Auto Grid Pro

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HOW TO… Engineering Guide
A Simple Substation
Grounding Grid Analysis
Using Autogrid Pro
2019 Release
REVISION RECORD
Date Version Number Revision Level
January 2001 9 0
November 2002 10 0
June 2004 11 0
December 2006 13 0
January 2012 14 0
June 2017 16 0
December 2019 16.2 0
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SPECIAL NOTE
As SES software is constantly evolving, with frequently created updates, minor

discrepancies may appear between this How To manual illustrations of the
software interface and the present software version interface. These differences
are cosmetic in nature and do not impact the validity of the guidance and
procedures provided herein. Furthermore, small differences in the reported and
plotted numerical values may exist due to continuous enhancements of the
computation algorithms.
Address comments concerning this manual to:
Safe Engineering Services & technologies ltd.

___________________________________________
3055 Blvd. Des Oiseaux, Laval, Québec, Canada, H7L 6E8

Tel.: (450) 622-5000 FAX:(450) 622-5053
Email: support@sestech.com
Web Site: www.sestech.com
Copyright  2000-2019 Safe Engineering Services & technologies ltd. All rights reserved.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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ERR 11 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 1-1
1.1 OBJECTIVE ........................................................................................................................... 1-1
1.2 GROUNDING PROBLEM ...................................................................................................... 1-2
1.3 COMPUTER MODELLING TOOL ......................................................................................... 1-2
1.4 METHODOLOGY OF THE GROUNDING DESIGN .............................................................. 1-2
1.5 ORGANIZATION OF THE MANUAL..................................................................................... 1-3
1.6 SOFTWARE NOTE ................................................................................................................ 1-4
1.7 FILE NAMING CONVENTIONS ............................................................................................ 1-4
1.8 DEMO EVALUATION ............................................................................................................ 1-6
1.9 WORKING DIRECTORY ....................................................................................................... 1-6
1.10 INPUT AND OUTPUT FILES USED IN TUTORIAL ................................................. 1-6
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ERR 22 DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM & DEFINITION OF THE
SYSTEM ............................................................................................................. 2-1
2.1 THE SUBSTATION GROUNDING SYSTEM ........................................................................ 2-1
2.2 THE OVERHEAD TRANSMISSION LINE NETWORK ......................................................... 2-2
2.3 THE SUBSTATION TERMINALS.......................................................................................... 2-3
2.4 THE SOIL CHARACTERISTICS ........................................................................................... 2-3
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ERR 33 PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS & USING AUTOGRID PRO .................... 3-1
3.1 PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS ..................................................................................................... 3-1
3.2 USING AUTOGRID PRO ....................................................................................................... 3-2
3.2.1 STARTING AUTOGRID PRO ................................................................................... 3-2
3.2.2 WORKING WITH PROJECTS AND SCENARIOS ................................................... 3-3
3.2.3 SPECIFYING DATA FOR A SCENARIO .................................................................. 3-4
3.2.4 PROCESSING A SCENARIO ................................................................................... 3-5
3.2.5 ADDING NEW SCENARIOS..................................................................................... 3-5
3.2.6 CLOSING A PROJECT ............................................................................................. 3-6
3.2.7 ENDING YOUR AUTOGRID PRO SESSION ........................................................... 3-6
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ERR 44 CREATING A PROJECT AND SCENARIO ...................................... 4-1
4.1 START-UP PROCEDURES ................................................................................................... 4-1
4.1.1 CREATING A NEW PROJECT ................................................................................. 4-6
4.1.2 OPENING AN EXISTING PROJECT ........................................................................ 4-8
4.1.3 USING THE PROJECT ............................................................................................. 4-9
4.1.4 FILES THAT ARE PART OF THE PROJECT ......................................................... 4-10
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ERR 55 SOIL RESISTIVITY DATA ENTRY ................................................... 5-1
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TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONT’D)
Page
5.1 A HORIZONTAL TWO-LAYER SOIL MODEL ...................................................................... 5-1

5.2 SOIL RESISTIVITY DATA ENTRY ........................................................................................ 5-2
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APPTTE
ERR 66 INITIAL GROUNDING GRID DESIGN .............................................. 6-1
6.1 DATA ENTRY ......................................................................................................................... 6-1
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ERR 77 FAULT CURRENT DISTRIBUTION ANALYSIS .............................. 7-1
7.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 7-1
7.2 PREPARATION OF THE INPUT DATA ................................................................................ 7-2
7.2.1 DATA ENTRY ............................................................................................................ 7-3
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ERR 88 PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF EAST CENTRAL
SUBSTATION .................................................................................................... 8-1
8.1 SAFETY CRITERIA................................................................................................................ 8-1
8.1.1 TOUCH VOLTAGES ................................................................................................. 8-2
8.1.2 STEP VOLTAGES ..................................................................................................... 8-2
8.1.3 GPR MAGNITUDE .................................................................................................... 8-3
8.1.4 GPR DIFFERENTIALS .............................................................................................. 8-3
8.1.5 DETERMINING SAFE TOUCH AND STEP VOLTAGE LEVELS ............................. 8-3
8.1.6 A SIMPLER WAY TO SPECIFY THE LOCATION OF OBSERVATION POINTS .... 8-5
8.2 PLOTS AND REPORTS ........................................................................................................ 8-5
8.2.1 SELECTING PLOTS AND REPORTS ...................................................................... 8-5
8.2.2 CUSTOMIZING PLOTS ............................................................................................. 8-8
8.2.3 CARRYING OUT THE COMPUTATIONS AND PRODUCING THE PLOTS AND
REPORTS ................................................................................................................. 8-8
8.3 ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS ........................................................................................... 8-10
8.3.1 USING THE GRAREP UTILITY .............................................................................. 8-10
8.3.2 GENERAL INFORMATION REPORTS ................................................................... 8-11
8.3.3 SOIL RESISTIVITY ANALYSIS ............................................................................... 8-13
8.3.4 GROUND GRID PERFORMANCE AND SAFETY ANALYSIS ............................... 8-15
8.3.5 COMPUTATION OF FAULT CURRENT DISTRIBUTION ...................................... 8-21
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ERR 99 REINFORCING THE GROUNDING SYSTEM .................................. 9-1
9.1 EXPONENTIAL GRID DESIGN ............................................................................................. 9-1
9.1.1 CREATING THE EXPONENTIAL GRID SCENARIO ................................................ 9-2
9.1.2 OPENING THE EXPONENTIAL GRID SCENARIO .................................................. 9-2
9.1.3 MODIFYING THE EXPONENTIAL GRID SCENARIO .............................................. 9-2
9.2 ADDING GROUND RODS ..................................................................................................... 9-6
9.2.1 THE DETAILS............................................................................................................ 9-6
9.3 EXPORT GROUNDING GRID INTO DXF FILE ..................................................................... 9-8
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TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONT’D)
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ERR 1100 USING GRSERVER ...................................................................... 10-1
10.1 STARTING GRSERVER ......................................................................................... 10-1
10.2 CREATING 3D PLOTS ........................................................................................... 10-2
10.3 CREATING 2D PLOTS ........................................................................................... 10-5
10.4 SAVING AND PRINTING PLOTS .......................................................................... 10-5
10.5 SUMMARY .............................................................................................................. 10-6
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ERR 1111 CONCLUSION............................................................................... 11-1
Page ix
Chapter 1. Introduction
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 OBJECTIVE
This How To… Engineering Guide shows
you how to carry out a typical substation
grounding design using the AutoGrid Pro
software package. The AutoGrid Pro
package combines the computational
power of the computation modules
RESAP, MALT and FCDIST of the
CDEGS software package with a simple,
largely automated interface. The result is
an-easy-to use, yet powerful, grounding
analysis program. A step-by-step approach
is used to illustrate how to use the program
to input your data, carry out the
computation and explore the computation
results.
Please note that you may press the F1 key at

any time to display context-sensitive on-
line help pertinent to the topic to which you
have given focus with your mouse. You
may also access the complete help file by
selecting Contents from the Help menu of
the main AutoGrid Pro interface.
If you are anxious to start entering data and

running AutoGrid Pro you may do so by
reading Section 1.5 of this chapter and
skipping the rest of this chapter and Chapter
2. We strongly recommend, however, that
you refer to the skipped sections to clarify
items related to input files, system configuration and data, file sharing and design methodology.
Please call SES’ toll-free support line with any questions you may have, as you work through
this manual. Call us collect at +1-450-622-5000 if you do not have this number handy. You can
also E-mail us questions at Support@sestech.com.
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1.2 GROUNDING
PROBLEM
Newhaven
Terminal
The grounding analysis problem
discussed in this manual is
illustrated in Figure 1.1. A new 230 Greenbay
kV Substation (named East Terminal
Central) is planned. It will be East Central
interconnected to the rest of the Substation
Hudson
Terminal
network via three transmission
lines terminating at three different substations, namely Terminals Greenbay, Newhaven and Hudson
respectively. The objective of the analysis is to provide a new grid design for East Central Substation.
The final design is to limit touch and step voltages to safe levels for personnel within the substation
area, based on up-to-date system data, appropriate measurement techniques and instrumentation, and
state-of-the-art computer modeling methods.
1.3 COMPUTER MODELLING TOOL

