CALCULATIONS OF SHORT CIRCUIT CURRENTS 1.

Introduction: In view of sizing electrical installation and the required equipment, as well as

determining the means required for the protection of life and property, short-circuit currents must be calculated for every point in the network. Electrical installations almost always require protection against short-circuits wherever there is an electrical discontinuity. This most often corresponds to points where there is a change in conductor cross-section. The short-circuit current must be calculated at each level in the installation in view of determining the characteristics of the equipment required to withstand or break the fault current. The maximum shortcircuit current corresponds to a short-circuit in the immediate vicinity of the downstream terminals of the protection device. It must be calculated accurately and used with a safety margin. Characteristics of short-circuits The primary characteristics are: a-duration (self-extinguishing, transient and steady-state); b-origin: 1 - mechanical (break in a conductor, accidental electrical contact between two conductors via a foreign conducting body such as a tool or an animal);2 - internal or atmospheric overvoltages;3 - insulation breakdown due to heat, humidity or a corrosive environment; c-location (inside or outside a machine or an electrical switchboard).Short-circuits can be: I. phase-toearth (80% of faults);II. Phase-to-phase (15% of faults). This type of fault often degenerates into a threephase fault; III. Three-phase (only 5% of initial faults).These different short-circuit currents are presented in figure 1.Consequences of short-circuits the consequences are variable depending on the type and the duration of the fault, the point in the installation where the fault occurs and the short-circuit power. Consequences include: a-at the fault location, the presence of electrical arcs, resulting in: I. damage to insulation; I. welding of conductors; III. Fire and danger to life; b-on the faulty circuit: I. electro dynamic forces, resulting in:

- Deformation of the bus bars; - disconnection of cables; I. Excessive temperature rise due to an increase in Joule losses, with the risk of damage to insulation; c-on other circuits in the network or in near-by networks: I. voltage dips during the time required to clear the fault, ranging from a few milliseconds to a few hundred milliseconds; I. shutdown of a part of the network, the extent of that part depending on the design of the network and the discrimination levels offered by the protection

devices; III.

Dynamic instability and / or the loss of machine synchronization;

IV. Disturbances in control / monitoring circuits,Figure 1: different types of short-circuits and their currents. The direction of current ischosen arbitrarily.2. Fault-Current SourcesThe waveform of fault current results from the superposition of several differentsources, all of which involve rotating machinery, local or remote. Besides, there are twoother phases involved, and this determines the RMS value of current and voltagethrough the first cycle and beyond. There are also asymmetries to deal with; faultcurrents are composed of symmetrical (steady state) and transient components.While the RMS value of the symmetrical component may be determined from Ohm'slaw, the transient component can only be determined from information about theThevenin impedance at the point of fault. It is customary to express the Theveninimpedance in terms of a ratio of reactance to resistance or X / R ratio (from Zth = Rth +jXth). When you superpose the symmetrical and transient components of all thesources that contribute current to a short circuit, the picture of a fault-current waveformresembles the waveforms shown in Figure 1. Once again, for clarity, only one phase isshown.2.1 Utility ContributionThe prospective MVA short-circuit contribution of the utility at your service drop is onemeasure of the "stiffness" of the utility system. The higher the MVA, the greater is theavailable fault current. There is always some impedance in any electrical power source,and the effect of it is to reduce the amount of fault current that will flow into your switchgear. Your utility will advise the maximum available short-circuit kVA or amperes that itssystem can produce at your service connection. Available fault current can be stated inthree ways:-KVA (or MVA) with X / R RatioSymmetrical amperes with X / R Ratio-Maximum short-circuit in MVA plus an R + jXThe basic formula that applies is the following:X pu or R pu = Actual Ohms x Base MVA / (base kV) 2If your utility gives you service drop impedance information in ohms, then you simplydivide the lineto-line voltage of your service drop by the ohmic data that the utility gaveyou to get short-circuit MVA. For a feeder whose voltage you know and whosereactance you know, you need only divide the square of the line-to-line voltage by thegiven impedance to get short-circuit MVA.

