Deliverable Report

Report issued to:

Project: Offshore Wind Cable Catalogue
ORE Catapult
Offshore House, Albert Street, Blyth,
Northumberland, NE24 1LZ

Contact: Hytham Emam Deliverable Number: 2.0

Email: [email protected] Ref: ORE/15/57
Phone: +44 01670 357625 TDHVL Ref: 15242-RE2-v7

The continuous thermal rating for a range of typical 132kV 3 phase SL type cables have
been investigated for a series of installation environments, including:
Burial in sea bed at depths of 1m and 3m
Burial in ducted HDD at landfall
J Tube between off shore platform and sea bed
The continuous ratings have been calculated with both standard analytical approaches
and bespoke finite element analysis models which are better able to represent complex
thermal environments. Included within the FEA approach are an updated set of
induced losses which are believed to more accurately account for the thermal losses
within this type of cable.

Document Originator: Report prepared by:

The Tony Davies High Voltage
Laboratory
Building 20, University Crescent
Electronics and Electrical Engineering
Faculty of Physical Science & Dr Richard Chippendale
Engineering
University of Southampton
Southampton, SO17 1BJ Reviewed by:
UK

Tel: 023 8059 4450

Fax: 023 8059 3709

Email: [email protected] Dr James Pilgrim MIEEE

Contact: Prof Paul Lewin
Date: 14/10/2016

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Executive Summary
The continuous thermal rating for the following selection of 3 phase SL type wind farm export
cable have been investigated:
800 mm2 Copper conductor at 132 kV
1600 mm2 Aluminium conductor at 220 kV
2000 mm2 Aluminium conductor at 220 kV
2000 mm2 Copper conductor at 220 kV
2000 mm2 Aluminium conductor at 275 kV
2000 mm2 Copper conductor at 275 kV

Using these cable designs the continuous thermal ratings have been calculated in the
following installation environments:
Burial in sea bed at depths of 1m and 3m
Burial in ducted HDD at landfall
J Tube between off shore platform and sea bed

The continuous ratings for these environments have been calculated with both the
internationally standard analytical approaches of IEC 60287 and a bespoke finite element
analysis (FEA) approach which allows for an improved representation of the cable thermal
design and the installation environment. Included within the FEA approach are an updated
set of induced losses (in the sheaths and armour) which are believed to more accurately
account for the thermal losses within this type of cable than the equations given in IEC
60287.

The predicted continuous ratings for the 800 mm2 cable has initially been considered in
detail for each considered method and installation environment as is presented in Table 1.

Table 1 Comparison of continuous rating methods

Continuous Ratings [A] % gain between

Installation FEA with standard method
Standard FEA with
environment advanced and FEA with
methods IEC losses
losses advanced losses
Typical seabed 896 893 925 3.2
burial
Deep seabed 811 811 847 4.4
burial
HDD Landfall 598 605 644 7.7
J tube 835 893 928 11

The above table shows that the HDD landfall always has the lowest continuous rating
regardless of method given the large depth of burial. The least thermally limiting sections in
this case study are those where the cable is buried in the sea bed.

By developing a bespoke FEA model and considering the induced losses according to the
approach published in [1], rating increases of up to 7.7% are obtained in comparison to the
standard IEC methods. The improvement in rating decreases as the burial depth of the
cable decreases owing to the rating being dominated by the close proximity of the sea bed
boundary. Such a large increase in rating is apparent due to the considerable reduction in
armour loss within the method by [1]. Since the permeability of steel is dependent on the
composition and manufacturing processes, it is suggested that the permeability is verified,
as the armour loss factor will impact the continuous thermal rating. This represents a key

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uncertainty when comparing different cable types.

There is a more significant increase in rating between the classical method and the bespoke
FEA method for the J tube. This is caused by both the improved loss prediction and also the
improved modelling of the heat transfer within a J tube, which the FEA model allows.

Having considered the continuous ratings for the 800 mm2 in detail, the study has then been
repeated for each of the remaining cable designs. By comparing the rating for the larger
conductor sizes, it was found that the aluminium conductors have approximately a 7%
decrease in rating with IEC losses and a 9% lower rating with advanced losses, as
compared with the rating from a copper conductor of the same size.

Furthermore it has been shown that when considering the IEC thermal losses, there is a
decrease in rating by replacing half of the steel armour wires with polymer. This is believed
not to be physical and is a limitation of the assumptions made within the IEC approach. This
issue is not present with the advanced losses as a rating increase has been observed. This
further illustrates the importance of using the advanced thermal losses for a SL type cable
over the standard IEC approach.

The study has shown that the percentage rating increase for a Milliken conductor is slightly
greater when using the advanced losses (maximum of approx. 10% at typical burial depth)
than for the IEC losses (maximum of approx. 8% at typical burial depth). Furthermore it is
evident that as the burial depth of the cable increases the percentage increase in rating,
decreases. This is expected due to the increased dominance of the external soil on the
rating as the depth increases.

By comparing the ratings for the various proposed conductor sizes, the report has
demonstrated that at a fixed operating voltage, the continuous rating increases with
increasing conductor size, as expected. Further, when considering the same conductor size,
there is a decrease in continuous rating with increased operating voltage. This is due to the
increased insulation thickness required for higher voltages, and an increased dielectric
thermal loss. Finally, the results have also shown that when comparing an aluminum or a
copper conductor, if the cables are operating at the same voltage and have the same cross
sectional area, the copper conductor will have a higher rating than the aluminum conductor.
This rating difference is due to the lower electrical resistance of the copper.

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Contents
Executive Summary...................................................................................................................... 2

1.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 6

1.1 Cable design .............................................................................................................................. 6

1.1.1 Cable design assumptions ........................................................................................ 9

1.2 Circuit installation environments .............................................................................................. 9

1.2.1 Typical Seabed Burial ............................................................................................... 9
1.2.2 Deep Seabed Burial ................................................................................................ 10
1.2.3 Typical Landfall ....................................................................................................... 10
1.2.4 J Tube ..................................................................................................................... 11

2.0 Continuous Ratings Using Standard Approaches .................................................................... 13

2.1 IEC thermal network ................................................................................................................ 13

2.2 ERA J tube Method .................................................................................................................. 13

2.3 Discussion ................................................................................................................................ 14

3.0 Continuous Ratings from Advanced Methods ........................................................................ 15

3.1 Finite Element Analysis ............................................................................................................ 15

3.1.1 Buried cables ......................................................................................................... 15
3.1.2 J tube models ......................................................................................................... 16

3.2 Improved Models of Induced Losses ........................................................................................ 17

3.3 Discussion ................................................................................................................................ 19

4.0 Continuous Ratings for Remaining Cables.............................................................................. 22

4.1 Thermal Rating for remaining cables ...................................................................................... 22

4.2 Effect of Milliken Conductor Design ........................................................................................ 24

5.0 Conclusions .......................................................................................................................... 25

6.0 References ........................................................................................................................... 28

7.0 Appendix ............................................................................................................................. 29

7.1 132kV 800 mm2 copper conductor .......................................................................................... 29

7.2 220kV 1600 mm2 Aluminium conductor .................................................................................. 30

7.3 220kV 2000 mm2 Aluminium conductor .................................................................................. 31

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 7.4 220kV 2000mm2 copper conductor ......................................................................................... 32

7.5 275kV 2000 mm2 Aluminium conductor .................................................................................. 33

7.6 275kV 2000 mm2 copper conductor ........................................................................................ 34

Appendix B: ............................................................................................................................... 35

