Transient Impedance Characteristics of Grounding Electrodes in

Lightning Protection System

Bok-Hee Lee, Su-Bong Lee, Tae-Hyung Lee, Hyun-Uk Jung and Dong-Cheol Jeong
Research Center for Next-Generation High Voltage and Power Technology,
Department of Electrical Engineering, Inha University
#253, Yonghyun-dong, Nam-ku, Inchon 420-751, Korea

Abstract

This paper presents the transient impedance behaviors of grounding systems to lightning impulse currents. Also, the
apparent soil resistivity at the test site was measured. The dynamic characteristics of the deeply driven ground rod
and grounding grid subjected to the impulse current with various rise time were examined. It was found that the
transient ground impedance characteristics strongly depend on the configuration and size of grounding electrodes and
the impulse current shapes and the reduction of grounding electrode inductance is an important factor to improve the
transient ground impedance characteristics.

Keywords: Transient ground impedance, soil resistivity mapping, effective ground impedance, surge
protection, GPR

1 INTRODUCTION lightning current flows through a grounding system.

The transient ground impedances are dependent on the
size and configuration of the grounding electrodes and
grids, the soil characteristics and largely on the shape
and magnitude of impulse currents. Lightning currents
flowing through a ground system lead to the ground
potential rise and can cause danger and injury in the
vicinity power equipments. The effective grounding
systems with low transient impedance against
lightning surges or electronic noises in
microelectronics and high-technology branches are
strongly needed. It is highly desirable to evaluate the
transient ground impedances as a measure of
performance of grounding systems. [1-4]
The transient ground impedance characteristics play an
important role in the protection of electrical
equipments against lightning. The protection
efficiency of lightning protection system is affected by
transient ground impedances. The transient ground
impedance is a decisive factor in evaluating the
protecting performance of grounding system against
lightning. For instance, if the transient ground
impedance is too high, the protection efficiency of
lightning surge arresters will be reduced. To evaluate
the dynamic impedance characteristics of actual-sized
grounding systems, the present work is forced on the
measurement and analysis of the transient ground
impedance characteristics that may occur when a
The experiments were performed in the deeply driven
ground rod of 30 m long and grounding grids. The
potential rise and effective impulse ground impedance
of the test grounding electrodes were measured as a
function of the rise time of impulse currents. Also, the
apparent two-dimensional profile of soil resistivity at
the test site was analyzed using the soil resistivity
measurement device based on the dipole-dipole
method.(Syscal Pro, IRIS instrument)
2 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
2.1 Experimental Setup
The experiments have been carried out using the
actual-sized ground rod and grids. Basically, the
measurement of the ground impedance of largesized
grounding systems is based on the conventional
fall-of-potential method. However, in case of the
impulse injection current and high frequency test
current, the method produces a serious problem in
relation to significant measurement errors caused by
mutual coupling between the long current injection
wire and the reference potential wire. Therefore, in
this work, the modified fall-of potential method
recommended by IEEE 81.2-1991 was employed.[5]
The current injection line make a right angle with the
potential probe wire to reduce the effect of the
inductive coupling between them as shown in Figure 1.
The deeply driven ground rod and the grounding grids
were tested in this work. The grounding electrode of
30 m long was installed perpendicular to the surface of
ground. Two copper wires of 100 was connected
to the specially designed ground rod of 9 m long. The
grounding grid consists of a main grid of 20 m20 m
mesh buried 0.75 m deep. The main grid is composed
of 100 copper wires. The auxiliary grounding
electrodes comprised 8 rods, each 2.4 m long, buried
perpendicular to the surface of ground. The grounding
electrode being tested is alternately changed by
making and breaking the switches S1 and S2.
Figure 1. Circuit diagram for measuring the ground
impedance
2.2 Measurements
The combination 8/20 and 1.2/50 waveform
generator is used to inject a double exponential current
to the test grounding electrode. The 8/20 impulse
current waveform is specified under short-circuit
condition, and the 1.2/50 impulse voltage
waveform is specified under open-circuit condition.
The test impulse current waveform is changed with the
ground impedance to be measured. The impulse
current generator is composed of an R-L-C series
circuit, and the capacitance of charge capacitor is
controlled to adjust the rise time of test impulse
current. The capacitance and rated voltage of energy
storage capacitor are 30 F and 10 kV, respectively.
The test current was measured by a current probe with
a frequency bandwidth of 400 connected at the
output of the current sources. Also, the potential rise
was measured by an active voltage probe with high
input impedance and a frequency bandwidth of 75 .
The waveforms of the incident impulse currents and
grounding electrode potential are measured by digital
storage oscilloscope with 500 , 2.5 GS/s sampling
rate, and the current and voltage signals are registered
on a personal computer.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Soil Resistivity Mapping at the Test Site
Generally, the measurement of soil resistivity is
important for assessing the performance of grounding
systems. The measured data is used to develop a
model of soil structure that is an important factor in
designing the grounding system to meet the relevant
safety criteria. The Wenner test method is the most
suitable technique for grounding system investigations,
where the apparent resistivity variations with probe
spacing give an indication of the soil resistivity profile
with depth. However, in the case of tower bases, the
soil conditions may vary considerably along the line
spans, and use of one-dimensional surveying
techniques may give inaccurate data. Consequently,
tow-dimensional techniques that are more elaborate
may be needed.[1]
Figure 2. Soil resistvity mapping at the test site
The apparent soil resistivity at the test site was
measured using the soil resistivity measurement device
based on the dipole-dipole method.(Syscal Pro, IRIS
instrument) Figure 2 shows the measured soil
resistivity mapping. The soil resistivity is varied with
the depth of the actual soil. The soil structure of the
test site is very complex and is considered as a
multi-layer earth model. The soil resistivity of the top
layer ranges from approximately 20 m to 100 m.
The soil resistivity of the bottom layer is remarkably
increased and reaches 1000 m at a depth of
approximately 20 m.
3.2 Characteristics of Transient Ground Impedances
The measured static ground resistance of the deeply
driven ground rod of 30 m long, the ground grid of 20
m20 m and combination of the two grounding
electrodes were 3.87, 1.63 and 1.29 , respectively.
The static ground resistance of the long ground rod is
greater than that of the ground grid.