For three-phase faultsMVAsc = 3 x I3 x kV/1000where 13 is the total three-phase fault current in amperes and kV is the system line-to-line voltage in kilovolts. From thisI3 = 1000 MVAsc / 3 x

kVZohm = Vln/I3 = 1000 kV / 3 x I3 = kV2 / MVAscSubstituting, Zpu = MVAb x Zohm / kV2. Therefore, the positive sequence impedanceto the fault location isZ1 = MVAb / MVAsc puZ1 = Z2 in many situations where active sources do not dominate circuit behavior. Z1can be assumed to be X1 unless X / R data are provided to determine an angle.Figure 2 Sequence networks for most common types of faults: (a) single-line-to-groundfault, Eq. (A); (b) line-to-line fault, Eq. (B); (c) three-phase fault, Eq. (C); (d) double-line-to-ground fault, Eq. (D). In the sequence networks shown, all connections havebeen made at the point on the circuit where the fault occurs. The boxes representsequence impedances that have already been reduced. Voltage source E appears inthe positive sequence network. Phase A is the reference phase.For single-phase-to-ground faultsMVAslg = singleline-to-ground short-circuit MVA = 3 x Is1g x kV / 1000where Is1g is the total single-line-toground fault current in amperes, and kV is thesystem line-to-line voltage in kilovolts.Is1g = 1000 MVAslg / 3 x kVHowever,Is1g = I1 + I2 + I0 = 3Vln / (Zl + Z2 + Z0) = 3Vln/Zgwhere Zg = Zl + Z2 + Z0 (from classical symmetrical component equivalent circuit for single-line-toground fault). Zg = 3 kV2 / MVAs1g in ohmsThen Zo = Zg-Zl-Z2 or in most practical cases, Xo = Xg-X1-X2, (since the resistance isusually very small in relation to the reactance.Computing X and R of a Transformer When Only Z Is KnownFrom time to time you may need to enter X and R into a computer program to do ashort circuit analysis. Let's say you only know that the 1000-kVA transformer impedance is 5.75 percent. To determine X and R to the input screen you must makean assumption about X / R ratio. Given that for a 1-MVA transformer the typical X / Rratio is about 4.5. Use this as the X / R quantity in the following equations.X = R (X / R)R = 1.247 ohmsX = 5.625 ohmsBe careful of the per unit ohmic values. The Z is usually given in percent of thetransformer base. In the absence of specific information, most circuit analysis softwareuse a default X / R ratio such as X / R = 30 for medium voltage circuits.

Example 1 Working with Utility Short-Circuit InformationSituation. You buy power at 34.5 kV. You are planning an expansion to your distribution network and need to determine the impedance of the utility source in order to estimate short-circuit current. The local utility gives you the following information:MVA3 = 679 MVA and MVAslg = 711 MVA on a 100-MVA base. X / R ratio is 22.You buy power at 34.5 kV.Requirements. Determine source reactance at the utility service

point.Solution: With MVAb = 100 MVA, the total reactance to a three-phase fault occurring atthe service drop would beXpu = MVAb / Utility Fault Capability = l00/679 = 0.1473 puR pu = 0.1473/22 = 0.0067 puZ pu = 0.1473 + j0.0067 = 0.1474 <26.04 puThe sequence impedances for a single-line-to-ground fault occurring at the servicedrop would beX1 = X2 = 100/679 = 0.1473 puXg = 3 x 100/711 = 0.4219 puSince Xo = Xg-X1-X2Xo = 0.4219-0.1473-0.1473 = 0.1273 puImpedances of Single-Phase Transformers in Three-Phase Transformer BanksFor three-phase type transformer units, the nameplate specifies the impedance inpercent on the three-phase kVA rating and the kV line-to-line voltages. Where severalkVA ratings are specified, the impedance of the ambient rating (without fans or pumps)should be used.For individual single-phase transformers, that are in common use in electrical customer services, the transformer impedance is normally specified on the single phase kVA andthe rated winding voltages of the transformer. When three such units are used in three-phase systems, then the three-phase kVA and the line-to-line kV bases are required.Thus, when three individual single-phase transformers are connected in the power system the individual nameplate percent or per unit impedance will be the leakageimpedance, but on the three-phase kVA, base and the system line-to-line kV.It is important to remember that all fault current-even the fault current that appears atyour service drop-is generated by rotating machinery. The utility contribution to a faultas shown in Figure 3 is ultimately the fault current generated by remote generators or motors. Now, let us consider fault current from local rotating machines. Our strategywill be to continue to determine the sub-transient impedance of the device in order toapply Ohm's law on a per unit basis.2.2 Generator contributionUnder fault conditions, generator reactance change. These changing reactance areresponsible for the changing current waveform that we see for generators and motors inFigure 7. Field excitation voltage and speed remain substantially constant within thefirst few cycles after the fault. The expression of the variable reactance at any instantafter a fault involves a multi term formula with time as the independent variable. For our purpose, it will be sufficient to divide steady-state kVA by subtransient reactance toestimate generator fault current contribution.Reactance of Rotating Machines-The direct-axis subtransient reactance Xd "is the apparent reactance of the stator

