Integrated Grounding System Design and Testing

  • Overview
  • Course Content
  • Requirements & Materials
Overview

Integrated Grounding System Design and Testing

Course Description

This course will comprehensively cover grounding system design procedures for safety and lightning shielding. It begins with a simplified coverage of the basic principles in grounding design and follows with a step-by-step design procedure. You will explore soil characterization, modeling requirements, and data preparation procedures for substation ground system design and lightning shielding. You will have the opportunity to discuss practical examples and see demonstrations of design procedures. Plus, learners will investigate options for controlling ground potential rise, touch, and step voltages, as well as quantify the influence of grounding systems on nearby pipes, fences, and buildings with the use of the WinIGS program. By the end of the course, you will be able to design the lightning shielding system for substations to minimize the risk from lightning overvoltages.

Course Content

GROUNDING SYSTEM DESIGN PRINCIPLES

  • Basic concepts
  • Accidental electrocution circuit parameters
  • Safety Criteria
  • IEEE Std. 80 — 2000 Edition
  • IEC-479-1
  • Lightning and EMC

GROUNDING SYSTEM PERFORMANCE

  • Ground potential rise
  • Fault current distribution
  • Transferred voltages
  • Touch and step voltages
  • Influence on communication/control circuits
  • Influence on pipelines
  • Analysis methods

IEEE STD. 80 DESIGN PROCEDURE

  • Conductor and joint selection
  • Recommended design procedures
  • Special points of danger
  • Comparison of IEEE Std. 80 and IEC-479-1

SOIL CHARACTERIZATION

  • Soil structures
  • Measurement techniques
  • Measurement interpretation
  • Computer workshop

SOIL RESISTIVITY MEASUREMENTS

  • Soil samples
  • Wenner method
  • Three Pin method
  • The Smart Ground Multimeter (SGM) method
  • Theory and limitations

SYSTEM MODELING FOR GROUNDING DESIGN

  • General principles
  • Modeling requirements for ground-penetrating radar (GPR)
  • Design options for GPR reduction
  • Modeling requirements for shielding analysis
  • Computer workshop

GROUND MAT DESIGN FOR SAFETY

  • Touch/mesh/step voltages
  • Metal to metal touch voltages
  • Design options for touch voltage control
  • Safety assessment
  • Computer workshop

INTEGRATED GROUNDING SYSTEM DESIGN

  • Cost/benefit analysis
  • Integrated design evaluation
  • Transfer voltages (pipelines, buildings, etc.)
  • Control cable shielding and grounding
  • Electric railroad grounding design
  • Design optimization
  • Computer workshop

SUBSTATION LIGHTNING SHIELDING

  • Basic principles
  • Shielding angle
  • The EGM method
  • Risk assessment
  • Design procedures
  • Workshop

GROUND DESIGN FOR LIGHTNING

  • Ground surge impedance
  • Lightning points of entry
  • Lightning overvoltages and propagation
  • Transferred voltage to control circuits
  • Mitigation methods

GROUND IMPEDANCE MEASUREMENTS

  • Fall of potential method
  • Theory and limitations
  • Factors affecting test accuracy

GROUNDING SYSTEM TESTING AND EVALUATION

  • Ground impedance measurements
  • Ground mat measurements
  • Soil resistivity measurements
  • Tower ground resistance measurement
  • Point-to-point ground impedance measurement
  • Ground integrity test
  • Touch and step voltage measurements
  • Transfer voltage measurement
  • Probe calibration
  • Measurement confidence level

FIELD DEMONSTRATION AND WORKSHOP

  • Field demonstration of ground impedance, soil resistivity, and transfer voltage measurements
Requirements & Materials

Materials

Provided

  • SGM Operating Manual

Recommended

  • Power System Grounding and Transients by A. P. "Sakis" Meliopoulos, second printing (Marcel Dekker Inc., 1988) - Purchase during online registration
  • IEEE Std. 80, IEEE Guide for Safety in AC Substation Grounding, 2000 edition - Purchase directly from IEEE
  • IEEE Std. 81, IEEE Guide for Measuring Earth Resistivity, Ground Impedance and Earth Surface Potentials of a Ground System - Purchase directly from IEEE

Session Details

Who Should Attend

This course is designed for electric power utility engineers involved in substation design, testing, and design of grounding systems, as well as engineers engaged in the design and testing of power systems for commercial and industrial installations.

Working professional attending an engineering course

What You Will Learn

  • Grounding system design principles
  • System modeling for grounding design
  • Ground design for lightning
  • Grounding system performance
  • Ground mat design for safety
  • Ground impedance measurements
  • IEEE Std. 80 design procedure
  • Integrated grounding system design
  • Grounding system testing and evaluation
  • Soil characterization
  • Substation lightning shielding
Picture of several power towers against a sunset

How You Will Benefit

  • Explore fundamental principles of grounding system design, the IEEE Std. 80, IEC-479-1, analysis and design for special points of danger, industry practices in substation ground system design, electromagnetic interference, substation lightning shielding methods, and ground-testing methods.
  • Examine course examples that enhance the understanding of the phenomena that determine safety near electrical installations, shielding of electrical installations, and Hi-F grounding.
  • Review design procedures and three examples of realistic systems in action, with demonstrations using visualizations with the Integrated Grounding System Design program and the Smart Ground Multimeter software.
  • Taught by Experts in the Field icon
    Taught by Experts in the Field
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The course schedule was well-structured with a mix of lectures, class discussions, and hands-on exercises led by knowledgeable and engaging instructors.

- Abe Kani
President

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