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1.0 Introduction
The aim of this project is to investigate the specification of large cables that have the
potential to be used within larger scale Offshore Wind Installations. The first phase of this
project is to define a range of appropriate cable dimensions, based upon a collection of
reference designs and then predict the continuous thermal rating using the base case cable
design (132 kV with 800 mm2 copper conductor) for a series of installation environments.
The generic form of the reference cable is:
132 kV 3 phase SL type
Conductor: 800 mm2 copper, plain stranded wires
Insulation: cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE)
Sheath: Lead
Armour: single layer of (standard galvanized) steel wires
Interstices: mixture of polypropylene yarn and air

Using the 800 mm2 as the base case the second phase of this project considers the potential
increase in rating of using the following larger cables:
1600 mm2 Aluminium conductor at 220 kV
2000 mm2 Aluminium conductor at 220 kV
2000 mm2 Copper conductor at 220 kV
2000 mm2 Aluminium conductor at 275 kV
2000 mm2 Copper conductor at 275 kV

The dimensions of the larger cable sizes are based on the same layer thicknesses as that
from the 800 mm2 cable. The only exception to this is that the insulation around each core
should be defined with reference to the electric field strength. If the electric field strength of
the 800 mm2 cable was used with the larger conductors sizes, the cable would have an
excessively thick insulation layer (significantly reducing minimum bend radius). Therefore for
conductor sizes greater than 800 mm2 a target stress of 8.5 kVmm-1 has been defined. This
represents a reasonable stress level for existing designs [2], although it may be slightly
conservative for the 275 kV options. The incurred conservatism in the rating will not be
significant, due to an extra millimetre of insulation thickness. Using the target stress level the
insulation thickness of each cable design has been varied to the nearest half millimetre to
achieve the best agreement with the target stress. Hence, the quoted stress in Appendix A
for each cable design might be slightly above or below the target stress, due to the rounding
of the insulation thickness.

For conductor sizes greater than 800 mm2, the armour is comprised of 50% steel and 50%
polymeric wires. To increase the continuous ratings, those conductors which have a cross
sectional area of 2000 mm2 are considered to have an insulated Milliken design, as
compared to the smaller cables which have a plain stranded design. A summary of all
reference cable designs to be studied throughout this work is included in Appendix A.

The initial section of this report considers the continuous rating of the 132 kV cable with
800 mm2 copper conductor within the stated installation environments. Once these ratings
have been considered in detail, the study is repeated to consider the remaining larger
conductor sizes.

The remainder of this section present the 800 mm2 cable design in more detail (Section 1.1),
followed by the layout of the installation environments (Section 1.2).

1.1 Cable design

An illustration of the typical cable geometry is presented in Figure 1.
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 g
f
e
c
b
a h
d
j
i
k

Figure 1- Illustration of typical 3 core SL type cable

The regions defined in Figure 1 are explained along with their construction material and
dimensions in Table 2.

Table 2 - Cable components and dimensions for 132kV 800 mm2 copper cable

Component Outer Diameter Thickness

Label Material
Name [mm] [mm]
a Conductor Copper 34.5
Conductor Semiconducting
b 37.5 1.5
screen polymer
c Insulation XLPE 71.5 17
Insulation Semiconducting
d 74.5 1.5
screen polymer
Semiconducting
e Swelling Tape 77.5 1.5
water blocking tape
f Sheath Lead alloy 82.5 2.5
Power core
g Polyethylene 87.0 2.2
oversheath
h Fillers Polypropylene yarn various
i Binder tape Polymeric tape 191.0 2
Steel wires with
j Armour wires 203.0 5.6
Bitumen
Polypropylene yarn
k Outer Serving 212.0 4.5
with bitumen

The thermal conductivity for each material used in the above cable designs are presented in
Table 3. These material properties are typical book values from IEC 60287-2 [3]. The
additional materials for air and water are not included within [3] and are hence typical book
values [4]. The thermal conductivity of the semiconducting polymers used in the conductor
and insulation screen is assumed to be the same as the XLPE, as there are no agreed book
values. This is slightly conservative as the addition of the electrically conductive filler is likely
to increase the bulk thermal conductivity, however the effect on the overall ratings is small.
This approach aligns with standard practice for the use of IEC 60287, as the conductor and
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insulation screens are considered to be thermally identical to the main insulation wall.
Table 3 - Thermal material properties

Thermal Conductivity
Material -1 -1
(Wm K )
Copper 400
Aluminium 236
XLPE 0.286
Semiconducting Polymer 0.286
Water swellable tape
0.286
(assumed XLPE)
Lead 35.3
Polypropylene yarn 0.2
Steel 18
Air 0.0242
Water 0.58

The material properties of the water swellable tape are difficult to characterise. However
because it is relatively thin, this layer will not have a significant impact on the thermal profile
within the cable, therefore it will be assumed to have the same thermal properties as XLPE.

The electrical material properties for the considered cable designs are presented in Table 4.
These values are typical book values taken from [5].

Table 4 - Electrical properties of the cables

Parameter Value
Electrical resistivity of copper 1.72 x10-8 m
Copper temperature coef. of resistance 3.93 x10-3 K-1
Copper conductor kp (plain stranded) 0.8
Copper conductor ks (plain stranded) 1
Copper conductor kp (Insulated Milliken) 0.2
Copper conductor ks (Insulated Milliken) 0.35
Electrical resistivity of Aluminium 2.8 x10-8 m
Aluminium temperature coef. of resistance 4.03 x10-3 K-1
Aluminium conductor kp (plain stranded) 1
Aluminium conductor ks (plain stranded) 1
Aluminium conductor kp (Insulated Milliken) 0.15
Aluminium conductor ks (Insulated Milliken) 0.25
Lead sheath Resistivity 2.14 x10-7 m
Lead sheath temp coef. of resistance 0.004 K-1
Galvanized steel Armour Resistivity 1.38 x10-7 m
Galvanized steel Armour temp coef. of resistance 4.50 x10-3K-1
Armour kp 1
Armour ks 1
Relative permittivity of Insulation (XLPE) 2.5
Insulation Tan Delta 0.001
Frequency 50 Hz
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The electrical resistance of all metallic components (conductor, sheath and armour) is
thermally dependent. To account for this thermal variation the temperature coefficient of
resistance of each component is specified in Table 4. Using these terms the predicted rating
from each method is calculated with the thermally dependent resistance based on the
corresponding calculated temperature.

1.1.1 Cable design assumptions

Before developing the numerical models for the different installation environments, this study
first considers if there are any simplifying assumptions which can be made to the cable
design. These simplifying assumptions are especially important for 3D finite element models,
as poorly designed 3D models can be very computationally demanding and hence slow to
solve.

Interstices
The interstices of the cable i.e. the area between the power cores and the armour bedding,
are assumed to contain a mixture of polypropylene yarn and air. From experience this yarn
is fairly uniformly distributed throughout this region with small air gaps between the individual
yarn strands. The empty space between the yarn is assumed to be air rather than water
despite considering a subsea cable, because the thermally limiting section is likely to be
within the HDD, where the presence of water in the interstices is less likely. In the remaining
installation sections the dry filler assumption is carried over, and so will add a degree of
conservatism to these ratings. However the rating reduction is not believed to be significant
because the majority of the permissible heat flux will be passed through the region where the
sheath and armour are closest and hence where there is a minimal amount of filler present.

