Diyala Journal ISSN 1999-8716

of Engineering Printed in Iraq

Sciences
Second Engineering Scientific Conference
College of Engineering –University of Diyala
16-17 December. 2015, pp. 343-354

SHORT CIRCUIT ANALYSIS FOR POWER SYSTEM

AHMED MAJEED GHADBAN 1, Mohamed Waleed Abdulwahhab 2

ABSTRACT:- In this paper analysis to electrical power network design under applying
many types of a short circuit on lines and buses. In order to maintain the continuation of
power supply to all customers which is the core purpose of the power system existence, Short
circuit problem is one of the most important and complex task in electrical Power
Engineering. The studies and detection of these faults is necessary to ensure that the power
system is reliable and stable. The severity of the fault depends on the short-circuit location,
and the path taken by fault current, the system impedance and its voltage level. In This paper
analyzes the behavior of a system under fault conditions and evaluates different types of
faults. Power world simulator was used to simulate IEEE30- bus. All results achieved and
discussed.

1- INTRODUCTION
During normal operating conditions, current will flow through all elements of the
electrical power system with in pre-designed values which are appropriate to these elements’
ratings. Any power system can be analyzed by calculating the system voltages & currents
under normal & abnormal scenarios [1]. Unfortunately, faults could happen as a result of
natural events or accidents where the phase will establish a connection with another phase,
the ground or both in some cases[2]. A falling tree on a transmission lines could cause a
three-phase fault where all phases share a point of contact called fault location. In different
occasions, fault could be a result of insulation deterioration, wind damage or human
vandalism.
Faults can be defined as the flow of a massive current through an improper path
which could cause enormous equipment damage which will lead to interruption of power,
personal injury, or death. In addition, the voltage level will alternate which can affect the
equipment insulation in case of an increase or could cause a failure of equipment start-up if
the voltage is below a minimum level. As a result, the electrical potential difference of the
system neutral will increase [1].Hence, People and equipment will be exposed to the danger
of electricity which is not accepted. In order to prevent such an event, power system fault
analysis was introduced.
The process of evaluating the system voltages and currents under various types of
short circuits is called fault analysis which can determine the necessary safety measures & the
required protection system [2]. It is essential to guarantee the safety of public [3]. The
analysis of faults leads to appropriate protection settings which can be computed in order to
select suitable fuse, circuit breaker size and type of relay [1]. The severity of the fault
depends on the short-circuit location, the path taken by fault current, the system impedance
and its voltage level. In order to maintain the continuation of power supply to all customers
which is the core purpose of the power system existence, all faulted parts must be isolated
from the system temporary by the protection schemes. When a fault exists within the relay

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SHORT CIRCUIT ANALYSIS FOR POWER SYSTEM NETWORKS
protection zone at any transmission line, a signal will trip or open the circuit breaker isolating
the faulted line.
To complete this task successfully, fault analysis has to be conducted in every
location assuming several fault conditions. The goal is to determine the optimum protection
scheme by determining the fault currents & voltages. In reality, power system can consist of
thousands of buses which complicate the task of calculating these parameters without the use
of computer software.
There are two types of faults which can occur on any transmission lines; balanced
faults & unbalanced faults. In addition, unbalanced faults can be classified into single line-to-
ground faults, double line faults and double line-to-ground faults. In this peppier will
calculate the fault by using power word program in all types of the fault.
In this paper all types of fault cases was considered, power world simulator was used
to accomplish this work.
2- DESIGN AND POWER WORLD SIMULATION
IEEE 30 bus base case load flow was setup using Power World simulator. Figure 1
shows the setup in Power World in Edit Mode and Figure 2 shows the setup in Power World
software in Run Mode
3-Results and Discussion
This discussion done for all types of fault listed earlier. Then, the comments and
recommendations will be provided based on that. When using power word program we can
calculate the current fault in all types of fault
I. Single Line-to-Ground Fault
The single line-to-ground fault is usually referred as “short circuit” fault and occurs
when one conductor falls to ground or makes contact with the neutral wire. The general
representation of a single line-to-ground fault is shown in Figure 3. Where F is the fault point
with impedances Zf. Figure 4 shows the sequences network diagram. Phase a is usually
assumed to be the faulted phase, this is for simplicity in the fault analysis calculations (1) .
Since the zero-, positive-, and negative-sequence currents are equals as it can be observed in
Figure 4. Therefore,

……………………………………..1
Since

…………………………………….2
Solving Equation the fault current for phase a is
…………………………………..3

It can also be
………………………………..4

From Figure 3it can be observed that,

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SHORT CIRCUIT ANALYSIS FOR POWER SYSTEM NETWORKS
The voltage at faulted phase a can be obtained by substituting Equation 2 into Equation 5.
Therefore,

…………………………………………..6
Iaf=Ia0+Ia1+Ia2 ………………7
Iaf=3Ia0=3Ia1=3Ia2 ……………………………………………………..8
Vaf=Z f I af……………………………………………9

