IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 14, No.

3, July 1999 709

Cable Crossings - Derating Considerations
Part I - D tion of Derating Equations
George Anders
Ontario Hydro Technologies
Toronto, Canada
Abstract. Dangerously high interference temperatu
occur at points where cables cross external heat sources even
when the crossing occurs at 904 For perpendicular and
oblique crossings, these interference temperatures are usually
ignored for distribution circuits, whereas for transmission
cables, corrective actions in physical installation condition
are sometimes taken. Analytical solutions are almost never
used to determine the effect of external heat source on the
ampacity of the rated cable. The main reason no
computations are performed is an absence of either derating
formulas or derating tables (curves) and not the lack of a
need. To fill this gap, an analytical solution for the
computation of the derating factors has been developed and is
presented in this paper. The solution i s simple and accurate
enough to be suitable for standardization purposes.
A numerical example involving the intersection of a pipe-type
cable by a distribution circuit is presented to show the effect
of perpendicular and oblique crossings on the ampacity of
both circuits. In this practical example, the ampacity of the
pipe-type cable is significantly affected for a range of crossing
angles. A conservative practice, used by many utilities in
cases like this, would be to assume that the cables are
parallel. However, in our example for a 90" crossing, such an
approach would unnecessarily decreases the ampacity of the
pipe-type cable by almost 20%.
1. Introduction
A great variety of plant can be found under the streets
of congested urban areas. It is not uncommon to find power
cables crossing steam pipes or other cables. When a cable is
crossed by another heat source, its temperature will be higher
than if it was isolated. As will be shown below, this additional
conductor temperature rise may exceed 20C. Therefore, the
ampacity of the rated cable should be reduced accordingly.
Ten and often 20% reduction may be required as illustrated in
the numerical example in the second part of this paper. This is
PE-239-PWRD-0-09-1998 A paper recommended and approved by
the IEEE Insulated Conductors Committee of the IEEE Power
Engineering Society for publication in the IEEE Transactions on Power
Delivery Manuscript submitted May 12, 1998 made available for
printing October 7, 1998.
Heinrich Brakelmann
Gerhard-Mercator-Universi tat
Duisburg, Germany
much larger than the up to 5% reduction considered by some
utilities. On the other hand, many utilities do not derate cables
crossed by other heat sources. This practice may lead to
premature cable failures, as reported for example in [l]. An
informal survey conducted by the authors has clearly indicated
a need to establish derating factors for cable crossings.
The temperature increase in the rated cable resulting
from the presence of another heat source will depend on
several parameters. The most important are:
0
the amount of heat dissipated by the crossing heat source
the distance between rated cable and the heat source at the
point of intersection
the angle between the heat source and the cable (the more
parallel the two are, the larger the influence of the heat
source on the rated cable)
the size of the rated cable.
0
0
This paper examines the issues related to derating of
cables caused by the presence of another heat source. Section
2 describes briefly the results of an informal survey whose aim
was to find out the practices in various utilities with regard to
cable crossings. Section 3 discusses modeling issues and
outlines the work required to obtain derating factors. A
second part of this paper examines computation required to
obtain derating curves.
2. Utility practices
In order to find out how cable crossings are dealt with
in electric utilities, an informal survey was conducted among
several engineers active in the field of cable ratings. Several
utilities in Canada have been contacted, in addition, practices
in England, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Belgium,
Poland and Sweden were investigated.
In general, all the contacted utilities deal with the
subject of cable crossings in a similar way. For distribution
installations (low and medium voltage), in a great majority of
cases, no derating is considered at all. The most often quoted
reason was that the cables are rated very conservatively (e.g.,
high soil thermal resistivity or a high ground ambient
temperature are assumed). In some cases, for example in
Sweden, special precautions are taken in the case when a
distribution cable (0.4 - 24 kV) crosses a district heating pipe.
0885-8977/99/$10.00 0 1998 IEEE
710
In particular, the Swedish standards state that the cable should
always be above the pipe, at the distance not smaller than 20
cm as perpendicular as possible. A heat isolating plate 50 mm
thick is required between cable and the pipe system. In one
utility, for cable ratings at steam pipe crossings it is typically
assumed that the ambient temperature is higher by 5OC than
the values used for isolated cables, which results in a 3%
decrease in the cable rating. In several countries, a minimal
distance is specified between the rated cable and the external
heat source. This distance varies between 20 and 50 cm.
