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Electrical fault
(Redirected from Fault (power engineering))

In an electric power system, a fault or fault current is any abnormal electric current. For
example, a short circuit is a fault in which a live wire touches a neutral or ground wire. An open-
circuit fault occurs if a circuit is interrupted by a failure of a current-carrying wire (phase or
neutral) or a blown fuse or circuit breaker. In three-phase systems, a fault may involve one or more
phases and ground, or may occur only between phases. In a "ground fault" or "earth fault", current
flows into the earth. The prospective short-circuit current of a predictable fault can be calculated
for most situations. In power systems, protective devices can detect fault conditions and operate
circuit breakers and other devices to limit the loss of service due to a failure.

In a polyphase system, a fault may affect all phases equally, which is a "symmetric fault". If only
some phases are affected, the resulting "asymmetric fault" becomes more complicated to analyse.
The analysis of these types of faults is often simplified by using methods such as symmetrical
components.

The design of systems to detect and interrupt power system faults is the main objective of power-
system protection.

Transient fault
A transient fault is a fault that is no longer present if power is disconnected for a short time and
then restored; or an insulation fault which only temporarily affects a device's dielectric properties
which are restored after a short time. Many faults in overhead power lines are transient in nature.
When a fault occurs, equipment used for power system protection operate to isolate the area of the
fault. A transient fault will then clear and the power-line can be returned to service. Typical
examples of transient faults include:

momentary tree contact

bird or other animal contact
lightning strike
conductor clashing

Transmission and distribution systems use an automatic re-close function which is commonly used
on overhead lines to attempt to restore power in the event of a transient fault. This functionality is
not as common on underground systems as faults there are typically of a persistent nature.
Transient faults may still cause damage both at the site of the original fault or elsewhere in the
network as fault current is generated.

Persistent fault
A persistent fault is present regardless of power being applied. Faults in underground power cables
are most often persistent due to mechanical damage to the cable, but are sometimes transient in
nature due to lightning.[1]

Types of fault

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Asymmetric fault

An asymmetric or unbalanced fault does not affect each of the phases equally. Common types
of asymmetric fault, and their causes:

line-to-line fault - a short circuit between lines, caused by ionization of air, or when lines come
into physical contact, for example due to a broken insulator. In transmission line faults, roughly
5% - 10% are asymmetric line-to-line faults.[2]
line-to-ground fault - a short circuit between one line and ground, very often caused by
physical contact, for example due to lightning or other storm damage. In transmission line
faults, roughly 65% - 70% are asymmetric line-to-ground faults.[2]
double line-to-ground fault - two lines come into contact with the ground (and each other),
also commonly due to storm damage. In transmission line faults, roughly 15% - 20% are
asymmetric double line-to-ground.[2]

Symmetric fault

A symmetric or balanced fault affects each of the phases equally. In transmission line faults,
roughly 5% are symmetric.[3] These faults are rare compared to asymmetric faults. Two kinds of
symmetric fault are line to line to line (L-L-L) and line to line to line to ground (L-L-L-G).
Symmetric faults account for 2 to 5% of all system faults. However, they can cause very severe
damage to equipment even though the system remains balanced.

Bolted fault
One extreme is where the fault has zero impedance, giving the maximum prospective short-circuit
current. Notionally, all the conductors are considered connected to ground as if by a metallic
conductor; this is called a "bolted fault". It would be unusual in a well-designed power system to
have a metallic short circuit to ground but such faults can occur by mischance. In one type of
transmission line protection, a "bolted fault" is deliberately introduced to speed up operation of
protective devices.

Ground fault (earth fault)

A ground fault (earth fault) is any failure that allows unintended connection of power circuit
conductors with the earth. Such faults can cause objectionable circulating currents, or may
energize the housings of equipment at a dangerous voltage. Some special power distribution
systems may be designed to tolerate a single ground fault and continue in operation. Wiring codes
may require an insulation monitoring device to give an alarm in such a case, so the cause of the
ground fault can be identified and remedied. If a second ground fault develops in such a system, it
can result in overcurrent or failure of components. Even in systems that are normally connected to
ground to limit overvoltages, some applications require a Ground Fault Interrupter or similar
device to detect faults to ground.