It is computationally very expensive to directly model each small yarn bundle. However our
experience has shown that the most realistic approach to represent this region is to consider
it as a single phase solid whose thermal conductivity is estimated through the mixture rule
according to the volumetric proportion of air and yarn. This method assumes that there is no
thermal convection or radiation between the power cores and the armour bedding. This
assumption is sensible for the following reasons:
The thermal convection within the interstices will be negligible due to the small air
gaps between the individual polymer yarns.
Due to the uniform yarn distributions the radiation heat flux is greatly reduced, and
assumed to be minimal.

An exact value for the area of yarns to air within the interstices is not present on the cable
datasheet (Appendix A) and so instead it is assumed the interstices is approximately two
parts polypropylene to one part air. With this volume fraction and the material thermal
conductivities stated in Table 3, the effective thermal conductivity of the interstices are
assumed to be 0.123 Wm-1K-1. This value will be used for all the other cable designs to be
assessed in Phase 2.

1.2 Circuit installation environments

The Scope of Work (SoW) has identified a series of cable installation environments, which
are presented in detail within the following section. These installation environments
represent the likely thermal conditions that the cable will experience as it passes from an
offshore platform to the landfall.

1.2.1 Typical Seabed Burial

The cable environment for a typical sea bed burial is illustrated in Figure 2. This cross

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section shows the three phase SL type cable buried at a depth (LD) of 1 m (to the cable
centre) below the sea bed surface.

Sea

Sea
Bed LD

Cable

Figure 2 - Illustration of cable buried in sea bed (not to scale)

For this installation environment the thermal resistivity of the sea bed is stated in the SoW to
be 0.7 Km/W. The ambient temperature of the sea water is assumed to be 15 C. Given the
high heat transfer coefficient which would be present between the water and the surface of
the sea bed, the sea bed surface shall be treated as an isotherm.

1.2.2 Deep Seabed Burial

In some lengths of the sub-sea cable route, it could be necessary to install the cable at
greater depths. In addition, some areas of the sea bed are known to contain mobile
sediments, with phenomena such as sand waves causing an increase in effective burial
depth. As an increase in burial depth will increase the thermal resistance between the cable
and the sea water, it will decrease the permissible thermal losses and hence cause a rating
decrease. It is therefore important to determine the continuous thermal rating under these
installation conditions. The SoW requests that the depth of burial under such conditions be
considered to be 3 m.

1.2.3 Typical Landfall

Horizontal directional drilling (HDD) is frequently used to bring the cable in beneath
obstacles at the shore line. The depth of burial is often significantly greater than in the sea
bed, meaning that the landfall is frequently a thermal pinch point. According to the SoW, the
HDD consists of a duct which has an internal diameter of 2.5 times the external diameter of
the cable and is backfilled with bentonite to improve the heat transfer. The duct is made from
90 mm thick polyethylene tube. A generic illustration of the HDD is presented in Figure 3.

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Sea

Sea bed LD

Duct

Bentonite
Cable

Figure 3 Cross section perpendicular to cable length of cable within HDD, on the sea
side of the landfall

The burial depth of the cable duct varies within this section of the circuit. Starting at the
offshore end of the cable length, the initial cable burial depth is 1 m (i.e. typical burial depth).
The depth of the cable then linearly increases down to 10.0 m, over a section 66 m long. The
cable remains at this maximum burial depth for 200 m. At which point the burial depth
decrease linearly back to 1 m over a length of 44 m.

Offshore Onshore
L1 = 66 m L2 = 200 m L3 = 44 m

LD = 10 m

Figure 4 Illustration of HDD cable depth profile in the landfall section

The thermal resistivity of the soil (on shore) is 1.1 KmW -1, whilst the sea bed thermal
resistivity remains at 0.7 KmW -1. The transition in thermal resistivity is assumed to occur in
the centre of the deeply buried landfall region. The thermal resistivity of the duct backfill
(bentonite) is 1.0 KmW -1 and the ambient soil temperature is 15 C.

In reality the transition in cable profile is limited by a minimum cable bend radius. However
given the length of cable considered here, the addition of a smooth bend radius will have
minimal impact on the conductor thermal profile and hence a sharp angled transition will be
used in the finite element model.

1.2.4 J Tube
The final installation environment which is considered is that of a J tube. A J tube is
frequently used as a means for cable protection between an offshore platform and the sea
bed. A typical cross section of a J tube is presented in Figure 5, with the key sections being:
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 Below sea level, where the gap between the J tube and cable is filled with sea water.
This section is referred to as Tube water section
Above sea level but below the offshore platform hang off, where the gap between the
J tube and cable is filled with air. This section is referred to as Tube air section
Above the armour hang off, where the individual phases from the export cable are
separated and installed in air. This section is referred to by exposed phases

The platform hang off is not shown in in Figure 5 because it has not been considered further
due its very short length, which means it does not significantly impact the overall
temperature profile. This region is likely to be less thermally onerous, due to the large
surface area of the hang off, from which heat transferred from the armour wires may be
dissipated.

According to the SoW, this study considers a J tube air section length of 15 m high (sea level
to deck), which is sealed (i.e. closed) at bottom and top. The steel J tube has a wall
thickness of 30 mm and the inner diameter is to be 2.5 times that of the external cable
diameter. The tube is not considered to be shielded from the sun by the overhead offshore
platform and hence the typical IEC value for solar radiation of 1000 Wm-2 will be considered.
The solar absorptivity of the external tube surface is assumed to be 0.4. The ambient air
temperature is 20 C and the ambient water temperature is 15 C.

10 m Exposed phases

Offshore Platform

Cable Tube air

15 m
section

Air

Sea water
10 m
Tube water
section
J Tube

Figure 5 - J tube 3D model

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2.0 Continuous Ratings Using Standard Approaches
Before considering any advanced methods to predict the continuous rating for considered
installation environment, the ratings have been calculated through standard rating
techniques. For the buried cable installations, the IEC 60287 compliant current ratings are
given [3] [5]. There is however no internationally standard approach for calculating the
continuous thermal rating for a J tube. However there is a simple empirical method proposed
by ERA [6], which can be used for J tube ratings. All the thermal ratings will assume a
maximum conductor temperature of 90 C.

2.1 IEC thermal network

For the typically buried (1m depth) and the deeply buried (3m depth) cable, the continuous
thermal ratings for buried cables can be calculated from the standard thermal network
approach presented in IEC 60287-2 [3], with the cable dimensions and material properties
included within Table 2 and Table 3. The thermal losses for the defined thermal network are
given by IEC 60287-1 [5], with the electrical parameters presented in Table 4.

However the HDD landfall model is a little more complicated and cannot be directly
considered by the standard IEC approach. This is because within the landfall region there is
a considerable variation in burial depth, which could result in longitudinal heat transfer and
hence a greater rating. To fully account for longitudinal heat transfer a 3D model is required,
however the IEC method only considers 2D. To use the IEC approach, it is suggested to
take a 2D slice at the centre of the deeply buried section (10m depth). However inherent
within this statement is the assumption that there is no longitudinal heat transfer, and so the
method may predict a conservative rating if the deep section is suitably short. In addition to
the variation in burial depth, the pure IEC 60287 method does not take into account the
thermal properties of the duct and its backfill when calculating the continuous rating. To
account for these domains two additional thermal resistance terms are required, between the
thermal resistance of the armour and soil (T3) and the thermal resistivity of the soil (T4).
Using the approach presented in IEC, the thermal resistance for these two regions can be
calculated by
[1]
= ln
2
Where is the thermal resistivity of material 'k' and and are the inner and outer radius
of the annulus region. This forces the assumption that the cable is centred within the duct,
when in reality it is likely to be sitting on the base of the duct, however this is not considered
to be a significant source of error.

