CIGRÉ Canada

21, rue d’Artois, F-75008 PARIS CIGRÉ – 127 Conference on Power Systems
http : //www.cigre.org Halifax, September 6- 8, 2011

Engineering Method for Calculation of Short-Circuit

Mechanical Effects in HV Substations with A-frame
Arrangements Using FEM

B. SEDAGHAT1, A. NABATCHIAN2
Monenco Iran Consulting Engineers Company1,2, MAPNA Group (IR)

SUMMARY

There are many types of rigid tubular connection in HV substations. Tube conductors are used in
situations that high current carrying is important like bus-bars. A-frame arrangement is the typical type
of connection between different bus-bar height levels in the condition that tubular conductors cross
each other. During short-circuits, electromagnetic forces are produced and mechanical stresses are
applied on insulators and their clamps which hold tubes firm in their positions. Accurate
determinations of the forces are important during design stage of a high voltage substation. T.P.
Hermod Company had proposed new software for calculation of short-circuit mechanical effects on
equipments in electrical substations. This software calculates the stresses based on IEC 60865 and
IEEE 605 standards and does not cover A-frame arrangements. In this paper, an engineering method is
proposed to calculate the resulting forces on supports. TPH software will be used for modeling and
calculation of tension forces generated by tubes separately. Afterwards these forces are used as the
inputs of Finite Element Method for calculation of the resulting forces on the supports. FEM
calculations are done with the SAP software.

KEYWORDS

A-frame, Electromagnetic force, FEM, HV substation, Mechanical stress, Short-circuit, Tubular

conductor.

[email protected]
1. INTRODUCTION

Rigid conductors, especially tubular types, are widely used in high current HV substation. The main
reasons for that are high capacity of current carrying of tubular conductors and their mechanical
strength in long spans.
In the high voltage substations, it is so occurred that two different bus-bar height levels must be
connected to each other. There are several methods for this type of connection. Yet, if tubular
conductors crossed each other and are arranged in different levels, like what happens in 11/2CB
substation arrangement, A-frame connections are applied.
A-frame connections have two main benefits compared with other types of connections, they can carry
electrical current properly and used as one of the supports for upper conductor. Fig. 1 shows the
typical arrangement of A-frame in Shahrekord 400/63kV high voltage substation.
On the other hand faults and short-circuits in substation can result in several damages in HV
equipments. Short-circuit currents can made great electromagnetic forces.
As can be observed from Fig. 1, if the short-circuit happens, both upper and lower conductor oscillate
and mechanical forces are produced. Post insulators must withstand resulting forces of both
conductors and supports must be designed based on maximum resulting forces [1].
Calculation of the forces for this type of arrangement is complicated and needs accuracy. The
calculation method must be reliable and simple so it can be used during design stage of HV
substations establishment.
Standards IEC 865 (1,2) and DIN VDE 0103 contain calculation procedures for the assessment of
mechanical short-circuit strength of straight, parallel rigid conductors [2]. In this paper these standards
will be used only for calculation of resulting forces of each conductor separately. In This proposition,
it is supposed that two level conductors are not connected to each other. So the resulting forces of each
one of them cannot affect the other one.

Figure.1 System configuration and main parameters definition

The vector of forces will be used as the inputs of the FE method for calculation of final applied force
on PIs. Distributed type of forces is applied and the calculations are done by the SAP software. This
supposition is based on superposition principle.
T.P. Hermod company have a five years investment on a comprehensive software, called “TPH
Electrical Substations Comprehensive Software”, for designing of electrical substations up to 400kV
voltage level [3]. One of the packages of the comprehensive software, called “T.P.H. HiVREM”, is
used in this paper. Several standards are used to design this software such as, IEC 865, IEEE 605 and
etc. Following that many appeals are executed for this software and several load combinations are
added to the software. This package is used in several projects and the generated documents with this
software are approved by well-known consultant companies.
In this paper a new hybrid method based on the standards and FEM for calculation of the resulting
mechanical forces on PIs in a-frame arrangement is proposed. This method will be applied to
determine mechanical withstand level of PIs of the Shahrekord 400/63kV substation and the results of
the calculation will be discussed.