Figure 3 shows the typical waveforms of the incident

impulse current and potential rise according to the
types of the test grounding electrodes The peak
amplitude and rise time of the injection impulse
current are 100 A and 8 , respectively. The
measurements have been made at relatively low
impulse voltages of less than 2 . There is no
indication in waveforms of the measured injection
current and potential rise that the ionization of soil was
occurred. (b) Ground grid of 20 m20 m

The incident impulse current shape is determined by

the test circuit consisting of the current source, current
lead wire and ground conductor under test. The
difference between the rise times of the incident
impulse current are caused by the static ground
resistance of grounding electrode to be measured. The
rise time of grounding electrode potential is shorter
than that of the incident impulse current as shown in
Figure 3. The grounding electrode potential waveform
is dependent on both the ground resistance and the
inductance of the ground conductors. i.e., The ground
conductor potential could be expressed as (c) Combination of the 30 m ground rod and ground
grid of 20 m20 m
di (t ) (1)
V (t ) = Ri (t ) + L
dt
1: Potential rise [100 V/div, 10 /div]
Where the resistance R is the sum of the ground 3: Incident current [50 A/div, 10 /div]
resistance and the resistance of ground conductor and
L is the inductance of ground conductor. Figure 3. Typical waveforms of the incident impulse
current and potential rise according to the types of the
The front time of 30 m ground rod potential is slower
than that of the ground grid of 20 m20 m because of test grounding electrodes
the high static resistance of 30 m ground rod. The
inductive component in the potential waveform of the Figure 4 illustrates the transient ground impedance
ground grid of 20 m20 m is dominant. characteristic curves (Z-t curves) of three grounding
electrodes under test. The transient ground impedance
can be determined from the following expression:

v(t )
Z (t ) = (2)
i (t )
Where v (t ) is the instantaneous value of the
potential rise on the grounding electrode under test,
and i (t ) is the instantaneous value of the incident
current.

In general, characteristics of the transient ground

(a) Ground rod of 30 m long impedances depends on a number of factors such as
the configuration and size of the grounding electrode,
the ground conductor impedance, the soil resistivity,
and the magnitude and shape of the incident currents,
and etc.