2.2 ERA J tube Method

Continuous thermal ratings of cables in a J tube are often calculated using an empirically
derived method published by ERA in 1988 [6]. When this method was developed, the testing
included cable outer diameters between 75 mm and 130 mm and J tubes diameters between
0.16 m and 0.4 m. The cable and J tube diameters considered here are 211 mm and 0.53 m,
respectively. These values are greater than the range of the original experimental data, so
the results must be used with caution. A review of the method as presented in [6] is given
below. It should be highlighted that modifications to this method are possible (although not
presented here) to better align it to the cable model used by the standard IEC 60287
approach. This involves replacing equation 3 in the ERA model with a rearranged version of
that for given in 1.4.1 of IEC 60287-1-1.

This method predicts the continuous rating by recognizing that under steady state
conditions, the permissible heat flux across each radial component must be the same. The
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total permissible heat flux through each region, is related to the temperature drop within
each region, with the conductor region presented in equation [2], the insulation in equation
[3] and the J tube air section by equation [4]
c [2]
Wc =
TT
Wi = 20.3 D0.315 D0.73 1.05 [3]
i e p

We = Do hera 1.09 qsolar Do [4]

s

Where , Di and Do are the diameter of cable surface [m], inside J tube surface [m] and
outside J tube surface [m]. The temperature difference between the conductor and cable
surface is [K], between the cable surface and the tube is [K] and between the tube
and the ambient [K]. The total thermal resistivity of the cable is given by [KmW -1] and
is calculated by IEC 60287-2 (Note, when summing the total thermal resistance, the thermal
resistance T1 should be divide by three if considering a three core cable). The heat transfer
coefficient from cable surface is [Wm-2K-1], the solar heat flux [Wm-2] and is the
absorptivity.

To complete the above set of equations, the sum of the temperature decrease in each
section is defined with respect to the maximum allowed conductor temperature ( ) minus
the ambient temperature ( ), which is expressed as
( ) = + + ( 5)

By varying the temperature difference within each region it is possible to obtain the same
permissible heat flux through each region. The balanced permissible heat flux solution is
then used in conjunction with the thermal losses presented in IEC 60287-1 to calculate the
continuous rating required to achieve this permissible heat flux.

2.3 Discussion
Using the above methods the continuous thermal ratings for an 800mm2 132kV, plain
stranded copper conductor in the 4 different installation environments are presented in Table
5.

Table 5 Continuous thermal rating from standard methods

Environment Rating [A]

Typical seabed burial 896
Deep seabed burial 811
HDD landfall 598
J tube 835

The ratings presented in Table 5 show that HDD landfall has the lowest continuous rating.
Furthermore it is apparent that as the burial depth increases (typical seabed to HDD landfall)
the continuous rating decreases. This is expected because an increased burial depth
increases the thermal resistance between the cable and the ambient heat sink.

Results for the larger cable sizes are presented in Section 4.

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3.0 Continuous Ratings from Advanced Methods
The above section has presented the continuous thermal rating for the considered
installation environments using simple analytical and empirical techniques. Whilst these
methods are very useful, due to their simple and/or empirical nature, they do not fully
consider all the physical processes for more complicated thermal environments or geometry.
In order to improve the accuracy of the predicted ratings, a series of 2D and 3D steady state
finite element analysis (FEA) models have been developed. The main benefits of using
these numerical models are:
More detailed representation of the cable geometry
Ability to model the thermal environment of the installation in more detail
Improved modelling of armour related losses

3.1 Finite Element Analysis

Due to the similarity between several of the installation environments two main categories of
numerical models have been developed; buried cables and J tube. Each of these numerical
models is described in the following sections.

3.1.1 Buried cables

Using the installation geometries for the typical and deeply buried cable, (Figure 2) a two
dimensional cross section model has been implemented within an FEA package. To
replicate the required physics a 3D model has been implemented for the HDD landfall,
where the conductor follows the burial profile shown in Figure 4. Apart from the implemented
geometry the two models are set up in the same manner.

The cross sectional bounds of the soil domain are 80 m wide by 60 m deep. Such soil
dimensions are large enough to result in a minimal thermal gradient near the boundaries
which negates any erroneous boundary effects due to the boundary condition, which could
impact on the predicted conductor temperature.

To predict the temperature profile a coupled thermal-electrical model is required, where the
electrical model defines the heat sources used to drive the temperature profile. It should be
stressed that the thermal losses are nonlinear, due to the temperature dependent electrical
resistivity of the armour, sheath and conductor. To reduce the complexity of these
computational models, it is possible to calculate the electrical losses through the standard
IEC 60287-1 method [5], and hence the model only needs to solve for the temperature
profile. The FEA model calculates the steady state temperature profile using

[] + = 0 [6]

Where is the thermal conductivity [Wm-1K-1], is temperature [K] and Q is the thermal
losses [Wm-1]. The heat transfer predicted by this equation is only due to thermal
conduction, which is an accurate assumption for the solid domains considered in this model.
The predicted thermal losses within the conductor, sheath and armour are uniformly
distributed over the specific cable domains. This method retains the coupling between the
temperature and electrical losses, by iteration of the thermal profile with corresponding
temperature values being used to predict the electrical resistance and hence losses. This
modelling approach has widely been used by previous publications [7].

Boundary conditions
Finally the boundary conditions for this model need to be defined. The soil surface is
assumed to be a constant ambient temperature of 15 C. The bottom boundary of the model

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is taken to be an isothermal temperature of 10 C. The vertical sides of the model are
assumed to have a zero net heat flux across them due to their distance from the heat source
i.e. the hot cable.

3.1.2 J tube models

To investigate the conductor thermal profile a 3D finite element model has been developed.
Due to the variation in permissible heat flux from the cable to the ambient along its length, it
is not possible to generate a 2D slice model. In keeping with the previous models, this
numerical model only solves the thermal processes, as the electrical losses from the
conductors, dielectrics, sheaths and armour are defined as heat sources according to the
equations given in IEC 60287-1 [5].

The thermal conduction within the cable (solid domain) is solved using equation 6, above.
Whilst the heat transfer within the cable is solely due to conduction, the space between the
cable and the J tube contains a fluid, either water or air. Therefore additional heat transfer
mechanisms need to be considered.

For the J tube water regions (i.e. below the sea level), there is an additional heat transfer
due to convection in the water. However, due to the small distance between the cable and
the J tube surface and due to the small thermal gradient; the convective currents within this
region are not expected to be very strong. Furthermore, due to the relatively good thermal
conductive nature of water, the convection heat transfer has been deemed negligible and so
the water domain is modelled with only thermal conduction present. Given that the section in
water is less thermally limiting than that in air, it is considered unlikely that this assumption
will have any impact on the rating obtained.

Due to the poor thermal conductivity of air, the dominant heat transfer mechanism between
the cable and the J tube cannot be assumed as conduction and so the convection and
radiation must be considered. Instead of solving the NavierStokes equations, the natural
convection is solved using an analytical heat transfer coefficient. Using such an approach,
the convective heat transfer from the cable surface ( ) is proportional to the temperature
difference between the cable surface ( ) and the inner surface of the J tube ( ). This
convective heat sink is expressed by

= ( ) [7]

The thermal convection is solved using an analytical heat transfer method, where the heat
transfer coefficient ( ) is defined by
[8]
=

Where is the thermal conductivity of the air and is the distance between the cable
surface and the J tube inner wall. The empirically derived Nusselt number (Nu) for an
annulus is defined by

= 0.1880.322 0.238 0.442 [9]

The Reynolds number (Ra) is defined by
( ) 3 [10]
=
2

The geometric constants within this equation K and G are defined by

[11]
=

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 [12]
=

Where Dd and De are the cable diameter and inside diameter of the J tube in m. The length of
the J tube air section is given by La.

