 * Y formula. The very same formula is used to
calculate the short circuit MVA rating of the 69 kV X=3.87 Ohm
cable. Next, for the 69/12kV X=0.076 p.u. 15 MVA transformer use
MVASC = MVA / Zp.u. formula. The short circuit MVA contribution of
the 15 MVA Xd=0.2 motor is equal to its own MVA base divided by
Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection
As a conversion is being made, an MVA diagram is being developed.
One line diagram a) is replaced with MVA diagram b). If a short
circuit is taken at the 12 kV bus, there will be a series flow of
MVA=1500, MVA=1230 and MVA=198, and their combination will
be in parallel with the motor SC MVA=75. Combined MVA of
components connected in series and parallel are calculated using
following equations:
series
MVA1, 2 = MVA1 * MVA2 / (MVA1 + MVA2)

Parallel
MVA1, 2 = MVA1 + MVA2
Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection
 Equations 1

As can be seen from the formulas above, series MVAs are being
calculated same as resistances in parallel. Parallel MVA combinations
are done same as resistances in series. MVA diagram undergoes same
reduction process as impedance diagram by only exception that MVA
values are used instead of per unit impedances or reactances.
In our example, MVA1,2 = 1500 * 1230 / (1500 + 1230) = 675. This is
new MVA1. MVA1,3 = 675 * 198 / (675 + 198)= 153. MVA1+4 = MVA1 +
MVA4 = 153 + 75 = 228. Once the short circuit MVA is found,
short circuit current value can be determined using I F, kA = MVAF /
(1.73 * KV) formula.
Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection
The above approximation is recognized and widely utilized by
industry in calculating power system short circuits where the
reactance of all circuit components far exceeds resistance producing
a consistently high X/R ratio throughout system. The MVA method
can be further extended to perform vector addition of SC MVA
contributed by system equipment's with arbitrary X/R ratios at every
point where they intersect. This provides an extremely accurate
analysis of the maximum short circuit MVA any node can be subject
to. When doing the calculations by hand, use the formulas below to
calculate total MVA of components connected in series and parallel
with the X/R adjustments:
Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection
Series:

MVA1, 2 = MVA1 x MVA2 x A21 x A22 / [ MVA21 x A21 x A22 + MVA22 x A22 x A21
+ 2 x MVA1 x MVA2 x A1 x A2 x (1 + (X/R)1 x (X/R)2) ]1/2

(X/R)1,2 = (MVA1 x A1 x (X/R)2 + MVA2 x A2 x (X/R)1) / (MVA1 x A1 + MVA2 x

A2)

where

A1 = (1 + (X/R)21)1/2,

A2 = (1 + (X/R)22)1/2
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Parallel:

MVA1,2 = 1 / Z1,2

Z1,2 = (R1,2 + X1,2)1/2

R1,2 = ( R1x(R22 + X22) + R2x(R21 + X21) ) / ( (R1 + R2)2 + (X1 + X2)2 )

X1,2 = ( X1x(R22 + X22) + X2x(R21 + X21) ) / ( (R1 + R2)2 + (X1 + X2)2 )

where,
R1 = 1 / ( MVA1 x (1 + (X/R)12)1/2), R2 = 1 / ( MVA2 x (1 + (X/R)22)1/2)

X1 = R1 x (X/R)1, X2 = R2 x (X/R)2
Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection
 Equations 2
Note that the above formulas for series and parallel MVA values
simplify to Equations 1 when X/R ratios are equal.

The Short-Circuit-Analytic (SCA) software program is based on the

MVA method for short circuit analysis and performs available fault
currents calculations in three-phase electric power systems you are
working with. The program takes into consideration electrical
parameters of the power supply as well as the power distribution
system including utility, cables, bus ducts, transformers, generators,
motors etc. SCA automatically converts the entire system into a
unique impedance unit from which the short circuit current at each
and every point is calculated. The process is simple, efficient and
Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection
will save your both money and time.
 500MVA, 13.8KV, j0.73Ω

5 MVA, 12.5%

2.4KV

F
Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection
3MVA, 6%
 Fault current at 2.4KV with out motor Contribution ?

Fault current at 2.4KV with out motor Contribution if parallel transformers?

Fault current at 2.4KV with motor Contribution ?

Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection

Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection
Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection
Thank you.

Eng. Yousif Ishag Mohamed Elimam, STPG Protection