IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 32, NO.
5, OCTOBER 2017
Conductor Surface Conditions Effects on the
Ion-Flow Field of Long-Term Operating Conductors
of the HVDC Transmission Line
Yong Yi, Chuyan Zhang, Liming Wang, and Zhengying Chen
Abstract—The influence of conductor surface conditions of new
and aged conductors on ground-level resultant electric field and
ion current density is analyzed in this paper. The surface rough-
ness and morphology of conductors are measured and analyzed by
3-D phase shift Micro-Xam (MicroXAM-3D) and scanning elec-
tron microscopy. Calculations are made using the upstream finite-
element-finite difference method for the corona cage model to ob-
tain the influence of surface conditions on the ion-flow field, conse-
quently, changing the resulting electric field and ion current den-
sity. An indoor corona cage platform is build up to check the im-
pact of surface conditions on the ground-level resultant electric
field and ion current density in the laboratory. Considering the
aging characteristics of the conductor surface, a typical 800 kV
ultra-high voltage direct current transmission line is analyzed. The
calculated results show that compared with the new conductor, the
electric field and ion current density of the long-term operation
conductors increase very significantly.
Index Terms—Aged conductor, corona, electric field, high-
voltage direct current (HVDC), ion current density, roughness,
surface condition.
I. INTRODUCTION
C ORONA discharge characteristics of high voltage direct
current (HVDC) or ultra-high voltage direct current
(UHVDC) incorporate, in addition to audible noise (AN), radio
interference (RI) and corona loss (CL), ground-level ion-flow
field and ion current density distribution [1]. For designing
the power transmission line, the electromagnetic environment
below the DC transmission line is of great important consider-
ation. The ground-level resultant electric field and ion current
density need to satisfy national standard and are strictly limited
[2].
The earlier investigations showed that the inception poten-
tial gradient of the conductor was the determining factor on the
ground-level ion-flow field and ion current density distribution
[1], [3]. The inception potential gradient of corona is largely
Manuscript received July 14, 2015; revised October 11, 2015; accepted
November 11, 2015. Date of publication January 01, 2016; date of current
version August 22, 2017. This work was supported in part by the National
Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 51377096 and in part by
the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) under Grant
2011CB209406. Paper no. TPWRD-00770-2015.
The authors are with Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University,
Shenzhen 518055, Guangdong Province, China (e-mail: yiyongshanxi@126.
com; wanglm@sz.tsinghua.edu.cn).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPWRD.2015.2503361
0885-8977 © 2015 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
2171
depended on conductor surface conditions which involve con-
ductor's diameter and the surrounding atmospheric environment
including temperature, relative air density, atmospheric particle
aerosol and atmospheric pollution, etc.
In previous studies, aging effects of DC conductors were
studied and the adhesive substances to the surface of the con-
ductor were analyzed by the emission spectro-chemical analysis
[4]. The surface morphology and the surface composition of
the conductors, which were energized for 12–20 years in 500
kV and 220 kV ac power grid, were measured by scanning
electron microscopy (SEM) and three dimensions Phase Shift
Micro-Xam (MicroXAM-3D) [5]. For HVDC or UHVDC
power lines, surface conditions of the long-term operation
aluminum stranded conductors are quite different from the new
ones. However, little is known about the surface morphology
of aged conductors of DC transmission lines.
A lot of numerical methods were introduced to analyze the
ion-flow field, such as flux-tracing method (FTM) in 1969
[6], finite element method (FEM) in 1979 [7], upstream finite
element method (upstream-FEM) in 1987 [8], upstream finite
volume method (upstream-FVM) in 1997 [9], integral equation
method (IEM) in 2007 [10], streamline-upwind petrov-galerkin
finite element method (SUPG-FEM) in 2009 [11], time-domain
finite volume method (time-domain FVM) in 2012 [12], fully
coupled upwind finite element method (fully coupled FEM)
in 2012 [13], method of characteristics (MOC) in 2015 [14]
and so on. At the same time, the impact factors on ion-flow
distribution were researched, including the influence of wind
on the reduced-scale model, full-scale test lines and operating
HVDC transmission lines [3], [15], the influence of human
model [16], the influence of underneath building [17], the
influence of shield wire [18] and the influence of ambient
electric field [19] on the ionized field. However, a survey of the