To balance the convective heat sink on the cable surface and due to the closed nature of the
J tube, the integral of convective heat from the cable surface is projected back on to the J
tube inside surface.

The surface to surface radiation between the cable and J tube is defined by the temperature
difference between the cable serving (cable) and the inner surface of the J tube (j) as by
4 4
= ( ) [13]

Where is the StefanBoltzmann constant (5.67 x10-8 Js-1m-2K-4), is the surface emissivity,
which is taken to be 0.9. Whilst the paint colour and finish does affect this, such an
emissivity is a reasonable assumption.

External boundary conditions

With the internal physical processes defined, the external boundary conditions need to be
specified. By initially considering the J tube below the sea level, the SoW states a maximum
measured sea temperature to be 15 C. To reduce the computational complexity the
surrounding sea domain is not modelled directly and instead the J tube surface below sea
level is assumed to be at a constant temperature (water). Such an assumption is reasonable
due to the vast volume of water and the small continual tidal movement.

The external surface of the J tube air section and the exposed phases are considered to
have both natural convection and surface to ambient radiation. Surface to ambient radiation
is defined using equation 8, with the temperature difference instead being given by the outer
surface of the J tube, , and ambient, . The external convection from the outer
surface of the J tube to ambient is defined by equation 7, with the temperature difference
being replaced by . The heat transfer coefficient from the outside surface of
the J tube is also calculated using equation 8, with the ambient air temperature defined as
20 C.

Both sections exposed to the air (J tube air section and exposed phases) also have to
consider the solar heat flux. The solar heat flux (qsolar) and J tube absorptivity () are
assumed to be 1000 Wm-2 and 0.4. Since the sun is a point in the sky, the total incident solar
heat flux on a J tube should be given by a flat straight line perpendicular to the suns rays.
Therefore the total solar energy which these models should consider is given by the integral
of solar flux (product of solar heat flux and absorptivity) along the diameter of the J tube.
This integral of heat flux is then uniformly distributed over the external surface of the tube.

3.2 Improved Models of Induced Losses

There is a widespread suggestion within the cable industry that the equations presently
recommended within the IEC standard for armour losses in 3 core SL type cables (IEC
60287-1-1-2006+A1-2014, clauses 2.4.2.3.1 and 2.4.2.5) can overestimate the heat
generated within the armour. Furthermore the standard IEC methods do not permit the
assessment of armour loss reduction due to the use of alternate polymeric wires.

A recently published study has presented an updated thermal loss for a SL type cable [1].
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For this method to be considered, the following additional cable parameters are required:

Conductor lay length (assumed to be 2.3 m)

Armour lay length of (assumed to be 4 m)
Relative longitudinal permeability of the amour (l) 870 (stated in [1])
Relative transverse permeability of the amour (t) 435 (stated in [1])

The relativity permeability of steel presented in IEC 60287-1 [5] (l = 870 and t = 10) was
not used in this study, because the value presented there is for a composite steel/bitumen
domain, rather than the pure steel permeability, which is required for these calculations.
Using these above terms, a comparison of the predicted losses and loss factors given by this
advanced method and the standard IEC method for the 800 mm2 cable is presented in
Figure 6 and Figure 7.

Figure 6 Comparison of IEC and Advanced losses

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 Figure 7 Comparison of cable loss factors

From Figure 6 it is apparent that the IEC sheath losses are very similar to the circulating
losses predicted by the new loss prediction method [1]. This would indicate that the IEC
losses have not fully accounted for the possible contribution from eddy current within the
sheath. Furthermore Figure 6 shows that the contribution of the eddy current losses are
approximately 34% of the IEC 60287 sheath losses. By considering the above figures it is
also apparent that the advanced losses predict a considerably lower armour loss than that
given by IEC 60287. Whilst such a low value is possible, it is highly dependent on the
permeability of the steel used in the armour.

We recommend that further investigation of armour wire permeability is undertaken, however

the results given here are not considered to be significantly optimistic.

3.3 Discussion
The conductor temperature profile for both the HDD landfall model and the J tube model are
shown in Figure 8 and Figure 9 respectively.

The conductor temperature profile for the HDD begins at a typical sea bed burial depth
(x =0 m), after which the burial depth of the cable increases at the start of the landfall site.
The cable remains at this deeper depth whilst within the landfall region, after which it returns
to its initial burial depth. An indication of the cable profile is included within Figure 8. From
this figure, it is apparent that there is a noticeable temperature increase as the depth of the
buried cable increases to 10 m at the start of the landfall site. The increase in temperature is
caused solely by the increased thermal resistance due to the greater burial depth. In the
middle of the landfall site, there is a second increase in temperature, due to the assumed
increase in soil thermal resistivity as one moves from the sea bed to the on-shore soil.
Finally, once out of the landfall site, the temperature of the cable decreases due to the
decreased burial depth. The final temperature on the on-shore side is greater than the initial
temperature offshore, due to the increased soil thermal resistivity on the land. It is also
apparent that the length of the deeply buried section is sufficiently long (for each region of
soil thermal resistivity), such that the temperature in the center of the region is not affected
by longitudinal heat transfer. This indicates that it would be possible to use a 2D model
rather than a 3D model to predict the continuous thermal rating.
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 Off shore Landfall site On shore

Figure 8 Conductor temperature profile with HDD landfall at 644 A

The conductor temperature profile for the J tube (Figure 9) shows three distinct regions,
which correspond to the three J tube sections presented in Figure 5. The hottest
temperature within the J tube is observed within the air section. Starting at 10 m below the
sea level (length equal to 0 m in Figure 9), the conductor temperature is approximately
constant below the sea level due the isothermal boundary condition on the J tube water
boundary. However as the tube air section approaches, the temperature begins to increase,
due to longitudinal heat transfer from the hotter central region. The increase in temperature
within the central region is caused by both an effective increase in thermal resistance
between the cable surface and ambient, plus the addition of the solar heat flux. Within the
tube air section, the temperature continues to rise up to a plateau. This temperature plateau
is formed due to the diminishing longitudinal heat transfer from the hotter central J tube air
section to the cooler neighbouring sections. The conductor temperature decreases once the
phases have been separated due to the reduction in thermal resistance caused by the
removal of the amour layer and cable fillers.

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 J Tube Water Section J tube Air Section Separated Phases

Figure 9 Conductor temperature profile within J tube at 868 A

The numerical models outlined above have been used to calculate the continuous thermal
rating for each environment with both the standard IEC losses and the advanced SL type
losses presented in [1]. A comparison of the continuous seasonal ratings for the base case
800mm2 132kV copper conductor is presented in Table 6.

Table 6 Continuous seasonal ratings calculated by FEA

Environment FEA with IEC FEA with advanced

losses [A] losses [A]
Typical seabed burial 893 925
Deep seabed burial 811 847
HDD landfall 605 644
J tube 893 928

The ratings of the larger cable sizes are presented in Section 4.0.

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4.0 Continuous Ratings for Remaining Cables
The above sections have presented in detail the continuous ratings for an 800 mm2 copper
conductor in various installation environments with both the classical IEC and FEA
approaches. This section presents the continuous thermal ratings for the remaining
considered conductor sizes presented in Section 1.0. The continuous rating for these
additional cables are calculated using the same methods and for the same installation
environments as those considered in section 2 and 3.

