IMPULSE METHOD OF MEASURING IMPEDANCE IN GROUNDING SYSTEMS

The impulse method is designed for measuring impedances of grounding systems of transmission line towers (TL) with overhead grounding wires exposed to current impulses that are similar in form to the lightning current. Measuring electrodes are arranged in the orthogonal pattern that eliminates inductive noise, but leads to an error of up to tens of percent in soil with high-resistance base. Electrical conductivity of high-resistance soil significantly depends on the frequency or time of impulse impacts. The specific conductivity is maximal at the beginning of the transient process, then decreases monotonically for tens of microseconds, which significantly exceeds the experiment duration. For this reason, direct measurement of steady-state impedance of the grounding system of the TL tower with the overhead grounding wire using the impulse method is impossible. The transient impedance (circuit reaction on the unit step current) is regarded as the grounding system’s main characteristic that defines its stationary, impulse and instantaneous impedance upon exposure to impulse impacts. A simple analytical expression of the transient impedance of a concentrated grounding conductor in high-resistance soil suitable for engineering calculations is obtained. A method for determining the dielectric permeability of soil according to the impulse experiment data is proposed. The developed method has been tested for processing experimental data and for numerical modeling of the TL tower grounding system measurements.