SES’ AutoGrid Pro is used to model the field measurements (i.e., soil resistivities and grounding
system impedance) and interpret the measured data, to compute the distribution of fault current
between the transmission line static wires, distribution line neutral wires, and the substation grounding
grid, and to simulate a representative phase-to-ground fault in the substation in order to compute the
ground potential rise and ground resistance, touch voltages, step voltages, and earth potentials
throughout the substation.
This software integrates all the tools required for such an analysis. It includes:
 A soil resistivity analysis module to determine the soil structure from soil resistivity
measurements.
 A fault current distribution analysis module to compute the fraction of the fault current that
is discharged in the grounding grid.
 A grounding module that computes the response of the grounding grid to the fault current.
 A safety analysis module that computes the touch and step potentials above the grid and
compares them to safety limits deduced from the relevant standards.
The results are presented in graphical and tabular form; several detailed reports are available.
1.4 METHODOLOGY OF THE GROUNDING DESIGN

A grounding design analysis is normally carried out in six major steps as follows:
Step 1 The first step of the study is aimed at determining a soil model that is equivalent to the real
earth structure. This is done using the soil resistivity analysis module, RESAP. Any of several
Page 1-2
soil type models can be selected by the design engineer as an approximation to the real soil
(uniform, two-layer, multilayer, etc.).
Step 2 Based on experience and on the substation ground bonding requirements, a preliminary
grounding system configuration is developed and a simulation is carried out (initial design).
Step 3 The configuration and characteristics of the transmission lines connecting this substation to
adjacent substations are defined. This allows the program to determine what fraction of the
total fault current actually flows into the grounding grid of the studied substation.
Step 4 The calculated results are analyzed and various computation plots and printout reports are
examined to determine if all design requirements are met. In particular, the safe touch and step
voltage thresholds are determined, based on the applicable standards and regulations, and are
compared to the computed values.
Step 5 If not all design requirements are met or if all these requirements are exceeded by a
considerable margin, suggesting possible significant savings, design modifications to the
grounding system or to the transmission line network are made and the design analysis is
restarted. This normally involves carrying out Step 2, then Steps 4 and 5.
Step 6 If seasonal soil resistivity variations must be taken into account, then the entire analysis is
repeated for every realistic soil scenario and the worst-case scenario is used to develop the final
design.
1.5 ORGANIZATION OF THE MANUAL
In accordance with the design methodology described above, the manual is organized as follows:
Chapter 2 outlines the problem being modeled and defines the system data required for the study.
Chapter 3 briefly introduces the components of the AutoGrid Pro program and also describes in general
how to work with Projects and Scenarios in AutoGrid Pro.
Chapter 4 shows how to get started with the program by creating a project and first scenario.
Chapter 5 describes the data entry for the soil measurements module (RESAP), which is used to
interpret the soil resistivity data based on measurements taken at East Central Substation (Step 1).
Chapter 6 presents the initial design of the grounding system. It describes in detail how to use AutoGrid
Pro to set up the initial design of the grounding grid at East Central Substation (Step 2).
Chapter 7 describes data entry for the fault current distribution module (FCDIST), which is used to
determine the fault current distribution (for the fault current simulations) between the transmission
line static wires, distribution line neutral wires, and the substation grounding grid (Step 3).
Chapter 8 presents the ANSI/IEEE safety criteria applicable to substation grounding. The fault
simulation results are presented in graphical and report formats. Grid potential (GPR), touch voltages,
and step voltages are provided in detail (Step 4).
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Chapter 9 presents the design of the reinforced grounding system. It describes how you can easily
repeat the computations from Chapters 6 and 7 to meet the safety criteria (Step 5).
Chapter 10 shows how to use the GRServer program to examine the computation results of AutoGrid
Pro in greater detail.
In Chapter 11, the conclusions of the study are summarized. Step 6 is not considered in this manual.
1.6 SOFTWARE NOTE

Depending upon your software license terms, some of the options described in this document may not
be available to you. When this is the case, a lock symbol will be displayed next to the unavailable
options in the user-interface screens.
1.7 FILE NAMING CONVENTIONS

It is important to know which input and output files are created by the CDEGS software. All CDEGS
input and output files have the following naming convention:
XY_JobID.Fnn
where XY is a two-letter abbreviation corresponding to the name of the program which created the file
or which will read the file as input. The JobID consists of string of characters and numbers that is used
to label all the files produced during a given CDEGS run. This helps identify the corresponding input,
computation, results and plot files. The nn are two digits used in the extension to indicate the type of
file.
The abbreviations used for the various CDEGS modules are as follows:
Application Abbreviation Application Abbreviation

RESAP RS FCDIST FC
MALT MT HIFREQ HI
MALZ MZ FFTSES FT
TRALIN TR SESEnviroPlus TR
SPLITS SP SESShield-3D SD
SESTLC TC ROWCAD RC
SESShield LS SESeBundle BE
GRSPLITS-3D SP CorrCAD CC
AutoGroundDesign AD SESThreshold TH
SESAmpacity AP SESCrossSection XS
SESImpedance FM CSIRPS* CS
SESCircuitSimulator SP TransformerDataEditor SP/HI
* The CSIRPS module is used internally by the graphics and report generating interfaces.
Page 1-4
The following four types of files are often used and discussed when a user requests technical support
for the software:
 .F05 Command input file (for computation applications programs). This is a text file that can
be opened by any text editor (WordPad or Notepad) and can be modified manually by
experienced users.
 .F09 Computation results file (for computation applications programs). This is a text file that
can be opened by any text editor (WordPad or Notepad).
 .F21 Computation database file (for computation applications programs). This is a binary file
that can only be loaded by the CDEGS software for reports and graphics display.
 .F33 Computation database file (for computation applications programs MALZ and HIFREQ
only). This is a binary file that stores the current distribution to recover.
For further details on CDEGS file naming conventions and JobID, consult the CDEGS Help by
pressing F1 in the main CDEGS interface and navigating to Using CDEGS – Working With CDEGS
Projects – File Naming Conventions.
In CDEGS-Legacy, the same help entry is available under the menu Help | Contents | File Naming
Conventions.
Page 1-5
1.8 DEMO EVALUATION

In order to be able to evaluate SES Software without a license, you should install the software as a
demo. This will give you access to the computed results without extra effort.
In the demo environment, the input and output files of the case studies in this tutorial are already
installed under the SES Software documents subfolder, HowTo; e.g.,
“C:\Users\Public\Documents\SES Software\<version>\HowTo\Autogrid Pro”, where <version> is the
version number of SES Software. You must use this default location as the working directory when
the software is installed as a demo.
1.9 WORKING DIRECTORY

A Working Directory is a folder where all input and output files of case studies are stored and created.
In this tutorial, we recommend storing the working directory of the tutorial under the following folder:
<drive>\CDEGS HowTo\Autogrid Pro
e.g., C:\CDEGS HowTo\Autogrid Pro
You may prefer to use the default location offered by the demo installation of SES Software or another
location altogether, but, either way, you should take note of the full path of the working directory
before running AutoGrid Pro, as you will need this information to follow this tutorial.
1.10 INPUT AND OUTPUT FILES USED IN TUTORIAL

All input and output files used in this tutorial are supplied from the SES Software distribution. When
the software is installed as a demo, the full set of distribution files are unpacked from the package file
and stored under the default SES Software documents subfolder, Setup.Z, where “Z” is part of the
version number of the software. Note that the package file, SESXY.EXE, may be unpacked at any
time (“X” and “Y” are part of the version number of the software) if the tutorial is being followed
without a demo installation. The required input and output files of this tutorial can be found in the
folders listed below in the distribution.
If you are constructing your own working directory or you would like to refresh your files, then you
can manually copy the original files in the distribution from the following subfolders:
Input Files: Examples\Official\HowTo\Autogrid Pro\inputs