4.1 Thermal Rating for remaining cables

The continuous thermal rating predicted by the standard analytical approaches for each of
the installation environments are presented in Table 7. In this section the conductor sizes
which are 2000 mm2 are assumed to have an insulated Milliken design. By comparing the
buried cable rating with 100% steel armour and 50% steel armour, it is apparent that the
reduction in steel armour wires causes a decrease in rating. Whilst this is not what would be
expected physically, the reason for this decrease is due to the implementation of the armour
loss within IEC. Specifically the fact that the IEC method assumes the metal armour wires
can be represented as a single annulus. Therefore a decrease in the number of armour
wires reduces the annulus cross sectional area and hence increases the resistance of the
annulus. This increase in resistance, causes an increase within the armour loss factor
predicted by IEC.

Table 7 Continuous rating from standard IEC approaches

IEC with 100% steel armour

IEC with 50% steel armour wires (A)
Voltage wires (A)
Conductor
[kV] Typical Deeply Typical Deeply ERA J tube
Landfall Landfall
burial burial burial burial (IEC losses)
1600 mm2
220 968 864 623 939 837 602 900
Aluminium
2000 mm2
220 1096 971 694 1054 932 664 1004
Aluminium
2000 mm2
220 1206 1064 754 1152 1014 717 1076
Copper
2000 mm2
275 1099 971 964 1055 929 661 991
Aluminium
2000 mm2
275 1209 1063 752 1152 1010 712 1060
Copper

The continuous ratings in Table 7 show the same trend as that seen previously with the
shallower the burial depth of the cable, the greater the continuous rating. Furthermore the J
tube rating predicted by the ERA method is in between a deeply buried and landfall
installation for all considered cable designs.

It should also be noted from Table 7, that for the same conductor size, there is a slight
decrease in continuous rating with increased operating voltage. This is due to the slight
increase in insulation thickness required at higher voltages, which results in a greater
thermal resistance within the cable. Another reason for this rating decrease is because there
is an increased dielectric thermal loss at higher operating voltages.

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Before presenting the continuous rating for the advanced losses, the respective loss factors
first need to be calculated for these cable designs, which are shown in Table 8.

Table 8 Advanced loss factors

Advanced Loss Factors

Total no. No.
voltage
Conductor armour steel Sheath loss Armour loss
[kV]
wires wires Factor (1) Factor (2)

1600 mm2
220 130 65 0.45 0.07
Aluminium
2000 mm2
220 146 73 0.7 0.11
Aluminium
2000 mm2
220 146 73 1.06 0.17
Copper
2000 mm2
275 152 76 0.77 0.12
Aluminium
2000 mm2
275 152 76 1.2 0.18
Copper

The continuous ratings predicted by the FEA models for both IEC losses and the advanced
losses are presented in Table 9. In this table the ratings are presented for cables which have
50% steel armour wires only. By considering the FEA ratings with IEC losses, it is apparent
that they are slightly lower than the corresponding ratings predicted by a full IEC method,
shown in Table 7. This trend is the same as that shown for the smaller 800 mm2 conductor
previously.

Table 9 Continuous thermal rating of buried cables with FEA

FEA with IEC losses (A) FEA with Advance losses (A)
voltage
Conductor Typical Deeply Typical Deeply
[kV] Landfall J tube Landfall J tube
burial burial burial burial
2
1600 mm
220 919 824 574 1036 1020 927 662 1076
Aluminium
2
2000 mm
220 1030 917 637 1116 1182 1066 761 1278
Aluminium
2
2000 mm
220 1130 1002 689 1253 1340 1205 857 1535
Copper
2
2000 mm
275 1024 910 634 1109 1160 1045 747 1255
Aluminium
2
2000 mm
275 1125 992 685 1224 1300 1168 833 1472
Copper

Table 9 shows that with the advanced losses the FEA ratings show a significant rating
increase, as expected based on previous results. Further it is apparent that when comparing
the continuous ratings between conductor sizes, the aluminum conductors have
approximately an 8% lower rating with IEC losses and a 12% lower rating with advanced
losses, as compared with the rating from a copper conductor.

It is again evident (from Table 9) that there is a slight decrease in rating between
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comparable conductors (same cross sectional area and material) as the operating voltage is
increased. This is expected, due to the greater thermal resistance caused by the thicker
insulation and the increased dielectric loss due to the higher operating voltage.

4.2 Effect of Milliken Conductor Design

The previous conductor designs which are equal to or greater than 2000 mm2 have been
considered as insulated (oxidized) Milliken conductor design. This method is used to
improve the rating by reducing the skin effect. The final part of this study determines the
percentage rating impact on using such a conductor design over the plain stranded design.

To quantify the potential rating increase by using a Milliken conductor, the continuous rating
of the 2000 mm2 copper conductor at 275 kV will be considered over the entire range of
installation environments. To account for the variation in conductor design (Milliken or plain
stranded) the constants ks and kp given by IEC 60287-1 [5] need to be chosen accordingly
(given in Table 4). Using these new values the updated advanced loss factors are:
Plain stranded conductor, sheath loss factor (1) is 0.82
Plain stranded conductor, armour loss factor (2) is 0.12
Both of these are a decrease in loss factor from the Milliken cable due to the higher
conductor losses of a stranded conductor design. It should be noted that despite the
significant change in loss factors the induced current in the sheath and armour is not
significantly changed.

A comparison of the continuous rating with stranded and Milliken conductor design for the
considered installation environments is presented in Table 10.

Table 10 - Rating comparison of stranded and Milliken conductor for 2000 mm2 copper
conductor at 275kV

FEA IEC losses (A) FEA advance losses (A)

Conductor Typical Deeply Typical Deeply
Landfall J tube Landfall J tube
burial burial burial burial
Stranded 1039 923 642 1126 1180 1064 763 1228
Milliken 1125 992 685 1224 1300 1168 833 1472

From the above table it is apparent that the percentage rating increase for a Milliken
conductor is slightly greater when using the advanced losses (maximum of approx. 9% at
typical burial depth) than for the IEC losses (maximum of approx. 8% at typical burial depth).
Furthermore it is evident that as the burial depth of the cable increases the percentage
increase in rating, decreases. This is expected due to the increased dominance of the
external soil on the rating as the depth increases.

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5.0 Conclusions
This study has presented the continuous thermal rating for a thermally independent 132kV
800 mm2 (plain stranded copper), three phase SL type cable in various different installations.
The continuous ratings for these environments have been calculated using methods which
increase in complexity from the standard IEC approaches to finite element analysis methods
with advanced estimation of the induced losses. The predicted continuous ratings from each
considered method and installation environment is presented in Table 11.

Table 11 Comparison of continuous rating methods for 132kV 800mm2 Cu

Continuous Ratings [A] % gain between

Installation FEA with standard method
Standard FEA with
environment advanced and FEA with
methods IEC losses
losses advanced losses
Typical seabed 896 893 925 3.2
burial
Deep seabed 811 811 847 4.4
burial
HDD Landfall 598 605 644 7.7
J tube 835 893 928 11

The above table shows that the HDD landfall always has the lowest continuous rating
regardless of method. This section is therefore believed to be the most thermally limiting of
the entire circuit.