published literature indicated that the influence of conductor
surface conditions of long-term operation conductors of HVDC
system on ion-flow field and ion current environment has not
been taken into account.
This present work utilizes SEM and MicroXAM-3D to mea-
sure the surface profile and surface roughness of the new and
aged conductors. Then, based on corona cage model, the impact
of conductor surface conditions of conductors on ion-flow field
is calculated and analyzed by upstream finite element-finite dif-
ference method (FE-FDM). A comparative test was performed
to measure the ion-flow field of the new and the aged stranded
conductors in an indoor corona cage. Finally, the influence of
conductor surface conditions on ground-level resultant electric
2172
Fig. 1. Surface detail, shape, and roughness of the new and aged conductors.
(a) New conductor sample, (b) 5yrs conductor sample, (c) 9yrs conductor
sample, (d) 14yrs conductor sample.
field of kV UHVDC power transmission line is taken into
consideration.
II. SURFACE ROUGHNESS AND SURFACE MORPHOLOGY OF
THE NEW AND AGED CONDUCTORS
A. Surface Roughness of the New and Aged Conductors
The earlier studies show that the corona inception potential
gradient of the conductors or the surface conditions of the con-
ductors was a determining factor of ion-flow field distribution
[1]. So it is imperative to investigate the surface conditions of
the long-term operation conductors.
In the comparative experiment, the new conductor, 5-yrs,
9-yrs and 14-yrs aged conductors were sampled from the DC
test line of HVDC Test Base of State Grid Corporation in
Beijing of north China and other power grids. The aging char-
acteristics of the long-term operation conductor are mainly due
to the ambient atmospheric environment under high voltage.
The ambient temperature of the test line is in the range of-5
to 31 C and the relative humidity is from 25 to 60% from the
annual statistics.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 32, NO. 5, OCTOBER 2017
TABLE I
VALUES OF SA AND SQ OF NEW AND AGED CONDUCTORS
Fig. 2. Photograph of the scanning electron microscope (FEI Quanta 200 FEG).
The MicroXAM-3D was employed to measure the surface
profile and roughness of conductors. The surface patterns and
three-dimensional interference cross section photographs could
be obtained. The quantitative measurement, confocal and visual
mode are achieved by optical interference method. Fig. 1 shows
the shape, surface detail and defect features of the new and aged
conductors.
The roughness of the conductor is described by average
roughness (Sa) and root-mean-square roughness (Sq). Sa and
Sq are given by
(1)
(2)
Where is the height of one measured point; is the av-
erage height of all the measurement points. N is the number of
all the measurement points.
The values of Sa, Sq and m of the new and aged conduc-
tors are shown in Table I. Due to the impurities adhering to the
surface and the surface corruption, the value of Sa and Sq in-
crease and the value of m decreases as the aging level of the
conductor. There are no specific numerical corresponding re-
lations between Sa, Sq and m, however, the changing trend of
these parameters could be observed.
B. Surface Morphology of the New and Aged Conductors
Scanning electron microscope (type FEI Quanta 200 FEG as
shown in Fig. 2) was used to scan the morphologies and mi-
crostructures of the new and aged strands. It can be employed
to observe and analyze rough material as shown in Fig. 3.
YI et al.: CONDUCTOR SURFACE CONDITIONS EFFECTS ON THE ION-FLOW FIELD
Fig. 3. SEM Microstructures photographs of the new and aged conductors magnify 60 times, 200 times, and 1000 times, respectively. (a)-(c) New conductor;
(d)-(f) 5-yrs conductor; (g)-(i) 9-yrs conductor; (j)-(l) 14-yrs conductor.
The strands of the new and aged stranded conductors were
sampled and scanned by SEM and the composition was ana-
lyzed by Energy-dispersive X-ray spectrum (EDX). The pho-
tographs of aged strands magnifying 1000 times clearly show
the morphology the polluting impurities and the details of corro-
sion. During the long-term operation, the ambient atmospheric
environment corroded the strand surface and the contamination
adhered to the surface. The SEM photographs show that the
coarse and uneven level of the surface of the strands increase
in the order of new, 5-yrs, 9-yrs and 14-yrs strand. Compared
2173
with the new conductor, for which aluminum is the main ele-
ment, the aged conductors contain aluminum, carbon, oxygen,
silicon, sulfur, and phosphorus, and a small amount of potas-
sium, iron, calcium, etc.
III. ION-FLOW FIELD MODELING OF STRANDED CONDUCTOR
IN THE CORONA CAGE
In order to compare the calculation value and the measure-
ment value of ion-flow field of aged stranded conductors in
the corona cage, the ion-flow field modeling is introduced and
2174 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 32, NO. 5, OCTOBER 2017

