ECE 476

Power System Analysis

Lecture 19: Short Circuit Analysis

Prof. Tom Overbye

Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
overbye@illinois.edu
Announcements

• Please read Chapters 7 and 8

• HW 7 is due today
• HW 8 is 7.6, 7.14, 7.20, 7.29, 8.3; it will be covered
by an in-class quiz on due on Thursday Nov 3 (hence
you will not need to turn it in)
• Exam 2 is during class on Tuesday November 15
• Final exam is on Monday December 12, 1:30-4:30pm

1
Fault Analysis

• The cause of electric power system faults is

insulation breakdown
• This breakdown can be due to a variety of different
factors
– lightning
– wires blowing together in the wind
– animals or plants coming in contact with the wires
– salt spray or pollution on insulators

2
Fault Types

• There are two main types of faults

– symmetric faults: system remains balanced; these faults
are relatively rare, but are the easiest to analyze so we’ll
consider them first.
– unsymmetric faults: system is no longer balanced; very
common, but more difficult to analyze
• The most common type of fault on a three phase
system by far is the single line-to-ground (SLG),
followed by the line-to-line faults (LL), double
line-to-ground (DLG) faults, and balanced three
phase faults

3
Lightning Strike Event Sequence

1. Lighting hits line, setting up an ionized path to

ground
 30 million lightning strikes per year in US!
 a single typical stroke might have 25,000 amps, with a
rise time of 10 s, dissipated in 200 s.
 multiple strokes can occur in a single flash, causing the
lightning to appear to flicker, with the total event
lasting up to a second.
2. Conduction path is maintained by ionized air after
lightning stroke energy has dissipated, resulting in
high fault currents (often > 25,000 amps!)

4
Lightning Strike Sequence, cont’d

1. Within one to two cycles (16 ms) relays at both

ends of line detect high currents, signaling circuit
breakers to open the line
– nearby locations see decreased voltages
2. Circuit breakers open to de-energize line in an
additional one to two cycles
– breaking tens of thousands of amps of fault current is no
small feat!
– with line removed voltages usually return to near normal
3. Circuit breakers may reclose after several seconds,
trying to restore faulted line to service
5
 Worldwide Lightning Strike Density

Units are Lightning Flashes per square km per year; Florida is

top location in the US; very few on the West Coast, or HI, AK. This
is an important consideration when talking about electric reliability!
6
Source: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/ast05dec_1/
Fault Analysis

• Fault currents cause equipment damage due to both

thermal and mechanical processes
• Goal of fault analysis is to determine the
magnitudes of the currents present during the fault
– need to determine the maximum current to insure devices
can survive the fault
– need to determine the maximum current the circuit
breakers (CBs) need to interrupt to correctly size the CBs

7
RL Circuit Analysis

• To understand fault analysis we need to review the

behavior of an RL circuit

v(t ) 
2 V cos( t   )

Before the switch is closed obviously i(t) = 0.

When the switch is closed at t=0 the current will
have two components: 1) a steady-state value
2) a transient value
8
RL Circuit Analysis, cont’d

1. Steady-state current component (from standard

phasor analysis)
2 V cos(t   )
iac (t ) 
Z
where Z  R 2  ( L)2  R 2  X 2
V
I ac 
Z

9
RL Circuit Analysis, cont’d

2. Exponentially decaying dc current component

t
idc (t )  C1e T

where T is the time constant, T  L R

The value of C1 is determined from the initial
conditions:
2V t
i (0)  0  i ac (t )  i dc (t )  cos(t     Z )  C1e T
Z
2V
C1   cos(   Z ) which depends on 
Z
10
Time varying current

11
 RL Circuit Analysis, cont’d

Hence i(t) is a sinusoidal superimposed on a decaying

dc current. The magnitude of i dc (0) depends on when
the switch is closed. For fault analysis we're just
2V
concerned with the worst case: C1 
Z
i (t )  i ac (t )  i dc (t )
2V 2V t T
i (t )  cos(t )  e
Z Z
2V t
 (cos(t )  e T )
Z
12
RMS for Fault Current