The situation is only slightly different when a high
voltage cable is involved. With the exception of France, no
computations are performed to determine the actual effect of
cable crossing another heat source (EDF may conduct a 3
dimensional finite element analysis in some important cases).
However, most utilities would take special actions to reduce
the mutual heating effect. Several approaches have been
applied:
0
0
0
0
usage of larger cable
isolation of the heat source from the cable
usage of heat transfer pipes
usage of thermal backfills in an increased trench cross-
section
usage of insulating liquid circulation
installation of ventilating manholes at crossing points
at steam heat crossings, utilities sometimes build a
Styrofoam(closed cell) box around the steam heat pipe,
then fill the box with Gilsulate, an underground
insulating material used by steam heating companies
in one instance, for 90 degree crossings, a utility
followed a very rough approximation by doing ratings
assuming parallel cables, but at twice the actual vertical
separation distance.
Finally, several engineers indicated that the main reason
no computations are performed is an absence of either derating
formulas or derating tables (curves) and not the lack of a need.
All indicated that it would be very beneficial if a simple
derating method was available. Such a method is presented in
the next section.
0
3. Ampacity reduction modeling
3.1 Literature search
A. literature search (in English) on cable crossings
showed a very limited number of publications. In [2], the
authors present the thermal analysis of temperature
distributions along the crossing regions of high voltage cables.
Analytical results for perpendicular crossing are developed
and checked against measured values. The hot spot
temperature for the experimental setup of 66 kV and 220 kV
cables is measured. This temperature at the 66 kV cable is
higher by about 25C than the cable temperature far away from
the crossing region. The corresponding value for the 220 kV
cable is only 8OC higher. The authors also consider the effect
of *lying heating pipes and special backfill for hot spot
elimination.
nce [3] describes a type of anti-thermal
interference system consisting of long heat pipes. A very
simple mathematical model for heating of the cable by the
interfering source is presented for the 90" crossing. In the
example presented in the paper, the cable conductor
erature rise at the intersection caused by steam pipe with
rature of 15OoC located 1.8 m below the cable reaches
. The effect of the steam pipe disappears about 6 m from
the crossing.
Similar problem is discussed in [4]. This paper
described the evaluation of the thermal interference that the
power cables receive from steam pipe located in a close
vicinity. Experimental and analytical models are described.
90' crossings are considered. An equation, derived
experimentally, for the effective thermal resistance of cable
surroundings is given without the definition of the symbols. It
appears to be an equation for the external thermal resistance of
a cable located in a thermal backfill and does not appear to be
related to the presence of an external heat source.
3.2
3.2.1 Derating factor
A simple model is developed in this Section to account
for the presence of crossing heat sources which includes all of
the important factors mentioned in the introduction.
To illustrate the development of the derating equation,
consider two cables crossing as shown in Figure 1.
Suppose that cable 2 is to be derated because of the
heat W1 (W/m) generated by cable 1. Let A8- be the
maximum permissible conductor temperature rise of the
conductor of cable 2 for current dependent losses. Because of
the mutual heating, the maximum allowable heat rate in cable
2 will be reduced as shown below.
Proposed model for derivation of derating
curves
where
W,,
cable 2 (W/m).
T,,
( K . r n )
T = total thermal resistance of cable 2 (K.m/W) with
=reduced maximum allowable losses in conductor of
=the mutual thermal resistance between cables 1 and 2
T =-+(I I;
+al)G +(1 +a1 +a,)(& +&)
n
71 1
To find the temperature at any point of the rated cable
taking into account its longitudinal heat flux and the interfering
temperature given by equation ( 5) , we will discretize the
length of the qted circuit as shown in Figure. 2, [7].
z =O z=AZ 7.=2& z=N&
I
-- ---_-__ -_-_-___ , / , ,
I
the notation is the same as in IEC 287 [5] and is also
verbalized in Table 1 in Part 11of this paper.
Y 4 /
Y = Y l -
Figure I . Crossing of two cables at an angle 90 O - p.
Since, for the isolated cable
w, =%!EL (3)
T
The reduced rating I,, of cable 2 can now be obtained
by combining equations 1 and 3 as
(4)
where I2 is the rating of the isolated cable 2.
Thus, the derating factor can be obtained from equation
(4) when the mutual thermal resistance q2 is known.
Computation of this resistance is discussed next.
3.2.2 Temperature distribution along the rated cable
and the mutual thermal resistance
Referring to Figure 1, the temperature rise in the
conductor of cable 2 caused by the heat rate f l generated by
the heat source 1, can be obtained by applying Kennellys
principle {see eq. (9.18) in [6]}, as
where
p = thermal resistivity of the soil, (K.m/W).