Realistic faults
Realistically, the resistance in a fault can be from close to zero to fairly high relative to the load
resistance. A large amount of power may be consumed in the fault, compared with the zero-
impedance case where the power is zero. Also, arcs are highly non-linear, so a simple resistance is

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not a good model. All possible cases need to be considered for a good analysis.[4]

Arcing fault
Where the system voltage is high enough, an electric arc may form between power system
conductors and ground. Such an arc can have a relatively high impedance (compared to the normal
operating levels of the system) and can be difficult to detect by simple overcurrent protection. For
example, an arc of several hundred amperes on a circuit normally carrying a thousand amperes
may not trip overcurrent circuit breakers but can do enormous damage to bus bars or cables before
it becomes a complete short circuit. Utility, industrial, and commercial power systems have
additional protection devices to detect relatively small but undesired currents escaping to ground.
In residential wiring, electrical regulations may now require arc-fault circuit interrupters on
building wiring circuits, to detect small arcs before they cause damage or a fire.

Analysis
Symmetric faults can be analyzed via the same methods as any other phenomena in power
systems, and in fact many software tools exist to accomplish this type of analysis automatically (see
power flow study). However, there is another method which is as accurate and is usually more
instructive.

First, some simplifying assumptions are made. It is assumed that all electrical generators in the
system are in phase, and operating at the nominal voltage of the system. Electric motors can also
be considered to be generators, because when a fault occurs, they usually supply rather than draw
power. The voltages and currents are then calculated for this base case.

Next, the location of the fault is considered to be supplied with a negative voltage source, equal to
the voltage at that location in the base case, while all other sources are set to zero. This method
makes use of the principle of superposition.

To obtain a more accurate result, these calculations should be performed separately for three
separate time ranges:

subtransient is first, and is associated with the largest currents

transient comes between subtransient and steady-state
steady-state occurs after all the transients have had time to settle

An asymmetric fault breaks the underlying assumptions used in three-phase power, namely that
the load is balanced on all three phases. Consequently, it is impossible to directly use tools such as
the one-line diagram, where only one phase is considered. However, due to the linearity of power
systems, it is usual to consider the resulting voltages and currents as a superposition of
symmetrical components, to which three-phase analysis can be applied.

In the method of symmetric components, the power system is seen as a superposition of three
components:

a positive-sequence component, in which the phases are in the same order as the original
system, i.e., a-b-c
a negative-sequence component, in which the phases are in the opposite order as the original
system, i.e., a-c-b
a zero-sequence component, which is not truly a three-phase system, but instead all three
phases are in phase with each other.

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To determine the currents resulting from an asymmetric fault, one must first know the per-unit
zero-, positive-, and negative-sequence impedances of the transmission lines, generators, and
transformers involved. Three separate circuits are then constructed using these impedances. The
individual circuits are then connected together in a particular arrangement that depends upon the
type of fault being studied (this can be found in most power systems textbooks). Once the sequence
circuits are properly connected, the network can then be analyzed using classical circuit analysis
techniques. The solution results in voltages and currents that exist as symmetrical components;
these must be transformed back into phase values by using the A matrix.

Analysis of the prospective short-circuit current is required for selection of protective devices such
as fuses and circuit breakers. If a circuit is to be properly protected, the fault current must be high
enough to operate the protective device within as short a time as possible; also the protective
device must be able to withstand the fault current and extinguish any resulting arcs without itself
being destroyed or sustaining the arc for any significant length of time.

The magnitude of fault currents differ widely depending on the type of earthing system used, the
installation's supply type and earthing system, and its proximity to the supply. For example, for a
domestic UK 230 V, 60 A TN-S or USA 120 V/240 V supply, fault currents may be a few thousand
amperes. Large low-voltage networks with multiple sources may have fault levels of 300,000
amperes. A high-resistance-grounded system may restrict line to ground fault current to only 5
amperes. Prior to selecting protective devices, prospective fault current must be measured reliably
at the origin of the installation and at the furthest point of each circuit, and this information
applied properly to the application of the circuits.

Detecting and locating faults

Overhead power lines are easiest to diagnose since the problem is usually obvious, e.g., a tree has
fallen across the line, or a utility pole is broken and the conductors are lying on the ground.