Fig. 4. Mesh generation of corona modeling.

calculated by charge simulation method (CSM) and upstream

FE-FDM.

A. Governing Equations
The governing equations of the ion-flow field of bipolar DC Fig. 5. Flowchart of the whole algorithm.
transmission lines are described as (3)–(7).
Poisson's equation is

(3)

Positive and negative ion current density equations are

(4)
(5)
Fig. 6. Upstream element for node i.
Current continuity equations are

(6) (9)
(10)
(7)
Where and are the conductor surface, wall of the cage
Where is the electric potential; is the resultant electric and ground boundaries; is the onset potential gradient.
field vector; is space charge density; is the ion current den-
sity vector; is the wind speed vector; is the recombina- C. Algorithm Overview
tion coefficient, m /s; and are the mobility
of the positive and negative ions, m /(V s) and D. Solution of Poisson's Equation
m /(V s).
The electric potential of (3) in the ith element is solved by
FEM. The solution of the electric potential can be obtained by
B. Element Generation and Boundary Conditions
solving the minimum of the following function [18]:
Fig. 4 shows the mesh grids of the calculated modeling in the
corona cage. For acquiring the accurate and stable solution, the
grids near the surface of the stranded conductor and the wall of
the cage are smaller. (11)
The boundary conditions in this modeling include the poten- (12)
tial and potential gradient conditions. The boundary conditions
should satisfy Where is the stiffness matrix; is the column vector of
every nodal potential; is the free item due to the boundary
(8) conditions.
YI et al.: CONDUCTOR SURFACE CONDITIONS EFFECTS ON THE ION-FLOW FIELD 2175

Fig. 8. Photograph of the new and aged conductors.

of the triangle ijk; is the coefficient of the

triangle ipl.

Fig. 7. Ion-flow field measurement platform. (a) Sketch of the measurement
platform, (b) Photograph of the measurement platform.
E. Solution of the Current Continuity Equations
It is assumed that the space charge density can be expressed
by the function in each element. The space charge density is
defied by [21]
(13)
(14)
F. Convergence Criterion
The algorithm includes the inner charge density loop and the
outer electric field loop. The algorithm ends until the following
the inner-loop and outer loop convergence criterion are satisfied
[20]
(19)
(20)
If the electric field on the surface of the conductor does not sat-
isfy the Kaptzov's assumption, the charge density on the surface
of the conductor is modified as [20]

We assume (21)

Where is the maximum potential gradient on the surface

(15) of the conductor; is the charge density of th iteration
of ith node; and are the space charge density error and
electric field error on the surface of the conductor.
The upwind difference method is introduced to discretize the (4)
and (5). The discretized formula are
IV. CALCULATION AND MEASUREMENT

A. Ion-Flow Field Measurement Platform in Corona Cage

The ion-flow field of the new and aged conductors was
(16) achieved by the experimental measurement platform in the
corona cage. The schematic diagram and picture of the test
arrangement are in Fig. 7. The field mills are fixed in the bottom
of the corona cage to measure the ground-level resultant electric
(17) field. The sampling resistor was used to measure the corona
(18) current and the waveform of the corona current was recorded by
the CT probe connected to the oscilloscope. The ground-level
Where the coordinate of i, j, k nodes is ion current density was measured by Wilson plates. All the
is the coefficient measurements were carried out when the temperature was in
2176 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 32, NO. 5, OCTOBER 2017

Fig. 9. Electric field and space charge density distribution of the new conductor under kV. (a) Electric field distribution of the cross section of the corona
cage, (b) Space charge density distribution of the cross section of the corona cage.

Fig. 10. Ground-level electric field and ion current density of the new conductor under different positive voltages. (a) Ground-level electric field, (b) Ground-level
ion current density.

the range of 20 to 22 C. The air pressure was between 100.1 to
100.3 kPa and the relative humidity was between 19 to 21%.
B. Calculation and Measurement of Ion-Flow Field of New
and Aged Stranded Conductors
Fig. 8 shows the photographs of conductors' surfaces of the
new and long-term operation stranded conductors. Due to the
ambient atmospheric environment, the surfaces of the stranded
conductors were corrupted and covered by air pollution in the
power grid.
The electric field and space charge density distribution of the
cross section of the corona cage are shown in Fig. 9. As the dis-
tance from the conductor increases, the electric field decreases
obviously, however, the decrease of space charge density is not
significant close to the conductor, and the overall decrease (from
about at the conductor to about at the cage
walls) is also not very great as shown in Fig. 9. The steady-state
space charge density is determined by positive ions density in
the drift region.
Fig. 10 shows the calculation and measurement value of
ground-level electric field and ion current density of new
conductor under different voltages. In the test, seven test points
were fixed up in the corona cage. With increasing the applied
voltage from 120 kV to 135 kV, the maximum electric field
increases more than 50% and the maximum ion current density
increases from 5 uA/m to 68 uA/m .
The experiment measurements were carried out in the plat-
form. Fig. 10 shows the comparison of calculated and measured
data for the new conductor under different voltages. The mea-
sured value considers all the actual situations involving the sur-
rounding environment, instrument accuracy test error and so on.
The calculations are in good agreement with the measurements.
The correctness of ion-flow field algorithm of corona cage mod-
eling is verified.
Fig. 11 presents the comparison of calculated and measured
data for the aged conductor under 120 kV. The aged conductor
LGJ400-35 had been energized for about 5 years, 9 years and
14 years, as shown in Fig. 8. In the program of determining the
YI et al.: CONDUCTOR SURFACE CONDITIONS EFFECTS ON THE ION-FLOW FIELD 2177

Fig. 11. Ground-level electric field and ion current density of the aged conductor under kV. (a) Ground-level electric field, (b) Ground-level ion current
density.

