IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 11, No.
4, October 1996
A Special-Case Surface Voltage Gradient Formula
h d e r s Lamson*
Swedlsh Transmission Research Institute
LPndvLa, Sweden
* Present address: Institute of High Voltage Research, Uppsala University, Husbyborg S-752 28 Uppsala, Sweden
-
Abstract In the electrical design of a high-voltage substation,
the designer needs a simple and reliable tool, preferably a
closed-form formula, when calculating the surface voltage gra-
dient o f line segments within the substation since the surface
voltage gradient is the governing parameter of the corona per-
formance. This paper presents a derivation of a closed-form
formula for calculation of the maximum surface voltage gradi-
ent of a special line configuration, namely a horizontal AC
three-phase Pine configuration with bundle conductors consist-
ing of three sub-conductors in a horizontal arrangement. The
formula has been verified against exact calculations and was
found to have an error less than 5% for all practical combina-
tions of the conductor radius, the sub-conductor spacing, the
phase distance, and the height above earth.
I. INTRODUCTION
The corona performance is one of the important issues that
have to be considered in the design of high-voltage substa-
tions since the corona cause losses, radio interference, audi-
ble noise, etc. The governing parameter for a line segment
within the substation is the electric field strength at the sur-
face, or the surface voltage gradient, of the line segment
conductor since the corona consists of electrical discharges in
air. The calculation of the surface voltage gradient on trans-
mission line conductors has been thoroughly treated in the
literature and a number of methods have been presented. The
discussion of which method to use and which method is the
best was settled when an IEEE working group presented a
g6 wM OO9-l 'wRD A paper reco"ended and approved by the IEEE
Substations Committee of the IEEE Power Engineering Society for
presentation at the 1996 IEEE/PES Winter Meeting, January 21-25, 1996,
Baltimore, MD. Manuscript submitted J U ~ Y11, 1995; made avaiable for
printing November 13, 1995.
0885-8977/96/$05.00
1771
comprehensive survey of different methods in 1979 [I]. AI11
the methods within the working group survey were compared
with the results using the algorithm based on the method of
successive images for the determination of the suhface volt-
age gradient for an arbitrary arrangement of parallel cylin-
drical conductors above an earthed plane presented by Mam-
vada and Janischewskyj 821, since this algorithm has been
proven to converge to the exact solution by Alessandrini et
al. [3]. The conclusions from the working group were that a
simple method based on the Markt and Mengele's classical
method [4] gives sufficiently accurate results fox three-phase
transmission line configurations with up to four sub-conduc-
tors in the bundle and a more complex method is needed for
bundles with more than four sub-conductors. However, the
IEEE-study considered only the arrangement of sub-conduc-
tors on a circle arc. This paper treats the case of a horizontal
arrangement of the sub-conductors.
In the electrical design of a high-voltage substation, the de-
signer needs a simple and reliable tool, preferably a closed-
form formula, when calculating the surface voltage gradient
on line segments within the substation. Such formulas exists
for an AC three-phase line configuration with bundle con-
ductors consisting of sub-conductors on a circle arc (Fig. I),
e.g., as presented in the ABB Switchgear Manuall [SI,
E=-U s2ha
fi nrln(
where
(See Appendix I for a List of Symbols) The fonnula above is
valid for sub-conductors on a circle arc where the different
phases have the Same distance to earth (Fig, 11, and its de^-
vation is based On the Markt and classical method*
SO far, however, nobody has treated the case when the sub-
conductors not lying on a circle arc, but lying in a horizontal
0 1996 IEEE
1772
configuration (Fig. 2). This paper presents a closed-form 5.39% and 7.07% respectively. An overall error less than
fomula for the case of three sub-conductors in such a hori- PO% is reasonable from a practical point of view.
zontal arrangement.
111. DIERTVAT1ON
a s
4
B! ?i+
010 Q Q A. The algorithm
-bo+ 2r
The formula for the surface voltage gradient calculation is
derived for the outer sub-conductors in the middle phase for
h lI the three-phase arrangement with bundle conductors consist-

I ing of sub-conductors in a horizontal arrangement9 since the

highest surface voltage gradient occurs at that location. The
derivation of the closed-form expression is following the five
distinct steps presented below, which is based on Mark and
Fig. 1. Athree-phase line conftguration with the Mengele's classical method 141. Details of the derhation is
sub-conductorsarranged on a circle arc. found in [6].
Step 1. Replace the bundle conductor with a singular wire
a with an equivalent radius re. The condition i s that the sin@-
7 1
Bar wire shall have the same capacitance to the earth plane as
- 8 8 0 o i o 8 0 0
the bundle conductor. The equivalent radius is given by
Q
2 2
2Ys -xs -x,z,
re = 2hexp( 1
3x, -4y, + z ,

where

2h fl.lh2 + s 2 Jh2 +s2

xs =In- ys =%n 2, =Bn
Fig. 2. A three-phase line configuration with the three r s s
sub-conductors in a horizontal arrangement.
Step 2. Replace the (singular conductor, radius r e ) three-
phase line with a single-phase line with an equivalent height
11. ASSUMPTIONS he above earth. The condition is that the single-phase line
shall have the same capacitance as the middle phase in the
The following simplifications are used in the derivation of three-phase arrangement. The equivalent height is given by
the simple expression in a closed form for the surface voltage
gradient at high-voltage transmission line conductors: ha
* he" = J
Clean air is assumed to be present, i.e. no rain, no pollu-
tion, etc. are considered.
Step 3. Calculate the charge on this single-phase single
0
The conductors are assumed to be smooth, infinite long conductor. The line charge is given by
circular cylinders at a given potential, parallel to each
other and parallel to the earth plane.