Locating faults in a cable system can be done either with the circuit de-energized, or in some cases,
with the circuit under power. Fault location techniques can be broadly divided into terminal
methods, which use voltages and currents measured at the ends of the cable, and tracer methods,
which require inspection along the length of the cable. Terminal methods can be used to locate the
general area of the fault, to expedite tracing on a long or buried cable.[5]

In very simple wiring systems, the fault location is often found through inspection of the wires. In
complex wiring systems (for example, aircraft wiring) where the wires may be hidden, wiring faults
are located with a Time-domain reflectometer.[6] The time domain reflectometer sends a pulse
down the wire and then analyzes the returning reflected pulse to identify faults within the electrical
wire.

In historic submarine telegraph cables, sensitive galvanometers were used to measure fault
currents; by testing at both ends of a faulted cable, the fault location could be isolated to within a
few miles, which allowed the cable to be grappled up and repaired. The Murray loop and the
Varley loop were two types of connections for locating faults in cables

Sometimes an insulation fault in a power cable will not show up at lower voltages. A "thumper" test
set applies a high-energy, high-voltage pulse to the cable. Fault location is done by listening for the
sound of the discharge at the fault. While this test contributes to damage at the cable site, it is
practical because the faulted location would have to be re-insulated when found in any case.[7]

In a high resistance grounded distribution system, a feeder may develop a fault to ground but the
system continues in operation. The faulted, but energized, feeder can be found with a ring-type
current transformer collecting all the phase wires of the circuit; only the circuit containing a fault

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to ground will show a net unbalanced current. To make the ground fault current easier to detect,
the grounding resistor of the system may be switched between two values so that the fault current
pulses.

Batteries
The prospective fault current of larger batteries, such as deep-cycle batteries used in stand-alone
power systems, is often given by the manufacturer.

In Australia, when this information is not given, the prospective fault current in amperes "should
be considered to be 6 times the nominal battery capacity at the C120 A·h rate," according to AS
4086 part 2 (Appendix H).

See also
Electrical safety
Fault (technology)

References
1. Paolone, M.; Petrache, E.; Rachidi, F.; Nucci, C.A.; Rakov, V.; Uman, M.; Jordan, D.; Rambo,
K.; Jerauld, J.; Nyffeler, M.; Schoene, J. (August 2005). "Lightning Induced Disturbances in
Buried Cables—Part II: Experiment and Model Validation" (http://www.lightning.ece.ufl.edu/PD
F/01516222.pdf) (PDF). IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility. 47 (3): 509–520.
doi:10.1109/TEMC.2005.853163 (https://doi.org/10.1109%2FTEMC.2005.853163).
S2CID 19773175 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:19773175). Retrieved
11 November 2022.
2. "What are the Different Types of Faults in Electrical Power Systems?" (https://www.elprocus.co
m/what-are-the-different-types-of-faults-in-electrical-power-systems/). ElProCus - Electronic
Projects for Engineering Students. February 5, 2014.
3. Grainger, John J. (2003). Power System Analysis. Tata McGraw-Hill. p. 380. ISBN 978-0-07-
058515-7.
4. "INVESTIGATING TREE-CAUSED FAULTS | Reliability & Safety content from TDWorld" (http://
tdworld.com/reliability-amp-safety/investigating-tree-caused-faults). TDWorld.
5. Murari Mohan Saha, Jan Izykowski, Eugeniusz Rosolowski Fault Location on Power Networks
Springer, 2009 ISBN 1-84882-885-3, page 339
6. Smith, Paul, Furse, Cynthia and Gunther, Jacob. "Analysis of Spread Spectrum Time Domain
Reflectometry (https://web.archive.org/web/20100501195055/http://livewiretest.com/analysis-of
-spread-spectrum-time-domain-reflectometry-for-wire-fault-location/) for Wire Fault Location."
IEEE Sensors Journal. December, 2005.
7. Edward J. Tyler, 2005 National Electrical Estimator , Craftsman Book Company, 2004 ISBN 1-
57218-143-5 page 90

General

Glover, J.D.; Sarma, M.S. (2002). Power System Analysis and Design. Brooks/Cole. ISBN 0-
534-95367-0.
Burton, G.C. Power Analysis.

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