EEE 419
Power System II
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Symmetrical Fault Calculation
❑ Most of the faults on the power system lead to a short-circuit condition. When such a condition
occurs, a heavy current (called short circuit current) flows through the equipment, causing
considerable damage to the equipment and interruption of service to the consumers.
❑ The choice of apparatus and the design and arrangement of practically every equipment in the
power system depends upon short-circuit current considerations.
The fault on the power system which gives rise to
symmetrical fault currents (i.e. equal fault currents in the lines
with 120 degree displacement) is called a symmetrical fault.
❑ The symmetrical fault occurs when all the three conductors of
a 3-phase line are brought together simultaneously into a
short circuit condition.
❑ This type of fault gives rise to symmetrical currents i.e. equal
fault currents with 120 degree displacement. Thus referring
the figure, fault currents IR, IY and I B will be equal in magnitude
with 120 degree displacement among them.
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Symmetrical Fault Calculation
Because of balanced nature of fault, only one phase need be
considered in calculations since condition in the other two
phases will also be similar. The following points may be
particularly noted :
(i) The symmetrical fault rarely occurs in practice as majority
of the faults are of unsymmetrical nature. However,
symmetrical fault calculations are being discussed to
understand the problems that short circuit conditions
present to the power system.
(i) The symmetrical fault is the most severe and imposes
more heavy duty on the circuit breaker.
3
Limitation of Fault Current
❑ When a short circuit occurs at any point in a system, the short-circuit current is limited by the
impedance of the system up to the point of fault.
❑ Thus referring to Figure, 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 the generator and the point of fault. This value of the
impedances of 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, and generators. Cables and lines are mostly resistive, but where the total
reactance in calculations exceeds 3 times the resistance, the latter is usually neglected.
4
Percentage Reactance
❑ The reactance of generators, transformers is usually expressed in percentage reactance to
permit rapid short circuit calculations.
It is the percentage of the total phase-voltage dropped in the circuit when full-load current
is flowing
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Short Circuit Current
Advantage of using percentage reactance instead of ohmic reactance in short-circuit
calculations.
Percentage reactance values remain unchanged as they are referred through transformers, unlike
ohmic reactance which becomes multiplied or divided by the square of transformation ratio. This
makes the procedure simple and permits quick calculations.
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Percentage Reactance and Base kVA
It is clear from exp. (ii) above that percentage reactance of an equipment depends upon its
kVA rating. Generally, the various equipment used in the power system have different
kVA ratings.
Therefore, it is necessary to find the percentage reactance of all the elements on a
common kVA rating. This common kVA rating is known as base kVA. The value of this
base kVA may be :
(i) Equal to that of the largest plant
(ii) Equal to the total plant capacity
(iii) Any arbitrary value
The conversion can be effected by using the following relation :
Thus, a 1000 kVA transformer with 5% reactance will have a reactance of 10% at 2000
kVA base.
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Proof - Value of base kVA does not affect the
short circuit current
Consider a 3-phase transmission line operating at 66 kV and connected through a 1000 kVA
transformer with 5% reactance to a generating station bus-bar. The generator is operated at 2500
kVA with 10% reactance. Suppose a short-circuit fault between three phases occurs at the high
voltage terminals of transformer
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Proof - Value of base kVA does not affect the
short circuit current
9
Proof - Value of base kVA does not affect the
short circuit current
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Short-Circuit kVA
The product of normal system voltage and short-circuit current at the point of fault
expressed in kVA is known as short-circuit kVA.
Short-circuit kVA is obtained by multiplying the base kVA by 100/% X.
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Steps for Symmetrical Fault Calculations
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Problem
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