Output Files: Examples\Official\HowTo\Autogrid Pro\outputs
Note that the files found in both the ‘inputs’ and the ‘outputs’ subfolders should be copied directly
into the working directory, not into subdirectories.
Page 1-6
After the tutorial has been completed, you may wish to explore the other how-to engineering manuals;
they can be accessed from the program shortcut, SES Software X.Y > Documentation > Manual.
The same manuals can also be retrieved from the SES Software distribution under the subfolder,
“PDF\HowTo Manuals”.
Page 1-7
Chapter 2. Description of the Problem & Definition of the System Data
CHAPTER 2
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM &
DEFINITION OF THE SYSTEM
The system being modeled is located in an isolated area (i.e., not in an urban area and not close to any
pipelines), where there are no major
geological disturbances (ocean,
rivers, valleys, hills, etc.). It consists
of the following three major
components (see Figure 2.1):
1. The substation and associated

grounding system of the substation
under study;
2. An overhead transmission line
network;
3. Various substations (terminals)
from which power is fed to the
transmission line network.
Soil resistivity measurements have
been carried out at the substation site
under study and are available.
Figure 2.1 Schematic of System under Study.
2.1 THE SUBSTATION GROUNDING SYSTEM

Figure 2.2 shows the configuration of the initial design of the East Central grounding grid, which
consists of a 100 m by 60 m (328 feet by 197 feet) rectangular grid buried at a depth of 0.5 m (1.64
feet). Each conductor has a radius of 0.6 cm (0.02 feet or 0.23"): these are 4/0 copper conductors.
There are 9 equally spaced conductors along the X axis and 7 equally spaced conductors along the Y
axis. The perimeter of the grid was defined such that the outermost conductors are located 1 m ( 3.3
ft) outside the edge of the fence to protect people standing outside the substation from excessive touch
voltages. The fence is regularly connected to the outermost conductors. The fence posts, however,
(which are metallic) have been omitted for simplicity. It is an easy task to add the fence posts using
the “Create Rods” tool in AutoGrid Pro, as explained later. The initial ground resistance of the East
Central Substation is 0.538  as will be determined by the MALT computation module.
Page 2-1
(100,60,0.5)
100 m
60 m
(0,0,0.5)
Figure 2.2 Initial Design of the Grounding System at the East Central Substation.
Note that more complex grid shapes can easily be created: conductors may be modeled in any 3-
dimensional orientations.
2.2 THE OVERHEAD TRANSMISSION LINE NETWORK

There are three double-circuit transmission lines
leaving the East Central substation. The average
span length of the transmission lines is 330 m
(1083'). The first transmission line is 64 spans
long (21 km or 13 miles) and is connected to the
Greenbay substation (terminal). Another
transmission line is 33 spans long (11 km or 6.8
miles) and is connected to the Newhaven
substation. The remaining transmission line is
connected to the Hudson substation and is 25
spans long (8.4 km or 5.2 miles). Each tower has
two 7 No. 8 Alumoweld type shield wires and
the phase wires are 795 MCM Drake. The GMR
and the average DC resistance of the shield
wires are 0.00064 m (0.0021 feet) and 1.76
/km (2.83 /mile), respectively. Figure 2.3
shows a cross section of the transmission line
used in this study.
The ground resistances of the transmission line

towers in the Greenbay - East Central arm of the
network, which are 330 m (1083') apart, are all
estimated to be equal to 10 . The towers in the
Y Hudson - East Central and Newhaven - East
Central arms, which are also 330 m apart, have
X a higher estimated resistance of 28 
Figure 2.3 Transmission Line Configuration.
Page 2-2
2.3 THE SUBSTATION TERMINALS

The ground resistances of the terminals are
equal to 0.2 , 0.3  and 0.3  for Greenbay,
Hudson and Newhaven terminals,
respectively. Figure 2.4 illustrates a circuit
diagram of the power system under study
during a phase-to-ground fault on Phase B2
at East Central Substation.
Figure 2.4 Power System Network Analyzed in Example.
In this study, we assume that the highest fault current discharged into the earth by the East Central
Substation grid occurs for a 230 kV single-phase-to-ground fault at East Central Substation on Phase
B2 of Circuit 21. Let us suppose that short-circuit calculations carried out by the power utility provide
the following fault current contributions from Phase B2 of each terminal substation for a fault at East
Central:
Greenbay: 1226 - j 5013 A

Hudson: 722 - j 6453 A
Newhaven: 745 - j 5679 A
2.4 THE SOIL CHARACTERISTICS

Detailed soil resistivity measurements have been carried out at the substation site, using the Wenner
4-pin technique (i.e., the distances between adjacent electrodes are equal). Table 2-1 gives the apparent
resistance values measured at the substation site. Note the exponentially increasing pin spacings and
extent of the largest spacings. This is of capital importance to achieve a reliable grounding grid design.
In fact, usually more than one set of measurements are made in different directions and at different
locations throughout the substation site, as well. Each set of measurements is then interpreted
independently.
1
Note that it is usually conservative to model a fault occurring on the phase furthest from the static wires, since this results
in the lowest current pulled away from the substation grounding grid by means of magnetic field induction between the
faulted phase and the static wires. Other scenarios can of course be investigated with the software.
Page 2-3
Separation Depth of Depth of Apparent

Between Current Potential Resistance
Adjacent Probes2 Probes2 (V/I)
Probes1
(meters) (meters) (meters) (ohms)
0.3 0.1 0.05 152.300
1 0.1 0.05 48.160
2 0.1 0.05 6.120
5 0.1 0.05 3.340
7 0.15 0.05 1.760
10 0.15 0.05 1.110
15 0.3 0.05 0.692
25 0.3 0.05 0.441
35 0.3 0.05 0.320
50 0.6 0.1 0.218
65 0.6 0.1 0.156
90 0.6 0.1 0.106
120 1 0.1 0.079
150 1 0.1 0.064
Table 2-1 Apparent Resistances Measured at Substation Site Using the Wenner Method
1
Also known as the “a” spacing associated with the Wenner technique.
2
These values are used to determine soil resistivities close to the surface with better accuracy. Knowing these values is
therefore important only for the first few pin spacings. At larger spacings, as a practical matter, the current probes should
be driven deeper in order to increase the strength of the signal measured between two potential probes.
Page 2-4
Chapter 3. Program Highlights & Using AutoGrid Pro
CHAPTER 3
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS & USING
AUTOGRID PRO
In this chapter, we will briefly describe the highlights and major functions of the program. A more
detailed description of the program’s capabilities will be given in the chapters that follow. The on-line
help provides further detailed descriptions about each module.
3.1 PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

With AutoGrid Pro, the data entry requirements are reduced to a minimum. The input data includes:
 Soil resistivities: specify the measured resistivities or the soil layer resistivities and
thicknesses directly (if they are already known).
 The grounding grid: use a grid creation wizard, import a preliminary design from a DXF
file created by a CAD package, or else draw the grid directly using the graphical tools of
SESCAD or combine these three methods.
 Fault currents: directly specify the component of the fault current injected into the earth
by the grounding grid or let the program compute it based on the network specification.
Use the transmission line databases to quickly describe the network for this calculation.
 Safety-related data: specify at what locations earth potentials (and therefore touch and
step voltages) should be computed or let the program decide automatically.
 Desired reports and plots: select which reports and plots the program should generate,
from an extensive, predefined list.
Once the data has been entered, simply click Process and let the program do the rest. The program
will compute everything that is necessary, produce the requested reports and plots and display them.
AutoGrid Pro computes only what is needed. Changing the network configuration, for instance, can
affect the fault current component injected into the earth by the grounding grid and therefore the safety-
related quantities. Only these quantities will be recomputed before producing the output. On the other
hand, adding conductors to the grid can affect the grid’s impedance, the fault current component
injected into the earth and the earth potentials, in addition to the safety-related quantities. All of these
quantities are therefore recomputed before producing the output in such a case.
Page 3-1
3.2 USING AUTOGRID PRO

This section briefly describes what can be done with AutoGrid Pro and how to get started with it.
The sections that follow will give more details about the user interface of the program.
3.2.1 Starting AutoGrid Pro

