Author(s)

I. Colominas. F. Navarrina & M. Casteleiro

Abstract

On the anomalous asymptotic performance of the regular computer methods for grounding analysis I. Colominas, F. Navarrina & M. Casteleiro Group of Numerical Methods in Engineering, Civil Engineering School, University of La CoruAa, Spain Abstract Grounding systems are designed to guarantee personal security, protection of equipments and continuity of power supply. Hence, engineers must compute the equivalent resistance of the system and the potential distribution on the earth surface when a fault condition occurs [ I , 2, 31. While very crude approximations were available until the 70's, several computer methods have been more recently proposed on the basis of practice, semi-empirical works and intuitive ideas such as superposition of punctual current sources and error averaging [I, 3,4,5,6]. Although these techniques are widely used, several problems have been reported. Namely: large computational requirements, unrealistic results when segmentation of conductors is increased, and uncertainty

Keywords