CIRED 20th International Conference on Electricity Distribution Prague, 8-11 June 2009

Paper 0306

ANALYSIS OF POWER FREQUENCY ELECTRIC FIELD FOR THE BUILDINGS

UNDER THE HIGH VOLTAGE OVERHEAD LINES

Zhujinglin Mengyu
Shanghai Electric Power Design Institute Co..Ltd. Shanghai Electric Power Design Institute Co..Ltd.
China China
poysin1982@yahoo.com.cn mengy@sepd.com.cn

ABSTRACT PRINCIPLE
With the development of cities and electric power The power frequency electric filed belongs to the quasi-
industry, the power frequency electric field and static field, so it can be simulated by the charge
environmental impact assessment near to the buildings simulation method. The charge simulation method gets
under the high voltage overhead lines have caused wide approximate solution and has a little difference from
public concern. In this paper charge simulation method is actual situation. The way to improve the accuracy of
employed to analyze the distribution of electric field near calculation is choosing suitable type, number and
the typical building in Shanghai under the transmission position of simulation charge. The key to solve the
lines. And some measures to the buildings under the electric field distribution under overhead lines is how to
transmission line validate the results. At last, a deal with overhead line with sag, buildings and impact of
comparison is made between methods to decrease the ground.
electric field surrounding the buildings under the high
voltage overhead lines. Model of overhead lines
As we know, the HV overhead lines have sag because of
INTRODUCTION gravity. The catenary line equation can be carried out
according to the weather condition, tower span and
With the economic development and people's increasing transmission line parameters. In Fig.1 the overhead lines
environment awareness in Shanghai, the electromagnetic
environmental problem caused by HV overhead lines is are divided into small sections which are simulated as
paid more and more attention[1]. Today electromagnetic linear charge. And the mirror charge as shown in Fig.2 is
environment has become the critical factor which considered because of the impact of ground.
determines the construction of power transmission lines.
Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the distribution of
electric field under the HV overhead lines especially in overhead line
the residential area. And how to reduce the electric-field
intensity produced by HV transmission lines has been a
hot issue in the field of environmental protection and linear charge
electromagnetic compatibility technology.
Nowadays most research on electric field under the HV
transmission lines are based on 2-D charge simulation
method[2][3]. This method which considers the overhead Figure 1 Overhead line model
lines as the infinite straight line can calculate the electric
field distribution under HV transmission lines easily and
quickly. But it can’t simulate the complex models such as
buildings under transmission lines. So, 3-D method is
employed in this paper to discuss the electric field
distribution near the buildings under the transmission
lines[4]. This method can not only simulate the complex
models but also consider the affect of transmission lines
sag. The transmission lines are simulated by linear charge
and buildings are simulated by linear charge and point
charge. In the mean time, the software applied in the
same model and the measurements to a transmission line Figure 2 Linear charge calculation diagram
validate the results. At last, this paper also discusses and
compares three methods to decrease the electric filed Model of buildings
surrounding the buildings.
Supposing the frame of buildings is ground conductor,
the frame is simulated as linear charge. Point charge is set
at the surface of buildings’ wall, and the number of

CIRED2009 Session 2 Paper No 0306

CIRED 20th International Conference on Electricity Distribution Prague, 8-11 June 2009

Paper 0306

charge depends on buildings grounding condition. The figure below shows the electric field distribution at
the top of flat roof building (left in the figure) 5m above
ground and 6.5m above ground.

ponit charge
building
Figure 3 Building model

Figure 6 Electric field distribution at 5m above ground

Figure 4 Point charge calculation diagram

MODEL AND CALCULATION

According to the statistics, there is about 3000km HV
(above 220kV) overhead lines in Shanghai until 2009.
The density of buildings under overhead lines is about
2000m2/km, most of which are under 220kV overhead
lines. According to the difference of roof, the typical
buildings under overhead lines are classified as flat roof
and sharp roof. The two models of buildings are
simulated to analyze the distribution of electric field near
buildings.
The 220kV double circuits on one tower often seen in
Shanghai are selected for the model in this paper. The
tower height is 27m and tower span is 350m. The type of
conductor lines is called “LGJ-630/45”, the maximum
sag is 10m. And the arrangement of lines is reversed
phase order. The two kind of building models mentioned
above are simplified as square of which size is 5*5*5 and
5*4*3. The figure below shows the model.
ground lines ground lines
Figure 7 Electric field distribution at 6.5m above ground
As it can be seen obviously in two figures above that
distortion electric field near the outline of buildings is
much higher than that in other regions, and the distortion
electric field nearer to the outlet is higher. So, a
conclusion is drawn that the distance between buildings
and calculated points determines the intensity of
distortion electric field.
The model without buildings under overhead lines is also
be simulated to compare the model with buildings. The
figure below shows the result. The result shows the
electric field at height 5m above ground.