winding the instant the short-circuit occurs. Xd" usually determines the currentmagnitude during the first cycle after the fault occurs.-The direct-axis transient reactance Xd 'is the apparent initial

reactance of the stator winding when only the field winding is considered (damping ignored). The direct-axistransient reactance determines short-circuit current magnitude in the range up to 30 to130 cycles depending upon the design of the machine.-The synchronous reactance Xs "is the apparent reactance that determines the currentflow when a steady state condition is reached. It is not effective until several secondsafter short-circuit occurs. Most fault protection devices, such as circuit breaker or fuses,operate before steady state conditions are reached. Therefore, generator synchronousreactance is seldom used in calculating fault currents for the application of thesedevices.For any rotating machines the amount of short-circuit current may be estimated fromthe following equation:Isc = (Motor or Generator FLA x 100) /% Xd "The restrictions on its application are similar to the restrictions we placed upon theapplication of the "infinite bus" short-circuit calculation.2.3 Motor contributionThe fault-current contribution of induction motors results from generator actionproduced by mechanical inertia driving the motor after the fault occurs. Becauseprotective devices require at least a quarter cycle (and up to 30 cycles and beyond), themotor is a generator until the device opens the circuit.Synchronous motors. Synchronous motors supply current to a fault in much the samemanner as synchronous generators. This fault current diminishes as the motor slowsdown and the motor field excitation decays. The variable reactance of a synchronousmotor is discussed in much the same terms as the reactance of generators. Numericalvalues of the reactance, also given in per unit on the machines' base, will usually bedifferent for the motor mode of operation than in the generator mode of operation. Thereactance in the motor mode of operation is 1.5 times greater than the reactance in thegenerator mode of operation.Induction motors. In contrast to the synchronous motor, the field flux of the inductionmotor is produced by induction from the stator rather than from a direct-current fieldwinding. This flux decays on removal of source voltage resulting from a fault, so thatthe contribution of an induction motor drops off at a rapid exponential rate. As aconsequence, induction motors are assigned only a reactance that is equivalent to thesynchronous machine subtransient reactance Xd ". This reactance will be about equaltoXd "= FLA / LRA = Motor FLA / Motor LRA(FLA is the motor full load current and LRA is the motor locked rotor current)and hence the initial fault-current contribution will be about equal to the full voltagestarting current of the particular kind of machine. However, the resistance in smallmotors may be large enough to cause significant decay in their fault-current contributionbefore the first peak of fault current is

experienced.Wound-rotor induction motors normally operate with their rotor rings short circuited andwill contribute fault current in the same manner as a squirrel cage induction motor.Occasionally, large wound-rotor motors are operated with external resistance