2V t
The function i(t)  (cos(t )  e T ) is not periodic,
Z
so we can't formally define an RMS value. However,
as an approximation define
I RMS (t )  2
iac (t )  idc
2
(t )
2  T
2t
 2
I ac  2 I ac e
This function has a maximum value of 3 I ac
Therefore the dc component is included simply by
multiplying the ac fault currents by 3 13
Generator Modeling During Faults

• During a fault the only devices that can contribute

fault current are those with energy storage
• Thus the models of generators (and other rotating
machines) are very important since they contribute
the bulk of the fault current.
• Generators can be approximated as a constant
voltage behind a time-varying reactance

'
Ea
14
Generator Modeling, cont’d

The time varying reactance is typically approximated

using three different values, each valid for a different
time period:
X"d  direct-axis subtransient reactance
X 'd  direct-axis transient reactance
Xd  direct-axis synchronous reactance

15
Generator Modeling, cont’d

For a balanced three-phase fault on the generator

terminal the ac fault current is (see page 386)
 1  1 1   t
Td'

  '  e 
'  d  Xd Xd  
X
iac (t )  2Ea 
 t "
 sin(t   )
 1 1  

 X " X '  e Td

 d d  
where
Td"  direct-axis subtransient time constant (  0.035sec)
Td'  direct-axis transient time constant (  1sec)
16
Generator Modeling, cont'd

The phasor current is then

 1  1 1  
t
Td'

  '  e 
'  d  Xd Xd  
X
I ac  Ea  
 t "
 1 1  

 X " X '  e Td

 d d  
The maximum DC offset is
2 Ea'  t
I DC (t )  "
e TA
Xd
where TA is the armature time constant (  0.2 seconds)
17
Generator Short Circuit Currents

18
Generator Short Circuit Currents

19
Generator Short Circuit Example

• A 500 MVA, 20 kV, 3 is operated with an internal

voltage of 1.05 pu. Assume a solid 3 fault occurs
on the generator's terminal and that the circuit
breaker operates after three cycles. Determine the
fault current. Assume
X d"  0.15, X d'  0.24, X d  1.1 (all per unit)
"
Td  0.035 seconds, Td'
 2.0 seconds
TA  0.2 seconds

20
Generator S.C. Example, cont'd

Substituting in the values

1  1 1   t 2.0 
1.1   0.24  1.1  e 
I ac (t )  1.05  
 1  1  e  0.035 t

 0.15 0.24  
I ac (0)  1.05  7 p.u.
0.15
500  106
I base   14,433 A I ac (0)  101,000 A
3 20  10 3

t
I DC (0)  101 kA  2 e 0.2  143 k A I RMS (0)  175 kA
21
Generator S.C. Example, cont'd

Evaluating at t = 0.05 seconds for breaker opening

1  1 1   0.05 2.0 
1.1   0.24  1.1  e 
I ac (0.05)  1.05  
 1  1  e 0.05 0.035 
 0.15 0.24  
I ac (0.05)  70.8 kA
0.05
I DC (0.05)  143  e 0.2 kA  111 k A
I RMS (0.05)  70.82  1112  132 kA

22
Network Fault Analysis Simplifications

• To simplify analysis of fault currents in networks

we'll make several simplifications:
– Transmission lines are represented by their series
reactance
– Transformers are represented by their leakage reactances
– Synchronous machines are modeled as a constant voltage
behind direct-axis subtransient reactance
– Induction motors are ignored or treated as synchronous
machines
– Other (nonspinning) loads are ignored

23
Network Fault Example

For the following network assume a fault on the

terminal of the generator; all data is per unit
except for the transmission line reactance

generator has 1.05

terminal voltage &
supplies 100 MVA
with 0.95 lag pf
19.5
Convert to per unit: X line  2
 0.1 per unit
138
100 24
Network Fault Example, cont'd

Faulted network per unit diagram

To determine the fault current we need to first estimate

the internal voltages for the generator and motor
For the generator VT  1.05, SG  1.018.2
*
 1.018.2 
I Gen    0.952  18.2
'
Ea  1.1037.1
 1.05  25
Network Fault Example, cont'd