0
The influence of towers, conductor supports and other
structures in the vicinity of the conductors are neglected. Step 4. Distribute this charge on the sub-conductors of the
original bundle conductor. The charge is not equally distrib-
* Since each conductor will be replaced by a line charge at uted on the sub-conductors since the arrangement of the sub-
its centre, a further requirement is that r << s << a , h . conductors is asymmetric. The charge on an outer sub-con-
ductor is given by
An optimistic value of the error introduced in the calcula-
tions due to the assumptions above and due to uncertainties
in the input data is f5% [l]. An error in the method of calcu-
lation itself of rt2% and +.5% results in an overall error of
 1773

where

Step 5. Calculate the maximum voltage gradient on an

outer sub-conductor. The surface voltage gradient is given by

where o I o m 3 0 4 o ~ m
Sub-conducla spacing. s [cm]

Fig. 5. The field enhancement fact0r.

and

4
P

E,

@ is a correction factor due to the influence of the neighbour- 9

-2
ing sub-conductors in the bundle 671. i
Y

B. The$nal expression
:
Putting everything together gives the following final ex-
:“a
-10

0 1 0 2 0 3 0 4 o 5 0 m
pression for the maximum surface voltage gradient Sub-conductor spacing. s [cm]

Fig. 6. The relative error in the surface voltage

(10) gradient calculation using (10).

re

where Ip is given by (S), houtergiven by (6), re given by (2), h=3m

and he given by (3).

A numerical method of calculating the surface voltage gra-

dient with any desired degree of accuracy exists if assuming
the idealised case defined by the first three assumptions in
Chapter I1 [2,3]1.The method is based on the method of suc-
cessive images and has been implemented in a computer
programme and surface voltage gradients calculated with 0 10 20 30 40 50
this programme have been compared with the gradients cal- Sukonductor spacing, s [cml

culated with the formula (10) presented in this paper.

Some graphs of these comparisons are shown. In Fig. 5 is
the field enhancement factor, i.e. the surface voltage gradient
divided by the applied voltage, shown as a hnction of the
sub-conductor spacing for the case of a = 9 m, h = 15 m, and
d = 20 mm. The curves follow closely to each other, and it is
interesting to note that the field strength has a minimum for
a certain value of the sub-conductor spacing. Figs. 6 and 7
Fig. 7. The relative error in the surface voltage gradient
calculation using ( 10).
gives the relative difference between the two methods sf
calculating the surface voltage gradient for a selected num-
bers of parameters. In Fig. 7 it is shown that the error of the
formula increases rapidly for increasing sub-conductor sgac-
1774
ing. This behaviour is quite expected since when increasing m, and in some of these extreme cases the error of the for-
the sub-conductor spacing we start to violate the requirement mula is large. But the error was found to be less than 5% for
of s << a,h. The increase in error is also found for other all practical combinations of values of the parameters.
parameter settings (cf. Fig. 6), but is not as pronounced as
for the case of Fig. 7.

In a high-voltage substation, i t is ~ommonto design the

TABLE I conductor bundle codiguration in a horizontal arrangement
SUMMARY OF THE CALCULATION OF VERIFICATION. (triplex). The reason is both due to practical and cost efi-
cient causes. The problem is only to ensure a reliable and
acceptable value of the surface voltage gradient. Noranally, 8
level of 1.6 to 1.9 MV/m is p e r m h d and accepted, but in
some instances even a gradient of 2. B M V h can be permit-
28 r 2 3 I 5-10 I 5-25 1 ted.
The first step in the conductor design is based on current
capacity and electromechanical considerations. The follow-
ing parameters and related values are the result of this first
step in the design procedure:

U = 245 &V
a = 4.5 m
h = 9.5 m
r = 118.1 mm
s=20cm
n=3

As a second step in the design procedure the surface volt-

age gradient is checked. Using (IO) the maximum surface
voltage gradient is calculated to be 0.9 MV/m, which is be-
9 15 10 - 25 10 - 60 low the upper limit of 1.6 MV/m and thus is the design ac-
cepted to be implemented in the substation.
45 2 3 10 - 15 10 - 20
VI. CONCLUSION

