SYMMETRICAL FAULT CALCULATIONS

The fault on the power system which gives rise to symmetrical fault current i.e.,
equal fault currents in the lines with 1200 displacement is called a symmetrical fault

VR

VY

VB

IR IY IB

Short Circuit

The symmetrical fault occurs when all the three conductors of a three phase line
are brought together simultaneously into short circuit as shown in figure. This type of
fault gives rise to the symmetrical currents with 120 0 displacement. Fault currents IR, IY,
and IB wil be equal in magnitude with 1200 displacement among them. Because of the
unbalanced nature of fault, only one phase need be considered in calculations since the
conditions in the other two phases will be similar.

The following points may be particularly noted

(i) The symmetrical fault rarely occurs in practice as majority of the faults are of
the unsymmetrical in nature. However, symmetrical fault calculations are
done to enable the power system problem
(ii) The symmetrical fault is the most severe and imposes more heavy duty on the
circuit breaker

Limitations of the Fault Current:

Transformer
G F

If a fault occurs on the feeder at point F, Then the short circuit current from the
generating station will have a value limited by the impedance of generator and
transformer and the impedance of the line between generator and the point of faults. This
shows that the knowledge of the impedance of various equipment and circuits in the line
of the system is very important for the determination of short circuit currents.
 In many situations , the impedances limiting the fault current are largely reactive,
such as transformers, reactors and generators , cables and lines are mostly resistive but
where the total reactance in calculations exceeds three times the resistance, the later is
usually neglected.

Percentage Reactance:
The reactance of the generators, transformers, reactors etc, is usually expressed in
percentage reactance
The percentage reactance of a circuit is defined as the percentage of total phase
voltage dropped in the circuit when full load current is flowing .

IX
%X 100
V

I Full load Current

V- Phase Voltage
X- Reactance in ohms/Phase

KVA X
%X 100
10 ( kV ) 2

V
I SC
X
100
I
%X

Percentage Reactance and Base KVA

BaseKVA
% reactance at base KVA = % reactance at rated KVA
RatedKVA

Short Circuit KVA:

The product of the normal system voltage and short circuit current at the point of
fault is expressed in KVA is known as short circuit current KVA.

V- Normal phase voltage in volts

I Full load current in amperes at base KVA
%X Percentage reactance of the system on base KVA up to the fault point

100
Short circuit current, Isc = I
%X
Short circuit KVA for 3- circuit
 3VI sc

1000

3VI 100

1000 % X

100
Short circuit KVA =Base KVA
%X

STEPS FOR SYMMETRICAL FAULT CALCULATIONS:

Draw a single line diagram of the complex network indicating the rating,
voltage and percentage reactance of each element of the network
Choose numerically convenient base KVA and convert all the percentage
reactance to this base value
Corresponding to the single line diagram of this network draw the
reactance diagram showing one phase of the system and the neutral.
Indicate the percentage reactance diagram. The transformer in the system
should be represented by the reactance in series.
Find the total % reactance of the network upto the point of fault . Let it be
X%.
Find the full load current corresponding to the selected base kVA and the
normal system voltage at the fault point. Let it be I
The various short circuit calculations are :
100
Short circuit current, Isc = I
%X
100
Short circuit KVA =Base KVA
%X

Transients in transmission line

Assumption:
(i) The line is fed from a constant voltage source.
(ii) Short circuit takes place when the line is unloaded
(iii) Line capacitance is neglected and line can be represented by a lumped RL
series circuit

R L

V=

i = is + it
2V sin(t )
is = Z
it = -is .e-(R/L)t
2V sin( ) ( R / L ) t
= Z
e

Thus short circuit current is given by

2V 2V
i= sin(t ) sin( )e ( R / L ) t
Z Z

i = is + it
 Symmetrical Short circuit Current

DC offset current

V
is

2V
sin( )
Z

it

The sinusoidal steady state current is called the symmetrical short circuit current
and the unidirectional transient component is called as DC offset current, which causes
the total short circuit current to be unsymmetrical till the transient decays.
The maximum momentary short circuitMaximum current immMomentary
correspondscurrent
to the first peak. If
i
the decay of the transient current in this short time
mm is neglected.

i=is + it
2V 2V
imm sin( )
Z Z
Since the transmission line resistance is small , =90o
2V 2V
i mm cos
Z Z t
 This has the maximum possible value for = 0 , i.e., short circuit occurring
when the voltage wave is going through zero. Thus,

2V
i mm (max imumpossible) 2
Z
= twice the maximum of symmetrical short circuit (doubling effect)

Fior the selection of Circuit breaker momentary short circuit is taken

corresponding to its maximum possible value.

Few cycles or less current to be interrupted.

i.e., if the Dc offset does not die out and so contributes to the current to be
interrupted

SHORT CIRCUIT OF A SYNCHRONOUS MACHINE:

Under steady state conditions, the armature reaction of a synchronous generator

produces a demagnetizing flux. In terms of a circuit this effect is modeled as a reactance
Xa in series with the induced emf. This reactance when combined with the leakage
reactance Xl of the machine is called Synchronous reactance Xd (direct axis synchronous
reactance in the case of salient pole machine).Armature resistance being small can be
neglected. The steady state model of a synchronous machine is shown in figure on per
phase basis.