The motor's terminal voltage is then

1.050 - (0.9044 - j 0.2973)  j 0.3  1.00  15.8
The motor's internal voltage is
1.00  15.8  (0.9044 - j 0.2973)  j 0.2
 1.008  26.6
We can then solve as a linear circuit:
1.1037.1 1.008  26.6
If  
j 0.15 j 0.5
 7.353  82.9  2.016  116.6  j 9.09

26
Fault Analysis Solution Techniques

• Circuit models used during the fault allow the

network to be represented as a linear circuit
• There are two main methods for solving for fault
currents:
– Direct method: Use prefault conditions to solve for the
internal machine voltages; then apply fault and solve
directly
– Superposition: Fault is represented by two opposing
voltage sources; solve system by superposition
• first voltage just represents the prefault operating point
• second system only has a single voltage source

27
Superposition Approach

Faulted Condition

Fault is represented
by two equal and
Exact Equivalent to Faulted Condition opposite voltage
sources, each with
a magnitude equal
to the pre-fault voltage

28
Superposition Approach, cont’d

Since this is now a linear network, the faulted voltages

and currents are just the sum of the pre-fault conditions
[the (1) component] and the conditions with just a single
voltage source at the fault location [the (2) component]
Pre-fault (1) component equal to the pre-fault
power flow solution
Obviously the
pre-fault
“fault current”
is zero!

29
Superposition Approach, cont’d

Fault (1) component due to a single voltage source

at the fault location, with a magnitude equal to the
negative of the pre-fault voltage at the fault location.

I g  I (1)  I g(2) I m  I m(1)  I m(2)

g

I f  I (1)
f  I (2)
f  0  I (2)
f
30
Two Bus Superposition Solution

Before the fault we had E f  1.050,

I (1)  0.952  18.2 and I m(1)  0.952  18.2
g

Solving for the (2) network we get

Ef 1.050
I g(2)     j7
j0.15 j0.15
E f 1.050
I m(2)     j 2.1 This matches
j0.5 j0.5 what we
calculated
(2)
If   j 7  j 2.1   j 9.1 earlier
I g  0.952  18.2  j 7  7.35  82.9
31
Extension to Larger Systems

The superposition approach can be easily extended

to larger systems. Using the Ybus we have
Ybus V  I
For the second (2) system there is only one voltage
source so I is all zeros except at the fault location
 
 0  However to use this
 
I   I f  approach we need to
  first determine If
 0 
 
32
Determination of Fault Current

Define the bus impedance matrix Z bus as

1
Z bus Ybus V  Z busI

   V1
(2) 

   (2) 
 Z11 Z1n  0
   2 
V
Then    I    
  f   
 Z n1 Z nn   0  V (2) 
n 1
   (2) 
Vn 
For a fault a bus i we get -If Zii  V f  Vi(1)

33
Determination of Fault Current
Hence
Vi(1)
If 
Z ii
Where
Zii driving point impedance
Zij (i  j ) transfer point imepdance
Voltages during the fault are also found by superposition
Vi  Vi(1)  Vi(2) Vi(1) are prefault values

34
Three Gen System Fault Example

For simplicity assume the system is unloaded

before the fault with
E g1  Eg 2  Eg 3  1.050
Hence all the prefault currents are zero.
35
Three Gen Example, cont’d

 15 10 0
Ybus  j  10 20 5 
 
 0 5 9 
1
 15 10 0
Zbus  j  10 20 5 
 
 0 5 9 
 0.1088 0.0632 0.0351
 j 0.0632 0.0947 0.0526 
 
 0.0351 0.0526 0.1409 
36
Three Gen Example, cont’d

1.05
For a fault at bus 1 we get I1   j 9.6   I f
 j 0.1088
 0.1088 0.0632 0.0351  j 9.6 
V (2)  j 0.0632 0.0947 0.0526   0 
  
 0.0351 0.0526 0.1409   0 
 1.050 
  0.600 
 
 0.3370 

37
Three Gen Example, cont’d

1.050  1.050   00 

V  1.050   0.6060   0.4440
     
1.050  0.3370  0.7130 

38
PowerWorld Example 7.5: Bus 2 Fault

One Five Four Three

7 pu 11 pu

slack

0.724 pu 0.579 pu 0.687 pu

0.000 deg 0.000 deg 0.000 deg
0.798 pu
0.000 deg

0.000 pu Two
0.000 deg

39