.………………………………….……...10

…………………………………………..11

Figure 5 show power world simulators to calculate fault current the type single line to
ground.
I. Line-to-Line Fault
Line to line fault the figure 2 show the magnitude of current in per unit when we selected
the bus number 23 and the voltage under fault condition in phase B & C it lower than all
phases.
The general representation of a line-to-line fault is shown in Figure 3.12 where F is the
fault point with impedances Zf. Figure 6 shows the sequences network diagram. Phase b and
c are usually assumed to be the faulted phases; this is for simplicity in the fault analysis
calculations
From Figure 7 it can be noticed that

….………………………………12
And the sequence currents can be obtained as

……………………………………13

……………………………………..14

With the results obtained for sequence currents, the

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SHORT CIRCUIT ANALYSIS FOR POWER SYSTEM NETWORKS

……………………………….15

The sequence voltages can be found similarly by substituting Equations 13 and 14 into
Equation 14

………………………………….16
Finally, the line-to-line voltages for a line-to-line fault can be expressed as

……………….17

………………………………18
The figure 8 show using power world program to calculate current in the type fault line to
line
I. Double Line-to-Ground Fault
Double line to ground fault figure 4 show the magnitude of current in per unit when we
selected the bus number 23 and the voltage under fault condition in B & C is 0
The general representation of a double line-to-ground fault is shown in Figure 3.14 where
F is the fault point with impedances Zf and the impedance from line to ground Zg. Figure
3.15 shows the sequences network diagram. Phase b and c are assumed to be the faulted
phases, this is for simplicity in the fault analysis calculations. [1]
From Figure 10 it can be observed that

…………………………………..19
An alternative method is,

………………………………..20

If Zf and Zg are both equal to zero, then the positive-, negative-, and zero- sequences can
be obtained from

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SHORT CIRCUIT ANALYSIS FOR POWER SYSTEM NETWORKS

…………………………………21
From Figure 9 the current for phase a is
………………………………….22

Now, substituting Equations 21 into Equation 2 to obtain phase b and c fault currents

………………………………23
The total fault current flowing into the neutral is
………………………………24
And the sequences voltages can be obtained by using Equation 15

…………………………….25

The phase voltages are equal to

…………………………26
The line-to-line voltages can be obtained from

…………………………..27
The figure 11 show using power world program to calculate current in the type fault double
line to ground.
II.Three-Phase Fault
Three phase balanced fault the figure 3 show the magnitude of current in per unit when
we selected the bus number 23 and the voltage under fault condition in all phases is 0.A
general representation of a balanced three-phase fault is shown in Figure 12 where F is the
fault point with impedances Zf and Zg . Figure 13 shows the sequences networks
interconnection diagram.
From Figure 13 it can be noticed that the only one that has an internal voltage source is
the positive-sequence network. Therefore, the corresponding currents for each of the
sequences can be expressed as

Diyala Journal of Engineering Sciences, Vol. 08, No. 04, Special Issue
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SHORT CIRCUIT ANALYSIS FOR POWER SYSTEM NETWORKS

……………………………28
If the fault impedance Zf is zero,

………………………..29

If equation is substituted into equation

……………………………30

Solving Equation 22

. …………………………31

The phase voltages becomes,

…………………………………………………………………33

And the line voltages,

…………………………………………….34

The figure 14 show using power world program to calculate current in the type fault three
phase

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SHORT CIRCUIT ANALYSIS FOR POWER SYSTEM NETWORKS
4-CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, fault analysis was done for a 30 bus system where bus number twenty three was
the main focus of this report. The following observations have been made based on the results
obtained from the analysis:
 In three-phase fault, the voltages at faulted bus phases dropped to zero during the fault.
The faulted bus is bus number four where Phase A, B and C has a zero voltage potential.
 However, only voltage at Phase A is equal to zero in single line-to-ground fault. In
addition, only Phase A has current since it is the faulted phase in this type of fault as we
assumed earlier in the mathematical model. This current is the second highest fault currents
of all types.
 Since Phase B and Phase C are in contact in line-to-line fault, the voltages at both phases
are equal. The fault current are passing from B to C. in Phase A, the current is equal to zero
compared to the fault current.
 In double line-to-ground fault, Phase B and C voltages are equal to zero. The faulted
current is flowing through both phases only. In addition, this type of

5-References
1. Paul M. Anderson, “Analysis of Faulted Power Systems”, the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers, Inc., 1995.
2. Jun Zhu. “Analysis of Transmission System Faults the Phase Domain”, Texas A&M
University. Master Thesis, 2004.
3. T.K Nagsarkar and M.S Sukhija, “Power System Analysis”, New York Oxford University
Press, pp.14-25, 2005
4. Miroslav D. Markovic, “Fault Analysis in Power Systems by Using the Fortescue
Method”, TESLA Institute, 2009.
5. Norliana B. Salimun. “Phase Coordinates in Faulted Power System Analysis”, University
Teknologi Malaysia. Master Thesis, 2010.
6. Hadi Saadat. Power System Analysis. Milwaukee Scholl of Engineering. WBC McGraw-
Hill