The formula presented in this paper gives the maximum

surface voltage gradient on a three-phase transmission line in
a horizontal arrangement with bundle conductors, where the
bundle consists of three parallel sub-conductors arranged in a
horizontal configuration (Fig. 2). The parameters in the
The total space of parameters of interest is formula are:
Conductor diameter 2 0 1 d 145 "1( U (v) Rated voltage
Phase distance 2 1 ~ 1 9 (m> r (m> Radius of conductor
Height above ground 3<h<.15 (m> s (m> Distance between sub-conductors
Sub-conductor spacing 5 Is I60 (cm) a (m> Phase distance
h (m> Height of conductor a0ove ground
The strategy of the calculations was to keep r, a and h con-
stant and check the difference between the result of the exact The formula for the R M S surface voltage gradient, E, in V/m
calculation and the result ~f the evaluation of the derived is:
formula for different values of s. A summary of the results is
compiled in Table I. The table contains the intervals of s U
where the difference between the exact calculation and the E=--.
evaluation of the derived formula differs by less than 2% and
596, respectively, with r, a and h as parameters. 'e
Extreme combinations of values of these parameters are not
practical, e.g. h = 3 m and a = 9 m, or s = 60 cm and w = 2 in which

xs -Ys xs -2Ys +z,
louter = himer =
3xs -4y, + z , 3xs - 4 y , + z ,
2 2
ha 2Ys - x s -xszs
re = 2hexp(
3xs - 4 y , + z ,
where
x, =In-
2h
y s =In d m zs =In
d27-
r S
The formula has been verified against exact calculations
and was found to have an error less than 5% for all practical
combinations of the conductor radius, the sub-conductor
spacing, the phase distance, and the height above ground.
WI. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author wants to thank Ralf Hartings (STFU) and Lars
Haglund (ABB Substations) for fruitful discussions. The
computer programme utilising the method of successive
images has been developed by Dr. Frans Jonas at STFU.
VIII. REFERENCES
IEEE Corona and Field Effects Subcommittee Report,
Radio Noise Working Group (Chairman P. S. Maru-
vada), "A survey of methods for calculating transmis-
sion line conductor surface voltage gradients", IEEE
Trans. on Pow. App. and Sys., Vol. PAS-98, No 6, pp.
11996-2014 (1979)
Maruvada, P. S., and Janischewskyj, W. "Electrostatic
field of a system of parallel cylindrical conductors",
IEEE Trans. on Pow. App. and Sys., Vol. PAS-88,
NO7, pp. 1069-1079 (1969)
Alessandrini, V., Fanchiotti, H., Garcia Canal, C. A.,
and Vucetich, H. "Exact solution of electrostaticprob-
lem for a system of parallel cylindrical conductors", J.
O f Appl. Phys., Vol. 45, NO 8, pp. 3649-3661 (1974)
Markt, G . , and Mengele, B., "Dresthromfernubertra-
gung mit Bundelleitern", E und M, Heft 20, pp. 293-
298 (1932)
1775
[5j ABB Switchgear Manual, 8th Edition, pp. 137f, Cor-
nelsen Verlag Schwamm-Girardet, Dihsseldorf (1 988)
[6] Earsson, A., "Derivation of a sgecial-case surface
voltage gradient formula", WFUE 268-95, HSSN
0349-8352, Institute of High Voltage Research, Upp-
sala University, Sweden (1995)
[7] Mangoldt, W.v. "Elektrotechnische Grundlagen der
Bundelleitung", in Bundelleitungen, pp. 3-1 1, Sie-
mens-Schuckert-Werke AG, Berlin (1942)
)
APPENDIX I. LIST OF SYMBOLS
a Phase distance
Cmiddle Capacitance of the middle phase of a
three-phase system
Csingle Capacitance of a single conductor above
S an earthed plane
G O , Total capacitance
d Conductor diameter, d = 2r
E The RMS surface voltage gradient
R Height of conductor above ground
Equivalent height above earth
he
19 Number of sub-conductors in a bundle
r Conductor radius
re Equivalent conductor radius
S Distance between sub-conductors within a
bundle
U Rated voltage
P Correction factor due to neighbouring
sub-conductors
l [C/m]l The line charge of an outer sub-conductor
himer [-I The relative line charge on the inner sub-
conductor (relative to the total charge of
the bundle)
Louter [-I The relative line charge on an outer sub-
conductor (relative to the total charge of
the bundle)
I,, [C/m] Total line charge
BIOGRAPHY
Anders Larsson was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on September 7, 1963. He
received his M.Sc. in Engineering Physics from Uppsala University 1989. From
1989 to 1991 he was working at the R&D Department of ABB Transformers,
Ludvika, Sweden, and joined in 1991 the Swedish Transmission Research
Institute (STRI). 1994 he received the Licentiate Degree in Engineering and is
since that year on leave from STRI to continue with his Ph.D.-studies at the
Institute of High Voltage Research, Uppsala University. The subject of his
studies is in the area of air discharge physics. He is a member of the Swedish
Physical Society and of Kalmar Nation in Uppsala.