maintained in their rotor circuits. This gives them short-circuit time constants that are solow that their fault contribution is insignificant. However, a specific investigation shouldbe made before neglecting the contribution from wound-rotor motor.In general, then,Isc = Motor FLA x 100 /% Xd "A running induction motor will, when a fault is applied at its terminals, dissipate theelectrical energy stored in its magnetic field into the fault in accordance with the short-circuit time constant of the motor and the external system impedance between themotor and the fault . Induction-motor shortcircuit time constants by themselves areshort (1 to 3 cycles). Typically, external system impedance results in overall timeconstants of less than eight cycles. Consequently, induction motors are not consideredin the calculation of short-circuit fault currents for timeovercurrent relays that operate inthree cycles or more. It should be noted that these current values of short-circuitcurrent are expressed in symmetrical amperes and that, after three cycles, any dctransient current has decayed to zero.Induction motors 250 hp and above is considered to be large motors, motors 50 to 250hp are considered to be medium, and motors 50 hp and below are considered to besmall.If it is not practical to calculate fault current for each small motor below 50 hpseparately, it is usual practice to combine them all at each location. In the case of low-voltage motors, consider all motors at each location that may be running even though atpartial load. ANSI standards permit neglecting motors less than 50 hp whenconsidering medium-voltage circuit breaker applications.To estimate the short-circuit contribution of induction machines 50 hp and below,assume that the motor contribution to the fault current will be four times the full-loadrunning current of each motor. This simplification is possible because of the relativelyrapid decay small induction motor short-circuits current we see in Figure 7. Thissimplification is the only situation in which load current is used as the basis for estimating short-circuits current.A typical design situation arises in which you might need to estimate the interruptingduty required of a unit substation breaker without knowing the particulars about thenature of the loads connected to it. A worst case estimate might proceed as follows:-For a 480/277- V substation, assume the connected motor load equals 100 percent

of system kVA, that is, 1 hp = 1 kVA. This is reasonable because 480 - V substations arecommonly designed to feed heavy motor loads exclusively. Then four times normalload current for which the substation main breaker and bus structure are sized would beadded to the short-circuit current available on the secondary side of the transformer (typically 12 to 25 times normal load current). A contribution of four times rated currentcorresponds to first cycle impedance of 1 / 4 = 0.25 per unit based on motor rated kVAand voltage.-For a 208/120- V substation, assume that motor load is 50 percent of the system kVA.Again, with 1 hp = 1 kVA, two times normal load current for which the substation mainbreaker and bus structure are sized would be added to the short-circuit current availableon the secondary side of the transformer (typically 12 to 25 times normal load current).This is reasonable because 208/120- V substations commonly carry a mixture of lightingand motor loads.

Example 2 will put all this information together for the case of a three-phase boltedfault.Figure 3: Schematic representation of fault current waveforms-one phase only.The lower the X / R ratio, the sooner fault current will decay. The higher the X / R ratio,the longer it will take fault current to decay to a level that is within the interrupting ratingof the protective device. The waveforms shown indicate that short-circuit current fromsources located remote from the point of fault have slower ac current decay comparedto local sources. This must be taken into account where the calculated shortcircuitcurrent is adjusted to reflect the system X / R ratio at the point of fault. The dccomponent of fault current will paralyze any (ac) transformer; thus, when system X / Rratios change radically over the life of a power circuit, attention must be given into theinput / output characteristics of the instrument transformers.3. The Fault Power Method of Short-Circuit CalculationThe so-called MVA methods, applied by many experienced protection specialists whohave mastered per unit and ohmic methods, employs fault powers to compute short-circuit currents. We have already used the method to some extent in the earlier examples involving utility short-circuit contributions, and we develop it at length here.The beauty of it lies in the fact that you use circuit element information in almost thesame form that it appears on nameplates with almost no ohmic or per unit conversions.It is applied by calculating the admittance of each component

of a circuit with its owninfinite bus in terms of MVA. We can then combine pairs of circuit element MVAs inseries and parallel according to the product-over-sum rule from basic network theory for combining the admittance and / or impedance of two circuit elements. Series MVAcombinations are computed like impedances in parallel. Parallel MVA combinations arecomputed like impedances in series. In the following development, super ****** s willindicate a specific circuit element and / or iterative fault power, and sub ****** s willindicate a positive, negative, or sequence fault power.Series: MVAl and MVA2 = (MVAl xMVA2) (MVAl + MVA2)Parallel: MVAl and MVA2 = MVAl + MVA2The MVA method is best illustrated by example. Given the circuit of Figure 4a, wewant to determine the three-phase fault current at F:Step 1: Convert all circuit elements to short-circuit MVAs. The short-circuit MVA of each circuit element is equal to its MVA rating divided by its own per unit impedance or reactance.For the utility: 1000 / 1 = 1000 MVAFor the utility feeder: (34.5) 2 / 5 = 238 MVAFor the utility transformer: 15/.07 = 214For the customer motor: 5/0.2 = 25Step 2: Combine MVAs. Since we have more than two circuit elements, we performthe calculations iteratively.MVAl and MVA2Let 192 MVA be the new MVAl. ThenMVAl and MVA2Going this far with the calculation will allow you to determine the three-phase faultcurrent at the 13.8 bus without motor contribution.