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2. MECHANICAL STRESSES

When short-circuit occurs in substations, large currents flow in conductors which lead to a large
amount of electromagnetic force. The electromagnetic force that occurs during short-circuit can be
defined as the mechanical push or pull which is caused by the short-circuit and it’s magnetic field, and
which is exerted on the conductors [4].
High multi-phase fault currents produce electromagnetic forces which cause the phase conductors to
repel one another and swing ensues [5]. The tension force leads to some reactions on the terminals,
insulators and supports of the equipments. These reactions are due to the elastic restoring forces set up
in the above components [4].
The amount of tension forces is in relation with the following independent variables: Tubular
conductor size and characteristics, span length, phase spacing, short-circuit current, and the duration of
the current flowing [1]. These forces can be calculated according to IEC standard [1,6]. The system
configuration and main parameters are shown in Fig. 1. In the following section, IEC methods for
calculation of mechanical forces for rigid conductors during short-circuit have been presented. Further
calculations for final result will be done by Finite Element Method.

2.1 ELECTROMAGNETIC FORCES

In a HV substation with the main conductors arranged with the same center-line distances on the same
plane, the maximum force acts on the central main conductor during a three-phase short-circuit can be
obtained from Eq. 1 [1].

0 3 l
Fm 3  ( I p3 ) 2 (1)
2 2 am

Where, ip3 is peak short-circuit current in case of a balanced three-phase short-circuit, l is center-line
distance between supports and am is effective distance between neighboring main conductors.
And the maximum force acts on the central main conductor during a line to line short-circuit can be
obtained from Eq. 2.

0 l
Fm 2  (I p2 )2 (2)
2 am

Where, ip2 is peak short-circuit current in case of a balanced three-phase short-circuit.

Effective am between main conductors with the center-line distance a, in which the main conductors
consist of single circular cross-sections is given by Eq. 3 [1].

am  a (3)

Where, a is the center-line distance between conductors.

2.2 STRESSES IN RIGID CONDUCTORS

The stresses in the conductors and the forces on the supports like PIs depend on the ratio between the
relevant natural frequency of the mechanical system and the electrical system frequency [1]. If
resonance happens, the stresses in the system may be amplified. If fc/f < 0.5 the response of the system
decreases and the maximum stresses are in the outer phases [1].
Under the assumption that the conductor is rigid, the forces acting are bending forces and the general
equation for the bending stress caused by the forces between main conductors are given by Eq. 4.

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 Fm l
 m  V  Vr    (4)
8Z

Where σm is bending stress caused by the forces between main conductors, Vσ is ratio of dynamic and
static main conductor stresses, Vr is ratio of stress for a main conductor with and without three-phase
automatic reclosing, Fm is force between main conductors during a short-circuit, Z is section modulus
of main conductor and β is a factor which depend on the type and the number of supports. Fig. 2 and
Fig. 3 show the simple overview of the upper and lower support arrangement of the proposed system
in Fig. 1.

Figure.2 Upper Tube Support arrangement Figure.3 Lower Tube Support arrangement

A single conductor is assumed to withstand the short-circuit forces when Eq. 5 is satisfied.

 m  qR p 0.2 (5)

Where, q is factor of plasticity and Rp0.2 is the stress corresponding to the yield point. The factor q shall
be taken from IEC standard. In this study, for tubular conductors, q can be calculated by Eq. 6.

2S 3
1  (1 )
q  1.7 D (6)
2S
1  (1  ) 4
D

Where, S is resultant spring constant of both supports of one span and D is outer diameter of a tubular
conductor.

2.3 FORCES ON SUPPORTS OF RIGID CONDUCTOR

The generated mechanical forces in rigid conductors are applied to supports of the conductors. The
dynamic force Fd can be calculated from Eq. 7.

Fd  VF  Vr    Fm (7)

Where, the maximum values of VF and Vr and the value of α can be taken from IEC standard. The
relevant natural frequency of a rigid conductor can be calculated from Eq. 8.