To start the program, simply double-click the AutoGrid Pro icon in your SES Software Program
Group. See Chapter 4 for illustrations of this and the following steps. You will be presented with the
following screen. Users of other software from SES may recognize this screen, which is similar to the
SESCAD program interface. In fact, AutoGrid Pro inherits most of the functionality of SESCAD. Do
not worry if you are not familiar with the SESCAD program, however: this manual does not assume
any prior knowledge of SESCAD.
Figure 3.1 The Main Screen of AutoGrid Pro and Some Auxiliary Screens.
The AutoGrid Pro screen also displays a Project toolbox, floating on the right-hand side of the screen,
which is not available in SESCAD. The Project menu item at the top of the screen also gives access
to this new functionality of AutoGrid Pro. (Note: this section will show how to use the Project menu
item to control the application; the same functionality is available most of the time, from the Project
Toolbox.)
The main screen is used to create, modify and view the grounding grid and acts as a controller for the
program. Several other screens are available, coordinated by the AutoGrid Pro Project Toolbox.
Page 3-2
3.2.2 Working with Projects and Scenarios

The design of new grounding systems or the enhancement of existing ones is often an iterative process
in which the design is modified and refined until the goals of the design engineer are attained. In
AutoGrid Pro, these alternative designs are known as Scenarios. A scenario in AutoGrid Pro contains
all of the input data necessary to specify a design, as well as the corresponding computation results,
plots and reports. A Project in AutoGrid Pro is simply a collection of related scenarios.
Before anything can be done with AutoGrid Pro, a project must be created (or an existing one must be
opened).
To create a new project, select Project | New Project. You will be prompted for the location and name
of the project as well as for the name and location of the first scenario of this project. The new project
is created under the filename ‘Project Name’.agp and the scenario under the filename ‘Scenario
Name’.ags where ‘Project Name’ and ‘Scenario Name’ are the names provided for the project and
scenario, respectively. You may drag and drop existing directory to new project and scenario file
location text-boxes. (Note: Experienced CDEGS users may wonder what are the JobID and Working
Directory for the scenario. The answer is that the ‘Scenario Name’ will be used as the JobID and the
selected location for the scenario will be used as working directory. While the concept of JobID and
Working Directory is no longer used in AutoGrid Pro, it may help to know that the database and output
files are still produced using the traditional conventions. For example, the database file for Malt will
be produced in the scenario directory under the name mt_‘Scenario Name’.f21.)
To open an existing project, select Project | Open Project. This will bring up a file browser that
allows you to select an existing project file (with extension “AGP”). You also can drag and drop
existing project directory to Project File Location or File Name text-boxes. Note that a demo project
(called ‘Demo 1’) is available in the folder ‘SES Software\<Version>\Examples\Autogrid
Pro\Demo 1’ (where <Version> is the version number of your SES Software) in your SES Software
Document Folder directory, e.g., C:\Users\Public\Documents. It is also available on your SES
SOFTWARE distribution medium: \Examples\Standard\Autogrid Pro\Demo 1.
Only a single project can be opened at a given time. Therefore, if you attempt to create a new project
or open an existing one while a project is currently open, you will be prompted to save changes to this
last project and the project will be closed before opening the new one.
To save a project, select Project | Save Project or Project | Save Project As. Note that a backup of
the original file is created under the name “Backup of ‘Project Name’”.agp.
Note that you can easily see the contents of the folder containing your project files and of several other
important folders by clicking on Browse to Project Folder on the main toolbar.
Page 3-3
3.2.3 Specifying Data for a Scenario

When a project is open, you always have access to at least one scenario. The data in this scenario can
be edited in the following way.
 To specify the soil structure or the soil resistivity measurement data, select Project | Define
Soil Characteristics. This brings up a dialog that allows you to define the structure of the
soil (number of layers, resistivities of the layers, etc…) if it is known or to specify resistivity
measurement data and have the program deduce the soil structure.
 To specify the grounding grid and (optionally) the location of the computation points, use
the functionality of the Edit and Tools menus of the main interface. The dialog obtained
from Advanced | Network Energizations and Buried Structures is also useful to specify
the fault current directly (or other forms of grid energization) and to create other structures
besides the main grounding grid.
 To specify the circuit and fault current distribution data, use Project | Define Circuit
Characteristics. The data entered in the resulting screens will allow the program to
determine how much current should be injected in the main grounding grid as a result of
the fault. You can use the computed value of the main grounding grid’s resistance or a user
specified resistance for the impedance of the central site of the circuit.
 To specify the safety criteria to be used when analyzing the grounding grid, select Project
| Define Safety Criteria. The safety screens allow you to enter the threshold values for
safety when analyzing touch and step voltages as well as some parameters defining the
region around the main grid that should be assessed for safety.
 To define which reports and plots the program should produce, use Project | Report
Preferences. The resulting screen offers a wide variety of reports and plots that can be
produced whenever the scenario is processed, including safety reports, touch and step
voltage plots, etc…
 To control the appearance of the plots, use Project | Graphics Preferences. This allows
you to specify colors, font types and size, etc… that are used when plotting.
To save the scenario, select Project | Save Scenario. Note that a backup of the original file is created
under the name “Backup of ‘Scenario Name’.ags”. To save the scenario under a different filename,
choose Project | Save Scenario As and select an appropriate filename (with the AGS extension). Note
that this will automatically change the scenario name.
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3.2.4 Processing a Scenario

Once the data for a scenario is specified, the grounding safety analysis can begin. To do this, simply
select Project | Process. The program will compute all necessary quantities in the background, prepare
the requested plots and reports and display them. Depending on the input data entered in the scenario,
the processing may include the following steps:
 Saving of the scenario’s data.
 Computation of an appropriate soil structure from the measured soil resistivities.
 Determination of an appropriate safety zone where the analysis should be conducted.
 Computation of the main grid resistance.
 Determination of the distribution of the fault current throughout the network.
 Computation of the earth potentials and grid GPR at the fault site.
 Computation of the safety limits for touch and step voltages.
 Computation of touch and step voltages, and safety analysis.
 Production of reports and plots.
Other optional steps may include ampacity assessment, etc…
When the processing begins, a window appears and displays messages regarding the progress of the
computations.
3.2.5 Adding New Scenarios

Once the processing is complete, the results can be reviewed to determine if the design is satisfactory.
If not, the design can be modified and the above steps repeated. There are two ways to modify the
design: you can modify the existing scenario directly, in which case the original data is lost, or you
can create a new scenario and modify that one.
To create a new scenario, select Project | New Scenario. You will be prompted to provide a name for
the new scenario as well as (optionally) the name of an existing scenario to be used as a reference.
When a valid reference scenario is provided, the program creates a copy of that scenario under the
new name. This is convenient when you want to examine small design variations from one scenario
to the next.
You can also open one of the project’s existing scenarios by choosing Project | Open Scenario. You
will be presented with a list of the scenarios that are presently in the project, from which you can select
the desired one.
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3.2.6 Closing a Project

To close a project, select Project | Close Project. This will close the current project, but not the
program itself. Closing the window containing the drawing of the main grid is also interpreted by
AutoGrid Pro as a signal to close the project.
When the project is closed, you can still use AutoGrid Pro much as you would SESCAD, i.e., the
project functionality is disabled but everything else is available. Use Project | Open Project to open
another project.
The most recently used projects are listed at the end of the Project menu and in the Open Project
dialog, for quick access.
3.2.7 Ending Your AutoGrid Pro Session

