Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium, Beijing, China, March 23–27, 2009 249

Progress in Studies of Transients Analysis Method of

Multiconductor Transmission Lines
Chaoqun Jiao and Yi Sun
School of Electrical Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University
No. 3 Shangyuan Residence, Haidian District, Beijing 100044, China

Abstract— Through reading a lot of literature, the progress in Studies of transients analysis
method of multiconductor transmission lines (MTLs) is presented in this paper. These methods
mainly include Bergeron’s method, the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method and the
time domain finite element (TDFE) method. Then, the disadvantage and advantage of these
methods are pointed out through one example. Finally, with different situation, it is suggested
that which method is chosen to resolve the pratical problem.
1. INTRODUCTION
The MTLs structure is capable of guiding wave whose frequencies range from dc to where the
line cross-sectional dimensions become a significant fraction of a wavelength. There are many
applications for this wave-guiding structure. For example, at higher frequencies, higher-order modes
coexist with the TEM mode so other guiding structures, such as waveguides and antennas, are more
practical for transmitting the signal between a source and a load. There are many applications
for this wave-guiding structure. In electric system, high-voltage power transmission lines are are
intended to transmit 50 Hz or 60 Hz sinusoidal waveforms and the resulting power. In addition
to this low-frequency power frequency, there may exist other high-frequency components of the
transmitted signal such as when a fault occurs on the line or a circuit breaker opens and recloses.
The wave forms on the line associated with these events have high-frequency spectral content. In
addition, in a three-phase substation, the fault, lightning and switching operation all cause very
intense wave processes of voltage and current distributed along the busbars and the power lines.
Because the frequency spectrum of the transient process is very wide and the electromagnetic
field at the high frequency domain is radiated from the busbars and the power lines, therefore,
the switching transient is a very important problem in the substation. It can seriously disturb
the secondary equipment in the substation and the consumer devices nearby. This phenomenon
also occurs in electronic system. Cables in modern electronic systems such as aircraft, ships and
vehicles serve to transmit power as well as signals throughout the system. These cables consist of
large numbers of individual wires that are packed into bundles for neatness and space conservation.
The electromagnetic fields surrounding the individual wires interact with each other and induce
signals in all the adjacent circuits. This is unintended and is referred to as crosstalk. Crosstalk
can cause functional degradation of the circuit at the ends of the cable. The prediction of the
crosstalk will be one of our major objectives. There are numerous similar structures. A printed
circuit board (PCB) consists of a planar dielectric on which rectangular cross section conductors
(lands) serve to interconnect digital devices as well as analog devices. Crosstalk can be a significant
functional problem with these PCBs as can the degradation of the intended signal transmission
through attenuation, time delay, and other effects. Signal degradation, time delay and crosstalk
can create significant functional problems in today’s high-speed digital circuits so it is important
to understand and predict this effect.
In order to research this problem, in general, the method of moment (MoM) may be used. But it
is too difficult to use for a complex configuration and is only valid in the frequency domain and for
the linear problem. Another approach is to model the busbars the power lines and individual wires
as the MTLs. In this approach, firstly, the wave processes of voltage and current distributed along
the busbars, the power lines and individual wires are calculated, and then, the electromagnetic
fields at arbitrary points in the substation, neighborhood and the electronic system are directly
evaluated through the known voltage and current distributed along the MTLs. Therefore, it is
a key to develop an effective algorithm for calculating the wave processes of voltage and current
distributed along the MTLs with or without branches.
2. PRESENTED METHODS
There are a number of examples of wave-guiding structures that may be viewed as “transmission
lines”. Fig. 1(a) shows examples of (n + 1)-conductor wire-type lines consisting of parallel wires.
250 PIERS Proceedings, Beijing, China, March 23–27, 2009

Typical examples of such lines are flatpack or ribbon cables used to interconnect electronic systems.
Fig. 1(b) shows examples of n wires above an infinite, perfectly conducting ground plane. Typical
examples are cables which have a metallic structure as a return or high-voltage power distribution
lines (Overhead Transmission Line). In the case of high-voltage distribution lines, the return path
is earth. Fig. 1(c) shows n wires within an overall, cylindrical shield. Typical examples are all kind
of shielded cable or underground electric shielded cable. Shields are often placed around cables in
order to prevent or reduce the coupling of electromagnetic fields from adjacent cables (crosstalk)
or from distant sources such as radar transmitters or radio and television.