Tabl-1 show the result of voltage at bus bar [23] under single line to ground fault
Bus No. NAME PHASE A PHASE B PHASE C PHASE A PHASE B PHASE C
VOLT VOLT VOLT ANGLE ANGLE ANGLE
23 23 0.00000 1.27608 1.19202 0.00000 -144.04 117.06

Tabl-2 show the result of voltage at bus bar [23] under line to line fault
NUMBER NAME PHASE PHASE PHASE PHASE PHASE PHASE
VOLT A VOLT B VOLT C ANGLE A ANGLE B ANGLE C
23 23 1.08320 0.54159 -15.16 -15.16 164.84 164.84

Tabl-3 show the result of voltage at bus bar 23 under double line to ground fault
NUMBER NAME PHASE PHASE PHASE PHASE PHASE PHASE
VOLT A VOLT B VOLT C ANGLE A ANGLE B ANGLE C
23 23 1.29446 0.0000 0.0000 -13.57 0.00 0.00

Tabl-4 show the result of voltage at bus bar [23] under three phase fault
NUMBER NAME PHASE PHASE PHASE PHASE PHASE PHASE
VOLT A VOLT B VOLT C ANGLE A ANGLE B ANGLE C
23 23 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.00 0.00 0.00

Diyala Journal of Engineering Sciences, Vol. 08, No. 04, Special Issue
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SHORT CIRCUIT ANALYSIS FOR POWER SYSTEM NETWORKS

Figure 1: IEEE 30 bus base case load flow in edit mode.

Figure 2 shows the setup in Power World in Run Mode

Figure 3 General representation of a single line-to-ground fault.

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SHORT CIRCUIT ANALYSIS FOR POWER SYSTEM NETWORKS

Figure 4 Sequence network diagram of a single line-to-ground fault.

Figure 5 show power world simulators to calculate fault current the type single line to
ground.

Figure 6 Sequence network diagram of a line-to-line fault

Figure 7 Sequence network diagram of a line-to-line fault.

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SHORT CIRCUIT ANALYSIS FOR POWER SYSTEM NETWORKS

figure 8 show using power world program to calculate current in the type fault line to line

Figure 9 General representation of a double line-to-ground fault.

Figure 10 Sequence network diagram of a double line-to-ground fault.

figure 11 show using power world program to calculate current in the type fault double line
Diyala Journal of Engineering Sciences, Vol. 08, No. 04, Special Issue
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Second Engineering Scientific Conference-College of Engineering –University of Diyala 16-17 December. 2015
SHORT CIRCUIT ANALYSIS FOR POWER SYSTEM NETWORKS

Figure 12 General representation of a balanced three-phase fault

Figure 13 Sequence network diagram of a balanced three-phase fault

figure 14 show using power world program to calculate current in the type fault three phase

Diyala Journal of Engineering Sciences, Vol. 08, No. 04, Special Issue
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‫‪Second Engineering Scientific Conference-College of Engineering –University of Diyala 16-17 December. 2015‬‬
‫‪SHORT CIRCUIT ANALYSIS FOR POWER SYSTEM NETWORKS‬‬

‫تحليل دوائر القصر الكهربائي في شبكات أنظمة القدرة الكهربائية‬

‫الخالصة‬
‫لضمان وصول القدرة الكهربائية للمستهلك بصورة مستمرة وبدون انقطاع مع موثوقية واستق اررية تجعل من‬
‫خدمات القدرة هي األفضل ‪ ,‬في هذا البحث دراسة تحليلية لجميع انواع دوائر القصر)‪ .(faults‬تعتبر عملية التحليل‬
‫الرياضي لدوائر القصر في شبكات أنظمة القدرة الكهربائية من اهم واصعب المهام في انظمة القدرة‪ .‬ولهذا فان دراسة‬
‫واكتشاف العطل يعتبر من الضروريات للتأكد من ان القدرة مستقرة وموثوقة الستخدام المستهلك‪ .‬اعتماد قوة العطل‬
‫الكهربائي على على موقعه بالنسبة للشبكة مما يجعل مسار تيار العطل يحدد من مستوى الفولتية وقيمة الممانعة‬
‫بالنسبة للخط الذي حدث فيه العطل‪.‬في هذا البحث تحليل لسلوك النظام الكهربائي تحت تاثير عدة انواع من العطل‬
‫استخدم كأداة لمحاكاة شبكة نظام قدرة كهربائية تتكون من ‪03‬عقدة‬ ‫(‪)Power world simulator‬‬ ‫الكهربائي‪.‬‬
‫(‪ .)IEEE30-bus‬كل النتائج المستحصلة تمت مناقشتها في متن هذا البحث‪.‬‬

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