To quit the application and terminate the AutoGrid Pro session, use File | Exit. The program will
optionally prompt for those files that need saving before terminating.
Page 3-6
Chapter 4. Creating a Project and Scenario
CHAPTER 4
CREATING A PROJECT AND SCENARIO
In this chapter, we will describe in detail how to get started by creating a new project which contains
a first scenario.
4.1 START-UP PROCEDURES
In the SES Software <Version#> group folder, where <Version#> is the version number of the
software, you should see the icons representing Autogrid Pro, AutoGroundDesign, Right-of-Way,
SESEnviroPlus, SESShield-3D, SESTLC, CorrCAD and CDEGS software packages, as well as
Page 4-1
four folders. The Documentation folder contains help documents for various utilities and software
packages. The Program Folders provides shortcuts to programs, installation and projects folders. The
System folder allows you to conveniently set up security keys. Various utilities can be found in the
Tools folder. The main function of each software package and utility is described hereafter.
SOFTWARE PACKAGES
 Autogrid Pro provides a simple, integrated environment for carrying out detailed grounding
studies. This package combines the computational powers of the computation modules RESAP,
MALT and FCDIST with a simple, largely automated interface.
 AutoGroundDesign offers powerful and intelligent functions that help electrical engineers design
safe grounding installations quickly and efficiently. The time devoted to design a safe and also
cost-effective grounding grid is minimized by the use of automation techniques and appropriate
databases. This module can help reduce considerably the time needed to complete a grounding
design.
 Right-of-Way is a powerful integrated software package for the analysis of electromagnetic

interference between electric power lines and adjacent installations such as pipelines and
communication lines. It is especially designed to simplify and to automate the modeling of
complex right-of-way configurations. The Right-of-Way interface runs the TRALIN and SPLITS
computation modules and several other related components in the background.
 SESEnviroPlus is a sophisticated program that evaluates the environmental impact (radio

interference, audible-noise, corona losses, and electromagnetic fields) of AC, DC or mixed
transmission line systems.
 SESShield-3D is a powerful graphical program for the design and analysis of protective measures
against lightning for substations and electrical networks. Its 3D graphical environment can be used
to model accurately systems with complex geometries.
 SESTLC is a simplified analysis tool useful to quickly estimate the inductive and conductive
electromagnetic interference levels on metallic utility paths such as pipelines and railways located
close to electric lines (and not necessary parallel to them), as well as the magnetic and electric
fields of arbitrary configurations of parallel transmission and distribution lines. It can also compute
line parameters.
 CorrCAD tackles a large variety of cathodic protection design tasks and related issues, onshore
and offshore, and can also predict the degree of corrosion control provided by a system. A typical
application for corrosion control includes Impressed Cathodic Current Protection systems (ICCP)
and use of sacrificial anodes in anodic protection systems, where anodic current is impressed on
corroding material to enforce passivation. Another application is to estimate the effect of stray
currents such as those produced by HVDC electrodes or dc rail traction systems on the corrosion
of buried metallic structures. CorrCAD can evaluate the corrosion status of the structure and help
optimize the location and characteristics of the corrosion protective system (such as ICCP) to
minimize stray current interference effects on protected structures such as pipelines.
Page 4-2
 CDEGS is a powerful set of integrated software tools designed to accurately analyze problems
involving grounding, electromagnetic fields, electromagnetic interference including AC/DC
interference mitigation studies and various aspects of cathodic protection and anode bed analysis
with a global perspective, starting literally from the ground up. It consists of eight computation
modules: RESAP, MALT, MALZ, SPLITS, TRALIN, HIFREQ, FCDIST and FFTSES. This is
the primary interface used to enter data, run computations, and examine results for all software
packages other than Autogrid Pro, AutoGroundDesign, Right-of-Way, SESEnviroPlus,
SESShield-3D, SESTLC and CorrCAD. This interface also provides access to the utilities listed
below.
CDEGS is accessible via a modern, user-friendly and flexible main interface. A legacy interface,
called CDEGS-Legacy, is also available.
TOOLS
 AutoTransient automates the process required to carry out a transient analysis with the HIFREQ
and FFTSES modules
 CETU simplifies the transfer of Right-of-Way and SPLITS output data to MALZ or HIFREQ. A
typical application is the calculation of conductive interference levels in an AC interference study.
 F05TextEditor is an enhanced text editor that recognizes the command structure of the module
indicated by the file prefix. The program provides syntax highlighting and a command parameter
identification tooltip to greatly simplify manual editing of an .f05 file.
 FFT21Data extracts data directly from FFTSES’ output database files (file 21) in a spreadsheet-
compatible format or in a format recognized by the SESPLOT utility.
 GraRep is a program that displays and prints graphics or text files. For more information on
GraRep see Chapter 6 of the Utilities Manual or invoke the Windows Help item from the menu
bar.
 GRServer is an advanced output processor which displays, plots, prints, and modifies
configuration and computation results obtained during previous and current CDEGS sessions.
 GRSplits plots the circuit models entered in SPLITS or FCDIST input files. This program greatly
simplifies the task of manipulating, visualizing and checking the components of a SPLITS or
FCDIST circuit.
 GRSplits-3D is a powerful interactive 3D graphical environment that allows you to view and edit
the circuit data contained in SPLITS input files and to simultaneously visualize the computation
results.
 RowCAD is a graphical user interface for the visualization and specification of the geometrical
data of Right-of-Way projects. Its 3D graphical environment can be used to visualize, specify and
edit the path data of Right-of-Way, and to define the electrical properties of those paths.
Page 4-3
 SESAmpacity computes the ampacity, the temperature rise or the minimum size of a bare buried
conductor during a fault. It also computes the temperature of bare overhead conductors for a given
current or the current corresponding to a given temperature, accounting for environmental
conditions.
 SESBat is a utility that allows you to submit several CDEGS computation module runs at once.
The programs can be run with different JobIDs and from different Working Directories.
 SESCAD is a CAD program which allows you to create, modify, and view complex grounding
networks and aboveground metallic structures, in these dimensions. It is a graphical utility for the
development of conductor networks in MALT, MALZ and HIFREQ.
 SESCircuitSimulator is an electrical circuit analysis program for studying the performance of a

power system network, taking into account the presence of all neutral conductors, ground metallic
networks and earth media under normal, imbalance, or fault conditions. It is the successor of the
SPLITS input and output toolbox known to legacy users.
 SESConductorDatabase gives access to the SES Conductor Database. It allows you to view the
electrical properties of conductors in the database, and to add new conductors to the database or
modify their properties.
 SESCrossSection provides an interactive interface with direct visual system representation for the
specification of conductor characteristics and locations within a conductor path cross-section. The
program allows data specification for eventual use in CorrCAD, Right-of-Way, Cable and
Conductor modes of SESLibrary, SESeBundle, and Circuit, Group and Single modes of the
TRALIN module.
 SESCurveFit is a general curve fitting tool with a special focus on "Polarization curves" used in
CorrCAD. It incorporates a curve digitizer utility as well.
 SESeBundle finds the characteristics of an equivalent single conductor accurately representing a

bundle of conductors, as far as their series impedance is concerned. This utility is particularly
useful to simplify models in modules, such as HIFREQ, where reducing the number of conductors
is important to keep the computational time low.
 SESEnviroPlot is an intuitive Windows application that dynamically displays computation data

produced by the SESEnviroPlus software module.
 SESFcdist is an interactive and flexible interface to prepare and run input files, and view results
from, the FCDIST computation module.
 SESFFT is a Fast Fourier Transform computation module designed to help you automate time
domain (lightning and switching surges) analyses based on frequency domain results obtained
from CDEGS computation modules such as SPLITS, MALZ, and HIFREQ. The forward and
inverse Fast Fourier transformations, the sample selection of the frequency spectrum, and related
reporting and plotting functions have been automated in SESFFT.
Page 4-4
 SESGSE rapidly computes the ground resistances of simple grounding systems, such as ground
rods, horizontal wires, plates, rings, etc., in uniform soils. SESGSE also estimates the required size
of such grounding systems to achieve a given ground resistance.
 SESImpedance computes the internal impedance per unit length of long conductors of arbitrary
geometry and composition, and whose cross-section does not vary over the length of the conductor.
The program uses the Finite Element Method (FEM) for calculating the electrical characteristics
of conductors and is capable of handling conductors of arbitrary shapes and realistic material
properties. The calculations fully account for skin effect, and can be carried out at low or high
frequency.
 SESLibrary allows you to inspect the properties of a large number of components that can be part
of models for many SES Software computation modules. It currently includes a comprehensive
database of conductors as well as several power cables.
 SESPlot provides simple plots from data read from a text file.
 SESPlotViewer is a tool used by SESEnviroPlus for plot rendering.
 SESResap is an interactive and flexible interface to prepare and run input files and view results
from the RESAP computation module.
 SESResultsViewer processes the computation data and results of all computation modules in
CDEGS, offering a complete solution for displaying the plots and reports in an integrated viewer.
It presents a light layout with intuitive organization of its settings that use sensible defaults that, in
turn, allow for a fast configuration of the settings in order to achieve the desired output results.
 SESScript is a script interpreter that adds programming capabilities to SES input files. SESScript
can systematically generate hundreds of files from a single input file containing a mixture of the
SICL command language and scripting code and user-defined parameter ranges and increments.
 SESShield provides optimum solutions for the protection of transmission lines and substations
against direct lightning strikes and optimizes the location and configuration of shield wires and
masts in order to prevent the exposure of energized conductors, busses and equipment. It can also
perform risk assessment calculations associated with lightning strikes on various structures.
 SESSystemViewer is a powerful 3D graphics rendition software that allows you to visualize the
complete system including the entire network and surrounding soil structure. Furthermore,
computation results are displayed right on the system components.
 SESThreshold is a utility that is used to compute various threshold limits, as recommended by