By developing a bespoke FEA model and considering the advanced losses predicted by [1],
there is a maximum 7.2% increase in rating from the standard IEC methods within the buried
cables. Such a large increase in rating is apparent due to the considerable reduction in
armour loss predicted by [1]. Since the permeability of steel is dependent on the composition
and manufacturing processes, it is suggested that the permeability is verified, as the armour
loss factor will impact the continuous thermal rating. It is further evident that the
improvement in rating decreases as the burial depth of the cable decreases as the rating is
dominated by the close proximity of the sea bed boundary.

There is a more significant increase in rating between the classical method and the bespoke
FEA method for the J tube. This is caused by both the improved loss prediction and also the
improved modelling of the heat transfer within a J tube, which the FEA model allows.

A summary of the continuous ratings for each of the larger cable design and all the
considered cable installations is presented in Table 12. From this table it is evident that as
the conductor cross sectional area increases for a given conductor material, there is as
expected an increase in rating. The same trends in rating in regards to the installation
environment follows that of the smallest conductor considered in detail above. Further it is
apparent that when comparing the continuous ratings between conductor sizes, the
aluminum conductors have approximately an 8% lower rating with IEC losses and a 12%
lower rating with advanced losses, as compared with the rating from a copper conductor.

It should be noted that when using the IEC thermal losses, there is a decrease in rating by
replacing half of the steel armour wires with polymer. This is believed not to be physical and
is a limitation of the assumption made within the IEC approach. This issue is not present with
the advanced losses as a rating increase has been observed. This further illustrates the
importance of using the advance thermal losses for a SL type cable over the standard IEC
approach.
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Finally the study has shown that the percentage rating increase for a Milliken conductor is
slightly greater when using the advanced losses (maximum of approx. 9% at typical burial
depth) than for the IEC losses (maximum of approx. 8% at typical burial depth). Furthermore
it is evident that as the burial depth of the cable increases the percentage increase in rating,
decreases. This is expected due to the increased dominance of the external soil on the
rating as the depth increases.

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 Table 12 Complete summary of continuous thermal ratings for considered cables and installations

Conductor IEC Method FEA with IEC losses FEA with Advance losses
Voltag ERA J tube
(plain Typical Deeply Typical Deeply Typical Deeply
e [kV] Landfall (IEC losses) Landfall J tube Landfall J tube
stranded) burial burial burial burial burial burial
800 mm2
132 896 811 598 835 893 811 605 893 925 847 644 928
Copper
2
1600 mm
220 939 837 602 900 919 824 574 1036 1020 927 662 1076
Aluminium
2000 mm2
220 1054 932 664 1004 1030 917 637 1116 1182 1066 761 1278
Aluminium
2000 mm2
220 1152 1014 717 1076 1130 1002 689 1253 1340 1205 857 1535
Copper
2000 mm2
275 1055 929 661 991 1024 910 634 1109 1160 1045 747 1255
Aluminium
2000 mm2
275 1152 1010 712 1060 1125 992 685 1224 1300 1168 833 1472
Copper

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6.0 References
[1] K. Goddard, J. A. Pilgrim, R. Chippendale and P. and Lewin, Induced Losses in Three-
core SL-type High Voltage Cables, IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, vol. 30, no. 3,
pp. 1505-1513, 2015.
[2] CIGRE, TB303: Revision of Qualification Procedures for HH and EHV Ac Extruded
Underground Cable Systems, CIGRE, 2006.
[3] IEC 60287-2-1 ed 2.0, Electric cables - Calculation of the current rating - Part 2-1:
Calculation of Thermal Resistance, 2006.
[4] C. Long, Essential Heat Transfer, Longman; 1 edition , 1999.
[5] IEC 60287-1-1, Electric cables - Calculation of the current rating: Part 1-1 Current rating
equations (100% load factor) and calculation of losses - General, 2006.
[6] M. Coates, Rating cables in J tubes, report number 88-0108, ERA technology, 1988.
[7] D. J. Swaffield, P. L. Lewin and S. Sutton, Methods for rating directly buried high voltage
cable circuits, IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 393-401,
2008.
[8] R. A. Black and W. Z. Hartlein, Ampacity of electric power cables in vertical protective
rises, IEEE transaction on power apparatus and systems, 1983.

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7.0 Appendix
7.1 132kV 800 mm2 copper conductor
Outer
Inner Diameter
Component Material Outer radius [mm] Diameter Thickness [mm]
[mm]
[mm]
Conductor Copper 17.2 34.5
Semiconducting
Conductor Screen 18.7 34.5 37.5 1.5
XLPE
Insulation XLPE 35.7 37.5 71.5 17
Semiconducting
Insulation screen 37.2 71.5 74.5 1.5
XLPE
Swelling Tape Polymeric 38.7 74.5 77.5 1.5
Sheath Lead alloy 41.2 77.5 82.5 2.5
Power core oversheath Semiconducting PE 43.4 82.5 87.0 2.2
Filler Polypropylene yarn various
Binder tape Fabric 95.5 187.0 191.0 2
Armour Galvanised Steel 101.1 191.0 203.0 5.6
Outer serving Polypropylene yarn 105.6 202.5 212.0 4.5

Additional Parameters Value unit Additional Parameters Value units

Conductor XSA 800 mm2 Capacitance per phase 0.21 F/km
Voltage 132 kV Inductance per phase 0.38 mH/km
Conductor material Copper Total number of armour wires 110
Conductor fill factor 0.86 Number of steel wires 110
Tan(delta) 0.001 Number of polymeric wires 0
Relative permittivity 2.5 Weight per power core 18.8 kg/m
Voltage to earth, Uo 76210 V Total cable weight per m 73.6 kg/m
Electric stress at conductor 6.30 kV/mm Conductor AC resistance at 90 C 3.12x10-5 /m
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7.2 220kV 1600 mm2 Aluminium conductor

Inner Diameter Outer Diameter Thickness

Component Material Outer radius [mm]
[mm] [mm] [mm]
Conductor Aluminium 24.3 49.0
Semiconducting
Conductor Screen
XLPE 25.8 49.0 52.0 1.5
Insulation XLPE 45.8 52.0 92.0 20
Semiconducting
Insulation screen
XLPE 47.3 92.0 95.0 1.5
Swelling Tape Polymeric 48.8 95.0 98.0 1.5
Sheath Lead alloy 51.8 97.67 104.0 3
Power core oversheath Semiconducting PE 54.0 104.0 108.0 2.2
Filler Polypropylene yarn 0.0
Binder tape Fabric 118.4 233.0 237.0 2
Armour Steel 124.0 237.0 248.0 5.6
Outer serving Polypropylene yarn 128.5 248.0 257.0 4.5

Additional Parameters Value units Additional Parameters Value units

Conductor XSA 1600 mm2 Capacitance per phase 0.24 F/km
Voltage 220 kV Inductance per phase 0.36 mH/km
Conductor material Aluminium Total number of armour wires 135
Conductor fill factor 0.86 Number of steel wires 135
Tan(delta) 0.001 Number of polymeric wires 0
Relative permittivity 2.5 Weight per power core 21.6 kg/m
Voltage to earth 127017 V Total cable weight per m 88.0 kg/m
Electric stress at conductor 8.6 kV/mm Conductor AC resistance at 90 C 2.73x10-5 /m

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7.3 220kV 2000 mm2 Aluminium conductor