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

Figure 1: Examples and computational model of MTLs.

There are many methods to analyze the MTLs, in general, they may be classified into two
classes. One is the frequency domain method, and another is the time-domain method. The first
method is very conventional and simple, but it is limited in the linear problem and is not adaptable
in transient analysis. The second one can be used to deal with not only the linear problem but also
the nonlinear problem. However, for the frequency-dependent parameter problem, it is difficult.
Some special methods have been developed to overcome the shortcoming of above two methods.
In fact, in order to analyze the wave processes, the time-domain method is always recommended.
Bergron’s method is a time-domain method, which has been widely used to calculate the wave
processes in the power system and has been implemented in EMTP code [1, 2]. But only the
voltage and current at some specified nodes can be calculated by this method, it is not effective for
the calculation of whole wave processes of voltage and current distributed along the MTLs. For this
case, the problem can be solved by FDTD [3]. Professor C. R. Paul proposed an iterative algorithm
for the lossy MTLs with arbitrary loads [4]. Dr. Lu Tiebing and etc. improved and complemented
the Paul’s method [5–10]. Because of Gibbs effect of the FDTD method, Professor Park S. and
Dr. Liu Lei and etc. developed the finite element method (FEM) and TDFE method [11–16].

3. COMPARISON OF THESE METHODS AND SUGGESTION

The disadvantage and advantage of these methods are pointed out through two examples.
One example is the crosstalk problem of two wires as shown in Fig. 2. The voltage source is step
function and its Magnitude is 1 V. Rs1 = 50 Ω, Rs2 = 50 Ω, RL1 = 50 Ω, RL2 = 50 Ω. The length
of the MTLs is 0.5 m. The per-unit-length parameters are the same as in [4]. The comparison of
the results of the TDFE method and FDTD method is shown in Fig. 3.
From the Fig. 3, we can see that the results the results of the TDFE method are agreement with

Rs1 A 1 B

C 2 D
Rs2
+
Us − Rl2 Rl1
0

Figure 2: Crosstalk problem of two wires.

Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium, Beijing, China, March 23–27, 2009 251

(a) The transient voltages of A and B (b) The transient voltages of the C and D

Figure 3: Comparison of the results of TDFE and FDTD method.

FDTD method. But from the zoom part in the Fig. 3, because of the Gibbs effect, the results the
FDTD has oscillation.
The other example is the MTL and there are RLC at the end of crosstalk as shown in Fig. 4. The
voltage source is sine function and its frequency is 50 Hz. Rs = 50 Ω, C = 0.003 µF, L = 0.27 mH,
RL = 100 Ω. The length of the MTL is 90 m. The height of the MTL is 15 m above the ground .
The calculational radius of the MTL is 5.8 cm. The comparison of the results of the TDFE method
and EMTP is shown in Fig. 5.

Figure 4: Simple RLC current circuit at the end of MTL.

(a) The transient voltages of A (b) The transient voltages of B

Figure 5: Comparison of the results of TDFE and EMTP.

From the Fig. 5, we can see that the results the results of the TDFE method are very good
agreement with EMTP. The TDFE method can give all of the voltages in the discrete point along
the MTL as shown in Fig. 6. But EMTP can only give the voltages at the end of the MTL.
From the analysis, to the practical problem, we should choose the method due to the need. If
only the values at the ends of the MTLs are need to compute, the EMTP will be chosen. If all
the values at along the MTLs are need to compute, the FDTD method and TDFE method will
be chosen. And the FDTD method is simpler than the TDFE method. But because of the Gibbs
effect of the FDTD method, the precision of the FDTD method is poor than the TDFE method.
252 PIERS Proceedings, Beijing, China, March 23–27, 2009

Figure 6: Voltage waveform on along MTL at three different times.

4. CONCLUSION
The progress in Studies of transients analysis method of multiconductor transmission lines(MTLs)
is presented in this paper. The disadvantage and advantage of these methods are pointed out. It
is suggested that which method is chosen to resolve the practical problem.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by the Research Fund of Beijing Jiaotong University (No. 2007XM044).
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