industry standards. It is presently restricted to computing maximum allowable safe touch and step
voltages limits. Coupled with an intuitive graphical environment, it allows to specify geometrical
zones that represent areas with different threshold limits. The computed thresholds and zone
boundaries are shown on generated Spot 2D plots which enable safe and unsafe regions to be easily
identified. SESThreshold can be used as a standalone application or it can be accessed through
SESResultsViewer.
Page 4-5
 SESTralin is an interactive and flexible interface to prepare and run input files, and view results
from, the TRALIN computation module.
 SESTransient automates the analysis of transient phenomena carried out with HIFREQ and
FFTSES. It runs both programs in turn, using the computation frequencies recommended by
FFTSES to run HIFREQ, until user-defined termination criteria are met. It also builds the FFTSES
computation databases from the resulting HIFREQ databases (F21 files). In summary, this
integrated tool is used to define the system and its energization in order to compute a time domain
response.
 SoilModelEditor is a standalone module with an interactive graphical interface that assists in the
creation of soils models for all relevant target SES Modules.
 SoilModelManager is a software tool that automates the selection of soil model structures that
apply during various seasons.
 SoilTransfer utility allows you to transfer the soil model found in several SES files into several
MALT, MALZ or HIFREQ input (F05) files.
 TransformerDataEditor is used by supporting applications to specify the characteristics and

locations of single- and three-phase transformers.
 TransposIT is a tool for the analysis of line transpositions on coupled electric power line circuits.
To ensure that voltage unbalance is kept within predefined limits, it allows the user to determine
the optimal number of power line transpositions and their required locations.
 WMFPrint displays and prints WMF files (Windows Metafiles) generated by CDEGS or any
other software.
During this tutorial, for simplicity, we will be using the Autogrid.Pro icon to carry out most of the
input and output tasks. We will refer to the other utility modules when appropriate.
4.1.1 Creating a New

Project
Click on the New tab to request a new
project workspace. You will first see the
following screen in which a Project
Name Project1 and a Scenario Name
Scenario1 is automatically assigned by
the program.
In this tutorial, we will create a project

called AGP Tutorial under the folder
D:\Projects\AGP Tutorial (you can use
any existing folder on your PC, or create
a new one). We will first change the default Project File Location to D:\Projects, and then we enter
AGP Tutorial in the Project Name field. A sub-folder called AGP Tutorial under D:\Projects is
Page 4-6
automatically offered while you are typing the project name AGP Tutorial. You can manually rename
the project folder name (under Project File Location) if you wish this name to be different from the
Project Name. However, to keep things simple, it is usually recommended to keep the same name for
the Project File Location and the Project Name.
To create a scenario called Initial Design,

enter Initial Design under Scenario Name.
Again, a sub-folder called Initial Design
under D:\Projects\AGP Tutorial is
automatically offered while you are typing
the scenario name Initial Design. It is also
recommended to keep the same name for the
Scenario File Location and the Scenario
Name.
Click the Create button. The AGP Tutorial

project and the Initial Design scenario are
created and ready for use. You can now
proceed to Section 4.1.3.
Page 4-7
4.1.2 Opening an Existing Project

Click on the Existing tab to browse for an existing project file. Navigate to the AGP Tutorial folder
under your Project folder, then double-click the file AGP Tutorial.agp. This will load the project.
Page 4-8
4.1.3 Using the Project

The buttons on the Project Toolbox are now active for you to enter data. The AutoGrid Pro project
toolbox acts as a quick launch pad for the other data entry screens of the application.
 Project: allows you to open new or existing projects and scenarios: analogous to the File |
Open and File | New commands in Microsoft® Applications.
 Reports: Allows you to select which reports and plots you wish to generate.
 Setup: Customizes the appearance of plots.
 Wizard: Loads the AutoGrid Pro Wizard that guides you through a typical session (not yet
available).
 Settings: Specify your general personal preferences here.
 Soil: Enter soil description or measurements.

 Grid: Enter grid data that you have not specified graphically.
 Circuit: Specify the power lines connected to the substation if you wish to have the
program calculate the split of fault current between the grounding grid and earth return
conductors such as static wires and neutral conductors. Note that conductive earth return
wires can decrease fault current injected into the earth by the grid by 50% or more.
 Safety: Specify the criteria to be used in the safety analysis.
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 GRServer: Start the GRServer program (an advanced graphics processor program) to
display graphically the results of a scenario in greater detail.
 Process: Initiate the computations, which end with the production of all requested plots
and reports.
4.1.4 Files that Are Part of the Project

When you create a new project, several files and folders are automatically created on your hard disk.
The folders and files created in the previous sections can be viewed in the following Windows
Explorer screen.
The file AGP Tutorial.agp is a project file for the AGP Tutorial project. It contains the information
regarding all the scenarios defined under this project. Under the scenario subfolder Initial Design, you
will find a file Initial Design.ags, and two other files MT_Initial Design.F05 and FC_Initial
Design.F05. These files were created the moment the scenario Initial Design was created. The file
Initial Design.ags stores the data for the Scenario Initial Design. For those who have used CDEGS
software before, you may recognize that the two files MT_Initial Design.F05 and FC_Initial
Design.F05 are the input files for the MALT and FCDIST programs, respectively.
With a project and scenario defined, we are now ready to enter soil resistivity data (Chapter 5), define
the initial design of the grounding grid (Chapter 6), prepare the fault current data (Chapter 7), evaluate
the performance of the initial grid design (Chapter 8), and make final refinements to the design.
Page 4-10
Chapter 5. Soil Resistivity Data Entry
CHAPTER 5
SOIL RESISTIVITY DATA ENTRY
5.1 A HORIZONTAL TWO-LAYER SOIL MODEL
The data values listed in Table 2-1 at the end of Chapter 2 were entered as input to the soil resistivity
analysis module of the AutoGrid Pro package. This consists of the following information:
 Spacing Between Probes: The distance between adjacent measurement probes.
 Apparent Resistance (V/I): The apparent resistance measured at each probe spacing.
 Current Probe Depth: The depth to which the current injection electrodes were driven
into the earth. This value influences the interpretation of soil resistivities at short electrode
spacings. It is an optional field data.
 Potential Probe Depth: The depth to which the potential probes were driven into the earth.
This value also influences the interpretation of soil resistivities at short electrode spacings.
It is an optional field data.
The soil resistivity interpretation module RESAP is used to determine equivalent horizontally layered
soils based on the site measurements. Although RESAP is capable of producing multi-layered soil
models, it is preferable to try to fit the measured results to the simplest soil structure (i.e., a two-layer
model), at least initially. This minimizes the time required for the computations. When a two-layer
soil model is selected, the computation results lead to an equivalent two-layer soil structure such as
the one shown in Table 5-1. The “RMS Error” computed by RESAP (see Section 8.3.3) provides a
quantitative indication of the agreement between the measurements and the proposed soil model. The
grounding system resistance computed by the grounding module MALT (see Sections Chapter 6 and
8.3.4) is also shown. Note that the resistance shown here was computed for the initial design of the
grounding system of the East Central Substation.
Layer Resistivity Thickness

(-m) (Meters)
Top 297.08 0.67
Bottom 65.85 
Table 5-1 Two-Layer Soil Model Computed Using Data from Table 2-1
RMS Error: 16.95%
Grid Impedance: 0.538 
The following section describes the steps required to determine the soil model shown in Table 5-1.
Page 5-1
5.2 SOIL RESISTIVITY DATA ENTRY

Click the Soil button located in the
Project Toolbar to define the soil model.
The Soil Structure screen will appear,
without data and you are now ready to
enter it.
The soil model can be defined by

specifying measured resistivity data
(default setting shown above), in which
case the program will compute an
appropriate soil structure, or by
specifying the soil structure explicitly.
When the soil structure is specified
explicitly by selecting the Use Specified
Soil Structure Characteristics option at
the very top of the screen, the following
data entry screen is shown; use it to enter
details of the soil model that is desired.
The earth structures that can be analyzed include:
 Uniform soil model (default).