Inner Diameter Outer Diameter Thickness

Component Material Outer radius [mm]
[mm] [mm] [mm]
Conductor Copper 27.2 54.5
Semiconducting
Conductor Screen
XLPE 28.7 54.5 57.5 1.5
Insulation XLPE 48.7 57.5 97.5 20
Semiconducting
Insulation screen
XLPE 50.2 97.5 100.5 1.5
Swelling Tape Polymeric 51.7 100.5 103.5 1.5
Sheath Lead alloy 54.7 103.5 109.5 3
Power core oversheath Semiconducting PE 56.9 109.5 114.0 2.2
Filler Polypropylene yarn 0.0
Binder tape Fabric 124.6 245.0 249.0 2
Armour Steel/polymeric 130.2 249.0 260.5 5.6
Outer serving Polypropylene yarn 134.7 260.5 269.5 4.5

Additional Parameters Value units Additional Parameters Value units

Conductor XSA 2000 mm2 Capacitance per phase 0.26 F/km
Voltage 220 kV Inductance per phase 0.34 mH/km
Conductor material Aluminium Total number of armour wires 142
Conductor fill factor 0.86 Number of steel wires 71
Tan(delta) 0.001 Number of polymeric wires 71
Relative permittivity 2.5 Weight per power core 23.8 kg/m
Voltage to earth 127017 V Total cable weight per m 96.3 kg/m
Electric stress at conductor 8.4 kV/mm Conductor AC resistance at 90 C 1.9 x10-5 /m

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7.4 220kV 2000mm2 copper conductor

Inner diameter Outer Diameter Thickness

Component Material Outer radius [mm]
[mm] [mm] [mm]
Conductor Copper 27.2 54.5
Semiconducting
Conductor Screen
XLPE 28.7 54.5 57.5 1.5
Insulation XLPE 48.7 57.5 97.5 20
Semiconducting
Insulation screen
XLPE 50.2 97.5 100.5 1.5
Swelling Tape polymeric 51.7 100.5 103.5 1.5
Sheath Lead alloy 54.7 103.42 109.5 3
Power core oversheath Semiconducting PE 56.9 109.5 114.0 2.2
Filler Polypropylene yarn
Binder tape Fabric 124.6 245.0 249.0 2
Armour Steel/polymeric 130.2 249.0 260.5 5.6
Outer serving Polypropylene yarn 134.7 260.5 269.5 4.5

Additional Parameters Value units Additional Parameters Value units

Conductor XSA 2000 mm2 Capacitance per phase 0.26 F/km
Voltage 220 kV Inductance per phase 0.34 mH/km
Conductor material Copper Total number of armour wires 142
Conductor fill factor 0.86 Number of steel wires 71
Tan(delta) 0.001 Number of polymeric wires 71
Relative permittivity 2.5 Weight per power core 36.6 kg/m
Voltage to earth 127017 V Total cable weight per m 134.8 kg/m
Electric stress at conductor 8.4 kV/mm Conductor AC resistance at 90 C 1.25 x10-5 /m

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7.5 275kV 2000 mm2 Aluminium conductor

Inner diameter Outer Diameter Thickness

Component Material Outer radius [mm]
[mm] [mm] [mm]
Conductor Copper 27.2 54.5
Semiconducting
Conductor Screen
XLPE 28.7 54.5 57.5 1.5
Insulation XLPE 54.7 57.5 109.5 26
Semiconducting
Insulation screen
XLPE 56.2 109.5 112.5 1.5
Swelling Tape polymeric 57.7 112.5 115.5 1.5
Sheath Lead alloy 60.7 115.5 121.5 3
Power core oversheath Semiconducting PE 62.9 121.5 126 2.2
Filler Polypropylene yarn 0.0
Binder tape Fabric 137.5 271.0 275.0 2
Armour Steel/polymeric 143.1 275.0 286.5 5.6
Outer serving Polypropylene yarn 147.6 286.5 295.5 4.5

Additional Parameters Value units Additional Parameters Value units

Conductor XSA 2000 mm2 Capacitance per phase 0.22 F/km
Voltage 275 kV Inductance per phase 0.51 mH/km
Conductor material Aluminium Total number of armour wires 157
Conductor fill factor 0.86 Number of steel wires 79
Tan(delta) 0.001 Number of polymeric wires 78
Relative permittivity 2.5 Weight per power core 27.1 kg/m
Voltage to earth 158771 V Total cable weight per m 110.3 kg/m
Electric stress at conductor 8.6 kV/mm Conductor AC resistance at 90 C 1.9 x10-5 /m

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15242-RE2-v7 TDHVL41 v1 Deliverable Template

March 2015
7.6 275kV 2000 mm2 copper conductor

Inner diameter Outer Diameter Thickness

Component Material Outer radius [mm]
[mm] [mm] [mm]
Conductor Copper 27.2 54.5
Semiconducting
Conductor Screen
XLPE 28.7 54.5 57.5 1.5
Insulation XLPE 54.7 57.5 109.5 26
Semiconducting
Insulation screen
XLPE 56.2 109.5 112.5 1.5
Swelling Tape polymeric 57.7 112.5 115.5 1.5
Sheath Lead alloy 60.7 115.5 121.5 3
Power core oversheath Semiconducting PE 62.9 121.5 126.0 2.2
Filler Polypropylene yarn 0.0
Binder tape Fabric 137.5 271.0 275.0 2
Armour Steel/polymeric 143.1 275.0 286.5 5.6
Outer serving Polypropylene yarn 147.6 286.5 295.5 4.5

Additional Parameters Value units Additional Parameters Value units

Conductor XSA 2000 mm2 Capacitance per phase 0.22 F/km
Voltage 275 kV Inductance per phase 0.51 mH/km
Conductor material Copper Total number of armour wires 157
Conductor fill factor 0.86 Number of steel wires 79
Tan(delta) 0.001 Number of polymeric wires 78
Relative permittivity 2.5 Weight per power core 40.0 kg/m
Voltage to earth 158771 V Total cable weight per m 148.8 kg/m
Electric field stress at conductor 8.6 kV/mm Conductor AC resistance at 90 C 1.25 x10-5 /m

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March 2015
Appendix B:
The scope of work required the total thermal loss of the cable (Q [W/m]) to be given with respect to the rated current (I [A]) and the total cable
resistance (electrical), expressed in the following form
Q = 3I2 Rx B.1

Since the current within the sheath and the armour are different to that within the conductor, an equivalent term is required to represent
modified resistance in the sheath and armour. By summing the conductor ac resistance with equivalent term for the sheath and armour, the
total equivalent term Rx is obtained.

It should also be noted that the electrical resistance and hence the thermal losses are temperature dependent. Whilst the temperature of the
conductor under continuous rating conditions is trivial to determine (90 C) the thermal profile within the cable and hence the temperature of the
sheath and armour is installation dependent. To remove this uncertainty the values presented in Table 13 are for the typical burial case, used in
the above studies.
Table 13 Total cable thermal loss

Conductor AC Equivalent term Total

Continuous Total loss (Q)
Cable Design Resistance at 90 C equivalent
Rating [A] sheath armour [W/m]
[/m] term (Rx)
2
800 mm Copper 893 3.12E-05 8.74E-06 1.59E-05 5.58E-05 134
1600 mm2
919
Aluminium 2.70E-05 1.16E-05 1.84E-05 5.70E-05 144
2000 mm2
1030
Aluminium 1.80E-05 1.28E-05 1.80E-05 4.88E-05 155
2000 mm2 Copper 1130 1.19E-05 1.26E-05 1.82E-05 4.27E-05 164
2000 mm2
1024
Aluminium 1.80E-05 1.40E-05 1.78E-05 4.99E-05 157
2000 mm2 Copper 1125 1.20E-05 1.39E-05 1.80E-05 4.39E-05 167

The authors of this report would like to stress these values are for single installations and sets of environmental conditions and care should be
taken if they are to be used for a different case.

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