Figure 4: MVA method example, MVAs with sub ****** s indicate sequence faultpowers, MVAs with super ****** s indicate iteration number.Step 3: Convert MVA to symmetrical fault current(LLL without motor contribution)We assume that fault current on the load side of the feeder breaker is the same as thefault current on the bus. But we want the fault on a feeder with a motor backfeedingfault current into it so we must combine the MVAs in parallel by adding them thusMVAl + MVA4 = 101 + 25 = 126(LLL with motor contribution)At this point, it should be obvious how quickly the method may be applied, and,because of its iterative nature, how it lends itself to a computer solution. The methoddoes not require a common MVA base as required in per unit methods. It is not necessary to convert impedances from one voltage to another as required by the ohmic method. Best of all, you do not need to deal with anything but large whole numbers. You may apply the method to compute single-line-to-ground, double-line-to-ground, andother shunt faults as well. Referring again to the circuit of Figure 4a, we know that thefault at the 13.2-kV bus is 126

MVA. Assuming that the positive and negativeimpedances are equal, we can say that the positive sequence fault power is equal to thenegative sequence fault power, so thatMVAl = MVA2 = 126Now a single-line-to-ground fault on the 13.2-kV bus would have only the transformer and the motor contributing to zero sequence MVAs. The delta connection on thesecondary of the transformer blocks any zero sequence power contribution from theutility. Therefore, our MVA block diagram may be redrawn to indicate flow of zerosequence fault power only. See Figure 4b.MVAotrans = MVAl = MVA 2 = 214Assuming that the transformer zero sequence reactance is equal to its positive andnegative sequence reactance is another common assumption in industrial practice. Thezero sequence reactance of a motor is about one half its positive zero sequencereactance. ThereforeFigure 4b Zero sequence fault power flow.MVAomot = 5/0.1 = 50 MVAThe total zero sequence fault power then is equal to the sum of the motor andtransformer fault powers because of the parallel connection.MVAotrans + MVAomot = 214 + 50 = 264The single-line-to-ground fault power is obtained by the upper connection diagramshown in Figure 4c. This connection diagram follows from symmetrical componenttheory. Since these are three branches in parallel, the simplest approach is to take onebranch out of the circuit and solve for its MVA value and then multiply the value by 3.MVA1 and MVA2 = = 63 MVAMVA1, 2 newand MVAo = = 51 MVAMVA = 3 x 51 = 153 MVA

(SLG with motor contribution and no neutral impedance)you wanted to limit the flow of ground-fault current with impedance of, for instance, 1.0ohm, you could reformulate the network of Figure 4c with a reactor MVA of ThenFigure 4c MVA method-limiting fault-current exampleFigure 4.d MVA methoddouble line to ground fault(SLG with motor contribution and neutral impedance)You can work this problem in reverse, specifying a value of single line-to-groundcurrent (to the same value as three-phase fault current, for instance) in order to specifythe fault-current-limiting reactor in ohms.In Figure 4d you can compute double-line-to-ground fault current from the followingformulas: -andSo that the MVA sequence connection diagram can reduce to Figure 8d and thatMVA2 + MVAo = 126 + 264 = 390MVAf dlg = 3 x MVAxo = 3 x 66 = 195 MVAIf dlg = 8550 A (LLG fault with motor contribution and no neutral impedance)You can come up with numbers for the determination of interrupting duty for the verycommon main-tie-main switch gear arrangement with all fault-current sources going fulltilt by proceeding in the same manner we have shown and applying the delta-wye/wye-delta conversion

formula. It may be applied to far more complex circuits withreasonable accuracy and lends itself to an iterative algorithm that can be programmedinto a handheld computer if you do not have access to a workstation-based short-circuitanalysis program. Although you need to be careful about the reasonableness of your assumptions about sequence impedances and do not need to have detailed informationabout fault-current decrements, the example given should make clear the MVAmethod's effectiveness in terms of speed, accuracy, and economy.