Figure 5. Definition of the effective impulse ground

Figure 4. Z-t curves according to the type of the test
grounding electrodes(: Ground rod, : Ground grid,
: Ground rod + Ground grid)
The transient ground impedances decrease
exponentially to steady-state levels up to the time of
20 . The transient ground impedance of 30 m
ground rod is greater than that of the ground grid of 20
m20 m. The upturning of the transient ground
impedances of the ground grid of 20 m20 m in the
time ranges of less than 20 is pronounced. This
means that the inductive component of transient
ground impedances is dominant. In detail, after 15
the transient ground impedances are nearly flat due to
impedance
The effective impulse ground impedances of the test
grounding electrodes were measured as a function of
the rise time of the incident impulse current as shown
in Figure 6. The characteristic curves of the effective
ground impedance versus the rise time of incident
current are upturned in the short time range. The
effective impulse ground impedance is strongly
dependent of the rise time of incident current and the
types of grounding electrodes.
Ground rod Ground grid Ground rod + Ground grid
14
Effective ground impedance [ ]

the slow rates of change of the incident current. 12

10
3.3 Characteristics of Effective Impulse Ground 8
Impedances 6
The shape and magnitude of test current is changed in 4
the grounding electrode to be measured. Thus, it is 2
very difficult to investigate the transient characteristics
0
of ground impedance against the same shape and 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
magnitude of incident impulse current. The essential Rise time []
propose of a grounding system is to control the
potential rise developed by fault current or lightning Figure 6. Characteristic curves of the effective impulse
currents. It is very important to reduce the ground ground impedance against the rise time of the injection
impedance at the instant when the potential rise of impulse currents for three types of the test grounding
grounding electrode is arrived at the peak value. The electrodes
effective impulse ground impedance Zeff is defined as
the following formula:[6,7]
The crossover between the curves of the effective
V (3) ground impedance against the rise time of incident
Z eff = max
I current of the 30 m ground rod and the ground grid of
Where Vmax is the peak value of ground rod potential 20 m20 m was observed. In other words, when the
under test and I is the magnitude of the incident rise time of incident current is in the range of less than
impulse current at the time instant when Vmax has been 6 , the effective impulse ground impedance of 30 m
reached, as is shown in Figure 5. ground rod is lower than that of the ground grid of 20
m20 m. On the contrary, when the rise time of
incident current is in the range of above 6 , the
effective impulse ground impedance of 30 m ground
rod is higher than that of the ground grid of 20 m20
m. It is considered that the effect of the inductive
component on the effective impulse ground impedance
is dominant in the short time range.
In our experimental conditions, the 30 m ground rod is
relatively less sensitive to the rise time of incident
current and the ground impedance characteristic
against the surge current is stable. However, the
impulse ground impedance characteristics of the
ground grid of 20 m20 m are very changeable in
short time range. The grounding electrode inductance
may play an important role in the conduction
mechanism of the impulse current to the ground. To
design the optimal grounding system flowing impulse
currents to ground effectively, the reduction of
grounding electrode inductance is just as important as
the static ground resistance.
4 CONCLUSION
The impulse ground impedance characteristics against
the rise time of injection impulse current were
experimentally studied, and the apparent soil
resistivity at the test site was measured. As a
consequence, the results could be concluded as
follows:
(1) The transient ground impedance characteristics are
strongly dependent on the rise time of injection
impulse current and the shape and size of the
grounding electrodes.
(2) The curves of the effective ground impedance
against the rise time of incident current of the 30 m
ground rod and the ground grid of 20 m20 m were
crossed over. The grounding electrode inductance
plays a major role in the dispersion of the impulse
current to the ground.
(3) The transient ground impedance is significantly
dependent on the self and mutual inductance of