A8,,, =the temperature rise at the location of the conductor
of cable 2 caused by the heat generated by the heat
source 1, uninfluenced (index U) by any effect of
cable 2 (K).
Figure 2. Discretized length N. & of the rated cable with the
thermal resistances AT corresponding to the length Az. of the
discretization interval. Wg are the conductor joule losses and q is
the conductor heat flux.
In Figure 2, the thermal resistances with subscripts 1, 2,
3 and 4 are the characteristic quantities for the cable as defined
in the IEC 287, [5]. ATL [W(W.m)] is the longitudinal
thermal resistance of the conductor and its value per unit
length is computed from
P
T --
L - A
where A (m) is the cross-sectional area of the conductor. p is
the thermal resistivity of the material (K.m/W). The thermal
resistance is the radial directions is given by:
T, =T,I n+T2+T3+T4 (7)
The network representation in Figure 2 allows us to
consider the heat flow in two directions: radial and
longitudinal in what essentially is a three dimensional problem.
The resulting differential equation is developed in the
Appendix and has the following form:
AO---=AO,,(Z) 1 d2A8
a2 dz2
where
~e =e-e,, (9)
712
W, . T +AB, +Bomb
1-AW-T
(322 =
a ' =[TL . (1- AW . T)]/T,
(1 1)
with
aT = conductor temperature Coefficient Of resistance Figure 3. DiscretiUtion of the temperature AB,(z) in
( W
Wgo = heat rate in the rated cable at the reference
temperature 8, (usually 2OOC) (W/m).
de, = temperature rise due to dielectric losses (K)
equation (14) in an interval & .
At the point of intersection, considering equations (15),
(16) and (17), wehave
eamb = ambient temperature (K) N
can be written in a form of the following hyperbolic function.
A general solution of equation (8) for any interval v
AB"'(Z =0) =(ea'& - l ) xA Buv e-vcr'&
,=I
(18)
A&" =AB,,,, +av sinh(a.z)+ bv cosh(a-z) (14) with AB, = O
where A),,,, is a discretization of the temperature AB&) in
the interval as shown in Figure 3.
The incremental temperature rise of the rated cable at
the point of intersection is equal to
The constants a, and b, are defined by the following AB"'(0) =WITl2
recursive relationships [7]:
Thus, the mutual thermal resistance at the point of
intersection can be obtained from equation (19) by substituting
equations (12) and ( 5) into equation (18) as
a, =
with
-(A',(,,-,) - AB,,).sinh[(v - 1)c&]
a, =o (15) ( y , + y 2 ) 2 +(v4z-cosS)2
TI 2 =
N
4 =-AB,, + AB,, (e-("-')& - e-"&) +AB,e-N&
( y , - y 2 ) 2 +(v*Az.cosS)2
,=I
b, =bv-l +(ABu(v-lf - AB,,)cosh[(v - l)c&] for v >1
(20)
The solutions in the first (v =1) and the last (v =N)
Equation (20) can be generalized for several cables
crossing the rated cable. Let the rated cable have the
designation n and z, be the z-coordinate of the hottest point in
cable n. Then, for any other cable k (z =zt ) away from the
point z =z, , we have
intervals are given by:
A8'" =AB,, +b, cosh(a. z)
(16)
713
From equations (20) and (1 l), we can observe that the
mutual thermal resistance q2 is a function of the heat rate
W, . Therefore, an iterative procedure has to be used to
evaluate this resistance in conjunction with equation (4).
Alternatively, a conservative estimate of the reduced current ip
cable 2 can be obtained by substituting the numerator
equation (4) by the unaltered temperature A8,,2 comput
from equation (5) at the point of intersection ( z =0); that is,
If the external heat source is another cable, the most
pessimistic result is obtained when the temperature deu,, is
computed with W, corresponding to the ampacity of the
external circuit being isolated. Note that the assumption that z
=0 in equation (5) is equivalent to performing ampadty
calculations with the external heat source parallel to the rated
cable.
3.2.3 Heating by a steam pipe
Equation (4) can also be used to derate a cable being
crossed by a steam pipe. To illustrate the procedure, consider
the installation shown in Figure 4.