Xl Xa

Eg Synchronous Reactance Xd
 Consider now a sudden short circuit (three phase) of a synchronous generator
initially operating under open circuit conditions. The machine undergoes a transient in
all the three phase finally ending up in steady state conditions. The circuit breaker must
of course interrupt the current much before steady state conditions are reached.
Immediately upon short circuit DC offset currents appear in all the three phases, each
with a different magnitude since the point on the voltage wave at which the short circuit
occurs is different for each phase. These DC offset currents are accounted for separately
on an empirical basis and therefore for short circuit current is limited only by the leakage
reactance of the machine. Since the air gap flux cannot change instantaneously(theorem
of constant flux linkage) to counter the demagnetization of the armature short ci8rcuit
current, currents appear in the field winding as well as the damper winding in a direction
to help the main flux. The time constant of the damper winding which has low leakage
inductance is much less than that of the field winding, which has the high leakage
inductance. Thus during the initial part of the short circuit the damper and field windings
have transformer currents induced in them so that in the circuit model their reactance
Xf & Xdw appear in parallel to Xa.

1
Xl
The reactance presented by the machine in the initial period 1 1 1

X a X f X dw
= Xd is called the sub transient reactance while the effective after the damper winding
have died out i.e., Xd =Xl + (Xa Xf) is called the transient reactance of the machine
X dw

Xl Xf

Xd
+
Eg Direct axis sub- transient reactance
Xf
-
Xl Xa

+ Approximate circuit Direct

model axis
during sub transient
transient period of short circuit
reactance
Eg
-

Approximate circuit model during transient period of short circuit

 Xd < Xd < Xd

Sub transient

Transient
Steady state

The machine offers atime varying reactance which changes from X d to Xd and
finally Xd Actual Envelope

Extrapolation of sub Transient Envelope

Short Circuit through Thevenin Theorem: Xdm

Xdg
Vo
Consider a synchronous generator feeding asynchronous motor over a line.

Eg Em

Steady state condition

 Fault computations are to be made for a fault at F, at the motor terminals

STEP -1
F

Xdm
X dg
Vo

E g Em

The circuit model is replaced as shown in figure. Where the synchronous

machines are represented by their transient reactance in series with the voltage behind the
transient reactance. This change does not disturb the prefault current I o and prefault
voltages Vo.
F

+
Vo

STEP -2 -
The Thevenin equivalent of the circuit is given by
F
X

Xdg

G
 The prefault voltage Io does not appear in the passive Thevenin impedance
network.

STEP-3
F

+
Vo

-
Zf
F
X

Xdg

Consider now a fault at F through an impedance Z f .Figure shows the Thevenin

equivalent of the system feeding the fault impedance.
Vo
If
jX th Z f
Current caused by fault in generator circuit

X dm
I g If
(X '
dg X X dm )
'

Current caused by fault in the motor circuit

X ' dg
I m If
'
( X dm X X dg )
'

Post fault current

Ifg = Io + Ig
Ifm = Io + Im(in the direction of Im)

Post fault Voltage

Vf =V0 + (-j XthIf )

= Vo + V

V= -jXth If is the voltage of the fault point F

n
1
r
2

Gr
G1 G2
 gG
Consider an N-Bus system gGsystematically operating at steady load. The first step
towards short circuit computation is to obtain prefault gG voltages at all buses and currents in
all lines through load flow study. Let gG us indicate the prefault voltage vector as
V10
0
V2
V BUS
o

Vo
n
Let us assume that the r th
bus is faulted gG
gG gG through fault impedance Zf. The post fault
voltage vector is given by
f
V Bus V Bus
o
V

V Vector changes in bus voltages caused by the fault.

STEP-2
Figure shows the passive Thevenin network of the system with their subtransient
reactances.

n
1
r
2 If
-
Vf
+

Zf

X d1 Xd2
X dr X dn

STEP-3
We now excite the passive thevenin network with V or in series with Zf. The V
comprise of the bus voltages of this network.
 gG
gG
V =ZBUS J f
gG
gG g
g
G
Z 11 Z 1n gGG
g
G
Z BUS = bus impedance matrix of the passive thevenin network.


Z n1 gG
Z nn
gG gG
gG gG
Jf = bus current injection vector

Since the network is injected with the current If only at the rth bus.

0
0

.

f
J = .
I rf I f

.
0

Vr = -Zrr If
Vr f Vr0 Vr0
Vr0 Z rr I f
However, the voltage must be equal.

Vr f Z f I f

Hence,

Z f I f Vr0 Z rr I f

Vr0
If f
Z Z rr
At the ith bus

Vi Z ir I f

Vi f Vi 0 Z ir I f
i = 1,2,3,n
Z rr
Vi f Vi 0 Vr0
Z rr Z f
 Z f Vr0

Z rr Z f

Prefault voltage to be known from the load flow study.

Problems and Exercises:

Reference books:
Modern power System Analysis Nagrath & Kothari Chapter Number 9
Electric power system by C.L.Wadhwa Chapter Number 13
Principles of Power System by V.K.Metha Chapter Number 17

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