 Horizontally layered soil (any
number of layers).
 Vertically layered soil (any
number of layers).
 Hemispherical soil model: three
regions delimited by two concentric
hemispherical boundaries.
 Cylindrical soil model: two
regions delimited by a vertical or
horizontal cylindrical boundary.
 Hemispheroidal soil model: two
regions delimited by a
hemispheroidal boundary.
 Inclined soil model: two regions
delimited by an inclined layer.
 Arbitrary heterogeneity soil
model: any number of regions of any shape formed by 6 surfaces and 8 vertices.
In this tutorial, the soil model will be deduced based on the soil resistivity measurements presented in
Section 2.4.
Page 5-2
In the following, it will be assumed that the reader is entering the data as indicated in the instructions.
Note that it is advisable to save your work regularly by selecting Project | Save Project, or by pressing
the Ctrl + S key combination as a shortcut. The data, entered up to that point, will be saved in the
RESAP input file RS_Initial Design.F05 in the “Initial Design” folder, in addition to the project and
scenario files.
If you intend to enter the data manually, proceed with this section; otherwise, you can import all the
data by proceeding as follows:
Importing Data
In the Soil Structure screen, click the Import button. Select the file “\Files For Import\RS_Initial
Design.F05” in the dialog, and then click OK. The data described in the next section will be loaded
and you will not have to enter it yourself.
In the Soil Structure screen, enter the

measured apparent resistances at the
substation site (see Table 2-1). This
screen also allows you to specify the
Measurement Method used to gather
the data (the default setting is
Wenner), the Type of data recorded,
and the field measurement data
obtained. Click the radio buttons
General, Wenner and
Schlumberger to understand the
differences between them. You can
immediately plot the raw data in a
linear/linear, log/linear or log/log
fashion to examine the shape of the
curve and spot irregularities in the
measurements.
Click the Properties button to bring

up the screen shown in the following
page. This screen allows you to provide comments under Case Description and to select the System
of Units. You can provide comments that apply to the entire project (the Project Level comments), to
the current scenario (the Scenario Level comments), or to any individual module. In this case, we
enter a description of the soil resistivity analysis under Measured Soil. These comments are echoed
in the output file of the RESAP program.
You can enter comments for the other modules of the software, if you wish to, by clicking on the
buttons of the top of the screen; we will do this later, in other parts of the tutorial. (Here, enter “A
simple substation grounding grid analysis using AutoGrid Pro.” in the Project Level comment and
“Initial Design: a linearly spaced grid, without rods.” in the Scenario Level comment.)
Page 5-3
A Run-ID Initial Design is automatically entered in the Run-Identification data entry field. The Run-
ID is useful in identifying all the plots which will be made later in Section 8.3.3.
In this tutorial, the Metric System of Units is used. The

system of units selected here applies to the entire
scenario, and all the computation modules. When
changing the units, you have the option to convert the
data to the new system of units or to leave the data as is.
By default, the data is left as is. To convert the data, click
on “Data Conversion Options”, and follow the
instructions in the resulting screen.
Focusing on any field in this screen (e.g., by clicking on

the field or by clicking on a screen button, without
releasing the mouse button, then dragging the mouse off
the screen button, then releasing the mouse button), then
pressing the F1 key will bring a help text related to the
focused field, or to the screen as a whole. This is true of
all screens in AutoGrid Pro.
Click the OK button to return to the Soil Structure main

screen. By default, the RESAP program will provide a
soil model which is the best fit to your data.
If you wish to see how sensitive the computed resistivity curve is to changes in soil layer thicknesses
or resistivities then click on the Soil Model button and suggest your own soil model. Select the User-
Defined option in the resulting screen if you wish to specify the number of layers and, optionally, the
characteristics of selected layers. In this tutorial, we select the two-layer soil model.
You can actually Lock or Unlock the resistivity and the depth
of each layer. Note that when the soil characteristics of one
layer (resistivity or depth or both) are locked, these values
will not be altered during the least-square iterative
minimization process. By leaving the Locking Options
column blank (or setting it to Unlock), you are leaving the
program free to determine suitable values for the associated
soil layer characteristics. If you prefer to specify your own
values, you should use the Lock option, then select which
item(s) to lock under Lock/Unlock Item.
In this tutorial, we will select a User-Defined soil with 2

layers, and let the program determine the properties of the
layers automatically. Click the OK button to return to the Soil
Structure main screen, then click OK in that screen to
complete the data entry for the soil structure specification.
Page 5-4
Chapter 6. Initial Grounding Grid Design
CHAPTER 6
INITIAL GROUNDING GRID DESIGN
In this chapter, we will show how to create a detailed computer model of a grounding system.
The determination of the grounding grid performance is carried out by the MALT computation
program, which computes the grounding grid resistance, ground potential rise, earth potentials, and
thereby touch and step voltages. In fact, you can model several distinct grounding systems at the same
time, each energized with a different current or voltage: MALT will determine how they all influence
one another, allowing you to determine transferred potentials, touch voltages and step voltages at any
location. Each grounding grid (or “electrode”) consists of a group of cylindrical conductors with any
orientations and positions, although they must all be buried. All conductors you identify as belonging
to given grounding grid are automatically interconnected for you (by means of invisible cables) and
all conductors are assumed to have negligible longitudinal impedance - a fair assumption for typical
substation. As a rule of thumb, a computed ground resistance less than 0.5  indicates a possible need
for modeling by other software which does account for conductor impedance, such as SES’ MALZ
software module.
At least one electrode (called “MAIN”) must be defined. It is normally used to model the main
grounding grid of the system under study (most studies only do examine a single grid). Other
electrodes (called “RETURN Ground” and “BURIED Structures”) can be defined; although they can
be used in many different ways, they are typically used to model a return electrode that collects all the
current injected in the main, (e.g., when simulating a ground impedance field test) and passive buried
structures (such as pipes or floating fences not connected to the main substation grid) which are within
the zone of influence of the main grounding grid.
In this tutorial, we will only need to define a MAIN electrode. It will be used to model the main
grounding grid at East Central Substation. For the initial design, a 100 m by 60 m grid will be studied.
6.1 DATA ENTRY

As for the soil resistivity data entry, you can enter the data manually by following the steps described
in this section; or if you do not wish to do so, you can import all the data required for this tutorial by
proceeding as follows:
Importing Data
Select Project | Import File and select the file “\Files For Import\MT_Initial Design.F05”. The data
described in the next section will be loaded and you will not have to enter it.
Page 6-1
While most of the data entry regarding

the grid will be carried out using the
graphical tools available from the main
screen of AutoGrid Pro, some extra data
can be specified in the screen below.
For those who have used SESCAD
before, you have probably already
noticed that the graphical tools are
simply the SESCAD program of the
CDEGS package. Chapter 10 of
Utilities Manual is devoted to
describing in detail how to use
SESCAD. This manual is available in
the PDF folder on your SES
SOFTWARE distribution medium
under the filename Utilities.PDF. You
are strongly encouraged to read Chapter
10 of this manual, in order to learn how
to unleash the full power of this
graphical interface.
We will begin by defining some properties of the main grid. Select Project | Define Grounding
System Energization and Buried Structures to load the Grounding System Energization screen.
The data to be provided on this screen consists mainly of the current or voltage magnitude to be
impressed upon each grounding system modeled. It is also used to specify the presence of buried
metallic structures other than the MAIN grounding grid. Note that there is no fundamental difference
between the MAIN grounding grid, the RETURN ground, and any Buried Structures you may wish to
model. The only real differences are that the MAIN grounding grid must be defined, whereas the other
buried system are optional; furthermore this MAIN grounding grid must be energized by a non-zero
voltage or current, whereas the other buried systems, if they exist, may be either energized or left
floating.
By default, the option Use Value Calculated by the Fault Current Distribution Module (if
available) is selected. This instructs the program to use the fault current calculated in the Fault Current
Analysis module as the energization current for the grid. If the fault current distribution calculation is
not required, you can enter the magnitude of the fault current component to be injected into the earth
by the grounding grid: do this under the option Use Specified Value. The value specified in the
Magnitude field will also be used when the calculated value of the fault current is not available yet
(usually because the data specification for the fault current distribution module is incomplete).
Page 6-2
Click the Properties button to bring up the screen shown