Fig. 12. Calculated modeling of kV bipolar UHVDC transmission line.

roughness factor (m) of the aged stranded conductors, firstly, the

ion-flow field is calculated under . Then, the value of m
is modified if the calculations are not equal to measurements.
The value of m, as shown in Table I, is determined until the
calculations are equal to the measurements. Conductor surface
conditions have a large influence on the ion-flow field of corona
cage as shown in Fig. 11. Especially, the surface of 14-yrs aged
conductor is much rougher than that of the new conductor and Fig. 13. Calculated modeling of kV bipolar UHVDC transmission line.
the maximum electric field of 14-yrs aged conductor increases (a) Ground-level electric field, (b) Ground-level ion current density.
more than 50%. Comparing with the new conductor, the max-
imum ion current density of 14-yrs aged conductor increases to
78 uA/m . is shown in Fig. 12. The surface roughness factor m is 0.64, 0.58,
0.51 and 0.48 for new, 5-yrs, 9-yrs and 14-yrs conductors.
C. Calculation of Ion-Flow Field of kv UHVDC Fig. 13(a) shows that ground-level resultant electric field is
Transmission Line With New and Aged Stranded Conductors much stronger than space-charge-free electric field. The ground-
The upwind-FEM is applied to analyze the ion-flow field of level electric field and ion current density increase in the order
a typical kV ultra-high voltage direct current (UHVDC) of new, 5-yrs, 9-yrs and 14-yrs conductors. Comparing with the
transmission line, which incorporates bundle conductors located new conductor, for negative polarity, the maximum of the elec-
at a height of 18 m above the ground and the UHVDC modeling tric field of 5-yrs, 9-yrs and 14-yrs conductors increases more
2178
than 50%, 90%, 110%, respectively and the maximum of ion
current density of 5-yrs, 9-yrs and 14-yrs conductors increases
to 62 uA/m , 100 uA/m , 138 uA/m , respectively.
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, the surface roughness and morphology of
strands are measured and analyzed by MicroXAM-3D and
SEM. Based on the indoor corona cage modeling, the influ-
ence of surface conditions on ion-flow field was calculated by
upstream-FEM. At the same time, ion-flow field measurement
platform of corona age is used to measure the resultant electric
and ion current density. The experimental results are in good
agreement with the calculated results. The ground-level electric
field and ion current density increase in the order of new, 5-yrs,
9-yrs and 14-yrs conductors. The ion-flow field of a typical
800 kV UHVDC transmission line is analyzed and conductor
surface conditions are taken into consideration. the maximum
of the electric field of long-term operation conductors increases
more than 110% and the maximum of ion current density
increases to 138 uA/m .
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Yong Yi was born in Shanxi Province, China, in
1984. He received the B.S. degree in electrical
engineering from Jinan University, Jinan, China, in
2007, the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from
the University of Shanghai for Science and Tech-
nology, Shanghai, China, in 2010, and is currently
pursuing the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering
at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
His research interests are electromagnetic environ-
ment and corona discharges.
Chuyan Zhang was born in Shaanxi Province,
China, in 1985. He received the B.S., M.S., and
Ph.D. degrees in high voltage engineering from the
Department of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua
University, Beijing, China, in 2007, 2010, and 2013,
respectively.
His main research interests are electromagnetic
environment and electromagnetic compatibility in
power systems.
Liming Wang was born in Zhejiang Province, China,
on November 30, 1963. He received the B.S., M.S.,
and Ph.D. degrees in high voltage engineering from
the Department of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua
University, Beijing, China, in 1987, 1990, and 1993,
respectively.
He has been with Tsinghua University since 1993.
His major research fields are high voltage insulation
and electrical discharges, flashover mechanisms on
contaminated insulators, and applications of pulsed
electric fields.
Zhengying Chen was born in Fujian Province,
China, in 1993. He received the B.S. degree in
electrical engineering from Tsinghua University,
Beijing, China, in 2015.
His research interests are electromagnetic environ-
ment and corona discharges of HVDC systems.