grounding electrodes. As a result, the most effective
way to obtain the excellent transient ground
impedance behaviors is to determine the optimal
configuration and size of the grounding electrodes that
reduce the grounding electrode inductance as well as
the static ground resistance.
This work was financially supported by MOCIE
through EIRC program.
REFERENCES
[1] IEEE Std 80-2000, IEEE guide foe safety in AC
Substation Grounding, The Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers, 2000.
[2] Bok-Hee Lee, Dong-Cheol Jeong, Su-Bong Lee
and Keun-Chul Chang, Effective Impulse
Impedances of Deeply Driven Grounding Electrodes,
KIEE International Trans on EA, vol. 4-C, no. 5, pp.
207214, 2004.
[3] S. Karaki, et al, "Transient Impedance of GIS
Grounding Grid", IEEE Trans., vol. PD-10, no. 2,
pp.723738, 1995.
[4] T. Takahashi, "A Part of Grounding for Lightning
Protection Technique", J. of the Institute of Electrical
Installation Engineers of Japan, vol.9, pp.671676,
Sep. 1989.
[5] IEEE Std 81.2-1991, IEEE guide for
Measurement of Impedance and Safety Characteristics
of Large, Extended or Interconnected Grounding
System, IEEE Inc., pp.1731, Dec. 1991.
[6] Z. Stojkovic, M.S. Savic, J.M. Nahman, D.
Salamon and B. Bukorovic, "Sensitivity Analysis of
Experimentally Determined Grounding Grid Impulse
Characteristics", IEEE Trans., vol. PD-13, no. 4,
pp.11361141, Oct. 1998
[7] B. H. Lee, J. S. Park and S. C. Lee, Experimental
Investigations of Transient Impedances of Some
Grounding Systems, 1997 Japan-Korea Joint Syms.
ED & HVE, pp.237~240, 1997
Bok-Hee Lee
Bok-Hee Lee was born in Korea
on June 29, 1954. He received his
B.S. degree in Electrical
Engineering from Inha University
in 1980, his M.S. degree in
Electrical and Electronic
Engineering from Hanyang
University in 1993 and his Ph. D
degree in Electrical Engineering from Inha University in
1997, respectively. He has been with the school of Electrical
and Electronics Engineering at Inha University, Incheon,
Korea where he became a Professor in 1999. During 1988 to
1989, he was a post-doctoral research fellow at the Institute
of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo. From Apr. 1999
to Feb. 2000, he was a Visiting Professor in the University of
Cincinnati. Since Oct. 2002, he has been a Director in the
Research Center for Next-Generation High-voltage and
Power Technology, Inha University. His research interests
are in the area of lightning, lightning protection, grounding
systems, surge protection, GIS, gas discharges, high voltage
engineering and electromagnetic compatibility. Tel.
032-860-7398, Fax. 032-863-5822, http://hierc.inha.ac.kr,
e-mail: bhlee@inha.ac.kr
Su-Bong Lee
Su-Bong Lee was born in Korea
on April 13, 1979. He received his
B.S. degree in Electrical
Engineering from Kyungnam
University in 1998 and his M.S.
degree in Electrical Engineering
from Inha University in 2003. He
is currently working toward a Ph.
D. degree in the Department of Electrical Engineering at
Inha University. His research interests are in the area of
lightning, lightning protection, grounding and high voltage
engineering. Tel. 032-860-8847, Fax. 032-863-5822,
e-mail: lsbong1@naver.com
Tae-hyung Lee
Tae-hyung Lee was born in Korea
on June 21, 1978. He received his
B.S. degree in Electrical
Engineering from Inha University
in 2004. He is currently working
toward a M.S. degree in the
Department of Electrical
Engineering at Inha University.
His research interests are in the
area of grounding, lightning and high voltage engineering.
Tel. 032-860-8847, Fax. 032-866-8836, e-mail:
tanghi@empal.com
Hyun-Uk Jung
Hyun-Uk Jung was born in Korea
on May 26, 1978. He received his
B.S. degree in Electrical
Engineering from Inha University
in 2004. . He is currently working
toward a M.S. degree in the
Department of Electrical
Engineering at Inha University.
His research interests are in the area of grounding, lightning
and high voltage engineering.
Tel.032-860-8847, Fax.032-866-8836
e-mail: uka55577@hotmail.com
Dong-Cheol Jeong
Dong-Cheol Jeong was born in
Korea on September 18, 1964. He
received his B.S. degree in
Electrical Engineering from
Yeungnam University in 1989 and
his M.S. degree in Electrical
Engineering from Korea
University in 2002. . He is
currently working toward a Ph. D.
candidate in the Department of Electrical Engineering at
Inha University. He has been working at Hanjin Heavy
Industries & construction. His research interests are in the
area of lightning and high voltage engineering. Tel.
032-860-7398, Fax. 032-863-5822,e-mail:
dcjeong2000@korea.com