The heat generated by the pipe is a function of the
surface temperature of the pipe
w, =-
TR
where TR is the thermal resistance of the pipe insulation and
the temperatures are shown in Figure 4. The pipe heat rate is
influenced by the crossing cable. Therefore, in the first step,
the temperature 8, is determined from
where OU2] is the influence temperature of the cable on the
pipe and T4R is the pipe external thermal resistance.
pipe, and this value can be used in equation (4).
Equations (23) and (24) give the heat generated in the
A practical example the equations developed above is
presented in the second part of the paper.
REFERENCES
I Insulation I
External Covering Pipe
Figure 4. Steam pipe crossing cable route.
[2] Abdel Aziz, E.M., Aboul Zahab and A.A.E. Kassem,
Prediction and elimination of hot spots at the crossing
regions of H.V. cables, by M.M., IEEE Transactions on
Power Delivery, Vol. 3 No.3, July 1988 pp. 845-849.
Also presented at the 2nd Int. Conference on Power
Cables and Accessories, London, UK, Nov. 26-28, 1986,
[3] Z. Iwata, S., Sakuma, M. Dam-Andersen and E. J acobsen
Heat pipe local cooling system applied for 145 kV
transmission lines in Copenhagen, IEEE Transactions on
Power Delivery, Vol. 7, No.2, April 1992, pp. 767-775.
A companion paper Installation and Supervision of 145
kV cables in the Copenhagen City has been presented at
1990 CIGRE session, paper No. 21-204.
[4] T. Imajo, H. Fukagawa and T. Itoh, Thermal Interference
in underground cable heat dissipation by steam pipes and
its prevention, presented at the 2nd Int. Conference on
Power Cables and Accessories, London, UK, Nov. 26-28,
[5] IEC Standard 287, Part 2-1, 1994, Calculation of thermal
[6] Anders, G.J., Rating of Electric Power Cables.
Ampacify Computations f or Transmission, Distribution
and Industrial Applications, IEEE Press, 1997, New
York.
pp.227-23 1.
1986, pp. 221-226.
resistances.
[7] Brakelmann, H, Belastbarkeiten der Energiekabef,
VDE-Verlag, 1985, Berlin.
[l ] H. Orton, A. MacPhail, V. Buchholtz, Elevated
Temperature Operation-A Precautionary Note, IEEE
PES, Insulated Conductor Committee, Minutes of the 99
Meeting, Houston Texas, April 14-17, 1996, Appendix 5-
K-1.
714
APPENDIX
Derivation of the Heat Conduction Equation with the Longitudinal Heat Flux
The radial temperature at the rated cable is described
by the Fourier's law of heat conduction {see eq. (2.1) in [6]}.
1 d 8
W, =---
T, dr
Similarly, in longitudinal direction,
where T, is defined in equation(7).
Consider now a small element of the cable with the
length dz, as shown in Figure Al . In the steady-state, from the
energy conservation principle {see eq. (2.8) in [6] 1 we have:
w, +w' +Wg,drdz =wr+dr +wz+k (A21
where Wgt is the total rate at which energy is generated per
unit volume of the body, (W/m3/m).
Figure AI An element of the conductor with the length of dz..
Each conduction heat rate on the right-hand side of
equation (A2) can then be expressed as a Taylor series
expansion where, neglecting higher order terms,
Computing derivatives in equations (A3) from
equations (Al) and substituting equations (A3) into equation
(A2), we obtain
The last equation can be rewritten as
d28 T, d28
dr2 TL dz2
-- =wgt * T, +--
The first and the second terms in the right-hand-side of
equation (A4) represent the temperature rise of the conductor
due to the radial and the longitudinal heat fluxes, respectively.
The sum of these two temperature components gives the
temperature 8 of the conductor Thus, equation (A4) can be
rewritten as
T, d28
8 = Wgt.T,+--
TL dz2
The first temperature in the right-hand-side of equation
(A5) can be obtained from Figure 2 as
where the variables are defined in the main body of the paper.
The conductor joule losses Wg are temperature
dependent. If we assume that the temperature 8,. in equation
(A6) is computed with the conductor resistance at the
temperature 8, then equation (A5) can be written as
1 d2Ae'
A B - T ~ =AO:(z)
a dz
where A8' =8 -8i2 and a' =,/=and, where for the
simplicity of notation, A8i ( z ) =AeUl 2( z) .
Observe that if there is no external heat source (the last
term in Eq. A7 disappears) and only radial heat flow is
considered (the second term on the left-hand-side disappears),
we have 8 = , as expected.
However, more generally
and substituting this into equation (A6) and then into (A5), we
obtain equation (8).