 EJ
fc  (8)
l 2
m

The values of γ and J can be obtained from IEC standard. The factors VF, Vσ and Vr are functions of the
ratio fc/f, where f is the system frequency.
Final results of the software were compared to the examples in [3,6] and the accuracy of the outputs
based on IEC method were approved.

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2.4 FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

Existing standards like IEC 865 so far do not offer methods covering calculation of the
electromagnetic forces acting upon the conductors of more complex arrangements like a-frame. As
was proposed, FEM is applied for calculation of the final resulting forces on conductor and supports.
The Structural Analysis Program (SAP) uses FEM to calculate and analyze stresses in structures. This
software is used to implement and analyze the stresses on conductor and supports in the proposed
arrangement (Fig. 1). The calculation methods are detailed in [4].
The resulted forces from previous section are calculated based on three phase system, so the resulting
force in each conductor also is affected by the other phases. This mutual effect is considered in the
calculation of the forces according to IEC method.
For modeling and implementation of the system in the FEM software it is needed to divide the system
into several individual systems. From this point forward there is no need for analyzing the system in
the three phase arrangement. In this study, conductors of each phase are located on the single support
and are electrically and mechanically separated from the other phases.
The three phase arrangement is divided into two individual systems: the Middle phase arrangement
and the lateral phase's arrangement. Fig. 4 shows the implementation of the system in two situations.
Characteristic of the system and type of the supports are shown in the Fig. 4 and detailed in Table 1.
Rigid
Connection
A-Frame
Upper
Conductor
Slide
Connection
Support

Fix Connection
Support Lower Legend
Conductor Force Vector
Direction

Figure.4 System implementation in SAP, Left figure: Middle phase arrangement,

Right figure: Other two phases arrangement

3. ANALYZE AND DISCUSSION

According to the previous chapters, short circuit forces on each tube conductor are calculated based on
IEC simple calculation method individually. The proposed method is applied to the Shahrekord
400/63kV substation to determine the resulting forces on supports. TPH HiVREM software is used to
calculate the forces in the actual condition of the site. The software can include wind, ice, damper and
some other effects in the calculations. But in this paper, these factors are eliminated. The calculation
results of the applied forces on supports of the conductors are shown in Table 2. The outputs of the
TPH software are used as the inputs of the Structural Analysis Software.
The direction of the forces is shown in Fig. 4. The electromagnetic forces are always orthogonal to the
conductor axis [5,7]. In this study, resulted forces of A-frame legs during short-circuit are eliminated
because the forces are relatively too small.
The forces from Table 2 are applied to the implemented conductors' arrangement in SAP software.
The parameters of the material, shape, formation and etc. of the upper and lower conductors are
adjusted in the software and simulations for four combinations are executed.

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Table 1. System, conductors and supports characteristics Table 2. Individual calculation results (TPH
HiVREM Software Report)
Conductor (AlMgSi)
Outer Wall Span Height to Force Force on Force on
Type Force on
Diameter Thickness lenght ground Type between fix rigid
slide sup.
Upper 200[mm] 6[mm] 22[m] 13.5[m] conductors sup. sup.
13.25[ Upper 4748 [N] 3671 [N] - 7868.42[N]
Lower (middle phase) 120[mm] 6[mm] 7[m]
m] Lower (middle
5719 [N] 3493 [N] 4570 [N] -
Lower (longest lateral 15.5 phase)
120[mm] 6[mm] 7[m] Lower (longest
phase) [m] 6691 [N] 3466 [N] 4503[N] -
Support (PI) lateral phase)
Min. tensional Min. torsional
Type
breaking load breaking load
C8 8000[N] 4000 [Nm]
C12.5 12500[N] 6000 [Nm]
Electrical System
Vn / Vmax Isc / duration S.S Type
400kV/420kV 50[kA]/1[Sec] AIS

Fig. 5 shows the conductor deformation during short circuit. This figure shows movements and
deformation of the tubes in an exaggerated manner. The final values for the resulted forces on supports
during short short-circuit in worst combination are proposed in Table 3 and Table 4.