overhead lines overhead lines

Figure 8 Electric field of model without building

building building

Figure 5 Models of buildings under overhead lines

CIRED2009 Session 2 Paper No 0306

CIRED 20th International Conference on Electricity Distribution
Figure 9 Electric field of model with flat roof building
X（m）
E（V/m）
Figure 10 Electric field of model with sharp roof building
The figure above shows that the power frequency electric
field near the outline of building is much higher than the
surrounding electric field. The electric field is high at two
sharp corners of the flat roof building and also is high at
middle sharp roof of the sharp roof buildings. It is can be
seen in the figure 8 that the environmental electric field is
higher in the building’s right side. So, when there are
buildings under overhead lines, the distortion electric
field is also higher in the right side and smaller
comparatively in the left side. So, a conclusion is drawn
that the intensity of distortion electric field near the
buildings is determined by the outline shape of the
buildings and the environmental electric field.
Also the electric field inside the buildings is carried out.
The electric field is about 27V/m inside the middle of the
flat roof building, and is 64V/m inside the middle of the
sharp roof building. Compare to the electric field outside
the building, it can be ignored. So, a conclusion is drawn
that because of the shield of buildings’ frame and wall,
the electric field in residential region is very small and
don’t affect the living environment in the buildings.
MEASUREMENT AND VALIDATION
According to the measurement to the similar overhead
lines in Shanghai and the simulation by the
software(Ansys) in the same model, the figure and table
are drawn as follow.
CIRED2009 Session 2 Paper No 0306
Prague, 8-11 June 2009
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Figure 11 Result of software(Ansys)
Table 1 Result of calculation and measurement
-20 -10 -5 0 1 3 5 10 20 inside the building
1 382 1035 1133 2615 2533 2874 3442 1061 406 27
2 371 978 1141 2708 2497 2962 4134 986 397 0
3 2160 2012 2352 2947 12
X: parallel distance between calculated or measured point
to the centre of overhead line
E: electric field at height 5m above ground
1-results of charge simulation method
2-results of software (Ansys)
3-measurement result (0.25m above roof because the
measurement equipment need supporting to the roof)
The table above shows that the three results almost close
to each other. And the measurement matches the result
calculated by charge simulation method and software. So,
the electric field distribution carried out by charge
simulation method is accurate and credible.
METHODS TO IMPROVE THE DISTORTION
ELECTRIC FIELD
Based on the calculation and measurement results above,
the distortion field become large obviously in the regions
of the buildings’ outline where few people could arrive
and the average level of the electric field in the area the
residents often live (i.e. inside the houses) seems to be far
less than the national standard limitation 4kV/m.
However, those regions people may stay including the
balconies and roof-top terraces should be focused on by
the environmental impact evaluation, and how to reduce
the electric field intensity in these region mentioned
above is necessary and meaningful.
To reduce the electric field distortion for the buildings
under overhead line, currently three methods could be
applied for, including raising the tower, installing the
shield lines to tower or setting ground lines to building.
Raising the tower
The method of raising the height of tower through
reducing the surrounding electric field under overhead
lines changes the distorted electric field around the
buildings. The relation between lines height and electric
 CIRED 20th International Conference on Electricity Distribution
field is almost linear. At present in Shanghai the distance
between overhead lines and buildings is more than 12m,
so raising the tower has no obvious affect to reduce the
electric field. In addition, raising the tower need to
construct new tower, to consider the power-off. Base on
the content above, the method of raising the tower is
neither economic nor practical.
Installing the shield lines to the tower
The method of installing the shield lines to the tower
through reducing the surrounding electric field under
overhead lines changes the distorted electric field around
the buildings. Comparing to the method of raising the
tower, this method can install shield lines when overhead
lines are operating. Besides this method only need some
shield lines, so it cost much less than method of raising
the tower.
The affect of installing the shield lines to the tower due to
the number and arrangement of the shield lines.
According to the calculation and measurement, the
environmental electric field under the overhead lines can
reduce 27% at maximum when installing 2 shield lines.
The shield affect is better when installing more shield
lines. So, the method of installing the shield lines to the
tower is considerable in economic and technology.
Setting ground lines to the building
The method of setting ground lines to the buildings is
installing metal shield device such as metal windows in
the region where the distortion electric field may emerge,
and grounding the device using metal lines. This method
is very effective to reduce the electric field in a local area.
For instance, the environmental electric field measured
under the overhead line is 2.1kV/m, but the level reduces
to 67V/m in the greenhouses which only have a few
metal frames. The only disadvantage of this method is
that setting metal shield device and ground lines to the
residential buildings should be agreed by resident.
Table 2 Comparison among three methods
Improving
methods effect cost power-off
region
1 all region poor expensive yes not recommended
2 all region general cheap no
a local
3 effective cheap no
region
1-raising the tower
2-installing the shield lines to the tower
3-setting ground lines to the building
CONCLUSIONS
To cope with electromagnetic environmental issue, this
paper analyzes the electric field near the buildings under
the high voltage overhead lines. Some conclusions are
drawn below:
(1) The distortion electric field near the outline of
CIRED2009 Session 2 Paper No 0306
Prague, 8-11 June 2009
Paper 0306
buildings is much higher than the electric field in other
region, but the electric field inside the buildings is very
small. So, the electric filed hardly affect the resident
living in buildings
(2) The intensity of distortion electric field near the
buildings is determined by distance with building, outline
shape of buildings and the environmental electric field.
(3) Comparing three methods to reduce the electric field
distortion, the method of installing the shield lines to the
tower and setting ground lines to the buildings is
recommended.
REFERENCES
[1] W. F. Horton, S. Goldberg, 1995, "Power Frequency
Magnetic Fields and Public Health", CRC Press, Inc.,
Boca Raton.
[2] Nazar H.Malik, Feb.1989, "A review of the charge
simulation method and its applications", IEEE
Transaction on Electric Insulation, Vol.24, No.1, 3-20.
[3] H. Singer, H. Steinbigler, P. Weiss, 1974, "A Charge
Simulation Method for the Calculation of High Voltage
Fields", IEEE Trans. on PAS, Vol.93, 1660-1667.
[4] W. Krajewski, August 1997, "3-D model of the
electric field excited by overhead HV lines", Electrical
Engineering, Vol.8, No.1, 55-63.
Zhu jinglin, male, master, engineer, graduate from
Shanghai Jiaotong University, China in 2007. Now work
in Shanghai electirc power design institute Co..Ltd.
Research on EMC and transmission line.
Mengyu, male, bachelor, director, graduate from
Shanghai Jiaotong University, China in 1995. Now work
in Shanghai electirc power design institute Co..Ltd.
Research on transmission line.
evaluate
considerable
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