Figure.5 Conductor deformation, Left figure: Middle phase arrangement, Right figure: Lateral phases arrangement

According to the final results and after applying safety factors it is concluded that the C8 type of Post
Insulator is quit suitable to support upper tube and C12.5 type of Post Insulator is quit suitable to
support lower tube under A-Frame.

Table 3. FEM final results – Middle Phase (SAP Table 4. FEM final results – Lateral Phase (SAP
Software Report) Software Report)
Resultant Resultant
Type Fx Fy Fz Type Fx Fy Fz
Force Force
PI under A-F 4570 [N] 6460 [N] 3022 [N] 8470 [N] PI under A-F 4539 [N] 7789 [N] 3427 [N] 9645 [N]
Upper Tube PIs 0 [N] 4375 [N] 437 [N] 4396 [N] Upper Tube PIs 0 [N] 4502 [N] 677 [N] 4553 [N]
Lower Tube PIs 3493 [N] 0 [N] 713 [N] 3565 [N] Lower Tube PIs 3428 [N] 0 [N] 665 [N] 3492 [N]

4. CONCLUSION

When short-circuits occur, a large amount of current flows through conductors. During short-circuits,
electromagnetic forces are produced and mechanical stresses are applied on insulators and their
clamps which hold tubes firm in their positions. The oscillations result in large tension forces on

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connected HV equipments. In this condition equipments’ insulators, terminals, clamps and supports
must withstand mechanical stresses during short-circuit.
There are many types of connections in HV substations. Tube conductors are used in situations that
high current carrying is important like bus-bars. One of the common types of connection between
different bus-bar height levels in the condition that tubular conductors cross each other is A-frame
arrangement. Calculation of the forces of this type of connection is complicated. On the other hand
accuracy of the results is vital during design of a high voltage substation.
In this paper, a new engineering method for calculation of the resulting forces on the support in A-
frame arrangement was proposed. The proposed method combines standard methods with Finite
element method. The TPH Co. HiVREM software calculates the stresses based on IEC 60865 and
IEEE 605 standards and does not cover A-frame arrangements. In this paper, the T.P.H. software was
only used for modelling and calculation of tension forces generated by tubes separately. Afterwards
these resulting forces were used as the inputs of the Finite Element Method for calculation of the
resulting forces on the supports. FEM calculations were done with SAP software and proper post
insulators are selected for appropriate positions.

5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to express their sincere thanks to Mr. Ghelichi and Mr. Sotoudeh from
Transmission & Dispatching division of Monenco Company. The authors would also like to express
their sincere appreciation to Monenco Iran company and MAPNA group for their technical and
financial support.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1] Group of Authors, Short-circuit currents – calculation of effects (865-1), 2nd ed., vol. 1, IEC standard,
1993.
[2] Norbert Stein, Amir M. Miri, High-voltage substations with rigid conductors full-scale short-circuit tests
and comparative FEM studies on connections with so-called elbow bends (International Conference on
Optimization of Electrical and Electronic Equipment, OPTIM 2008. 11th, 2008.).
[3] B. Sedaghat, M. Esmi, M. Najjari, M. Lari, T.P.H. HiVREM software development report, 2nd ed.
Technical Report, T.P.H. company, 2009.
[4] Group of Authors, CSI Analysis Reference Manual, Computers and Structures, Inc., 2008.
[5] M. B. Awad, H. W. Huestis, Influence of short-circuit currents on HV and EHV strain bus design, IEEE
Transactions on Power Apparatus and systems, Vol. PAS-99, No.2, 1980.
[6] P. Group of Authors, Short-circuit currents – calculation of effects (865-2), 2nd ed., vol. 2, IEC standard,
1993.
[7] Mircea Iordanescu, Claude Hardy, Jean Nourry, Structural analysis and testing of HV busbar assemblies
with rigid conductors under short-circuit conditions, IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. PWRD-
2, No.4, 1987.