below. This screen allows you to provide comments
under Case Description and to select the System of
Units, as was done in the Soil Resistivity Data Entry in
Section 0.
The comments are echoed in the output file of the MALT

program. Again, a Run-ID Initial Design is
automatically entered in the Run-Identification field
and the Metric System of Units is selected. Click the
OK button, then the OK button to return to the Auto
Grid Pro main screen.
Next, we complete our description of the system under

study with the graphical tools of AutoGrid Pro: these
will allow us to rapidly describe the grounding grid and
the points at which earth potentials (and therefore touch
and step voltages) are to be computed. In our initial
design shown in Figure 2.2, we require a 100 m x 60 m
(328 feet x 197 feet) rectangular grid, buried at a depth
of 0.5 m (1.64 feet), and made of 9 linearly spaced
conductors parallel to the y-axis and 7 linearly spaced conductors parallel to the x-axis. Each conductor
has a radius of 0.6 cm (0.24 inches) and will be subdivided into 10 sub conductors or “segments” for
improved accuracy of the results (see below for further details on conductor segmentation). The origin
of the coordinate system used to specify the grounding grid is chosen to be at the bottom left-hand
corner of the grid.
To enter this data, select Create Object from the Edit menu. The Create Object dialog allows you
to define Conductors as well as observation Profiles (or observation points; more about those later).
Select the Detailed Grid option under Conductors and enter the coordinates of three corners of the
grid: a, b and c (as identified in the figure below). Nab indicates the total number of conductors parallel
to the x-axis, and Nac indicates the total number of conductors parallel to the y-axis. Note that you
should specify the Z coordinate as positive, to indicate that they are buried. This is generally true in
AutoGrid Pro, which considers the positive Z direction to be going down into the earth.
Page 6-3
Click the Characteristics button and assign a radius of 0.006 m (0.019 ft) to all conductors. The value
in Subdivision # specifies a minimum segmentation number for all the conductors. In this tutorial, we
leave the value of this field at 1 since the conductor segmentation generated by the node subdivision
feature is already adequate. This is explained in greater detail in the “Conductor Subdivision” inset
(see below).
The grid is now created. Click on Apply to transfer the grid to the main drawing window, then click
on Close to close the Create Object window. Note that, for simplicity, we have defined a grid with
uniformly spaced conductors in this example. However, in many cases, grids with uniformly spaced
conductors are not as efficient as grids with conductors more closely spaced towards the edge of the
grid than at its center as will be demonstrated later in this tutorial.
Page 6-4
Conductor Subdivision
As with many computer models of physical systems, the theory behind the MALT program
requires a discrete representation of a continuous phenomenon, namely the distribution of
the current discharged to earth by the grid’s conductors. The assumption made by the
program is that every conductor segment discharges current uniformly along its length. In
order for this to represent reality accurately, the conductor segments must be small enough.
There are several ways to generate conductor segments from the specified grid conductors.
First, the program automatically breaks all conductors at every conductor intersection. This
is called the node subdivision process. Usually, this is already enough to guarantee accurate
results, so that further intervention is unnecessary. A second, simple way to generate the
conductor segments is to enter the total number of segments to be generated by the program
in the Desired Number of Segments field of the Grounding System Energization
screen. If the total number of segments obtained after the node subdivision is smaller than
the desired number of segments, the program will break the longer conductors into two
equal length pieces, until the desired number of segments is reached. Another way is to
proceed as above, by specifying explicitly the number of segments desired for each
conductor individually. This method gives a very fine control over the segmentation
process.
Note also that it is often a good idea to do two sets of computations, the second one using
a larger number of segments (but otherwise identical to the first). The results should not
change by more than a few percent. This verifies explicitly if the number of segments used
in the computations is adequate.
To examine the touch and step voltages in and around the substation, the earth potentials should be
computed at observation points covering an area extending about 3 meters outside the substation. As
will be shown in the next section, you can let the program determine the location of suitable
observation points. On the other hand, for finer control you can also specify the observation points
explicitly. This is what we will do here.
We will define a profile containing evenly spaced points and replicate this profile using the surface
entry fields. This will produce a grid of observation points at the surface of the earth above the
grounding system. Note that if you have already imported the data from a file, the computation profiles
are already specified in the Auto Grid Pro screen. Avoid generating a duplicate set of profiles.
As for the grounding grid, the observation points can be defined using the Create Object command
under the Edit menu. Select the Detailed Surface option in the Create Object screen and enter the
data as shown in the screen below, then click on Apply and Close. This defines a rectangular surface
of observation points centered above the grid. The points are evenly spaced, being 1 meter apart both
along the x and y axes.
Page 6-5
The data is specified by defining an observation profile, that is a linear group of NPoints evenly spaced
observation points, then by replicating this profile NProfiles times along the direction defined in
Profile Step. The original profile starts at (-3, -3, 0) and the profile points are separated by 1 meter
along the X axis.
Note that the values of NPoints and NProfiles always include the starting point and profile,
respectively. With a total of 107 points per profile and 67 profiles, the observation surface extends
from x = -3 m to x = + 103 m and from y = -3 m to y = 63 m, and therefore extends past the perimeter
of the grid by 3 meters.
Once the profiles are created, they are superposed on top of the grid already defined, which provides
a convenient way to check the positions of the observation points with respect to the grid. You can
also turn off the display of the observation points by unchecking the Profiles options in the View
menu.
Page 6-6
At this point, you have completed the data entry for the grid specification.
Page 6-7
Chapter 7. Fault Current Distribution Analysis
CHAPTER 7
FAULT CURRENT DISTRIBUTION ANALYSIS
7.1 INTRODUCTION
The touch and step voltages associated with the grounding network are directly proportional to the
magnitude of the fault current component discharged into the soil by the grounding network1. It is
therefore important to determine how much of the fault current returns to remote sources or external
grounding via the shield wires and neutral wires of the transmission lines and distribution lines
connected to the substation under study, in this case, East Central Substation. In other words, the
current discharged into the East Central Substation grounding system is smaller than the maximum
available fault current, because a portion of the fault current returns via the shield wires and neutral
wires of the power lines connected to the East Central Substation and local transformer contributions
are disregarded. In order to be able to determine the actual fault current split, a model of the overhead
transmission line network (and, when present, distribution neutrals and associated grounding) must be
built. Before this, however, it is necessary to calculate transmission and distribution line parameters
such as self and mutual inductive impedances, at representative locations.
This work is described in the present chapter. In this study, we assume a single-phase-to-ground fault.
The computation module FCDIST is used to compute the fault current distribution. For more
complicated fault scenarios, the computation modules TRALIN and SPLITS of the CDEGS package
can be combined to complete the task: in this case, the line parameters are computed using the TRALIN
module, then the resulting parameters are used by the SPLITS module to compute the fault current
distribution. The How To… Engineering Guide entitled “Analysis of AC Interference Between
Transmission Lines and Pipelines” gives a detailed example on how to use TRALIN and SPLITS to
compute the fault current distribution.
As mentioned in Chapter 2, we assume that the highest fault current discharged by the East Central
grounding grid occurs for a 230 kV single-phase-to-ground fault at the East Central Substation on
Phase B2 of Circuit 2. Note that if autotransformers are involved it becomes particularly important to
examine the currents flowing into the substation in all phases of all circuits (at all voltage levels) for
the 230 kV fault in order to correctly assess the situation.
1
Strictly speaking, circulating currents flowing in grounding grid conductors from the fault location to local transformer
ground connections and to static and neutral wire ground connections also contribute to touch voltages, particularly in
large grounding grid in low resistivity soils. For typical substation applications, however, this component is relatively
small.
Page 7-1
7.2 PREPARATION OF THE INPUT DATA

The fault current distribution is computed using the FCDIST (Fault Current Distribution) computation
module. The goal of this analysis is to find the fraction of the total fault current that is discharged in
the grounding grid under study. The important data for such an analysis consists of:
 The impedance of the grounding grid under study. In the program, this grounding grid is
referred to as the Central Site.
 The fault current sources: these are called Terminals in the program. The data to be
specified includes the magnitude and phase angle of the contribution of each terminal to
the fault current, as well as the impedance of the grounding grid at each terminal.
 The electrical characteristics of the transmission lines connecting the Terminals to the
Central Site. This normally includes the geometrical configuration of the faulted phase
conductors and of the shield wires as well as the type of shield wires used; alternatively,
the line impedances can be specified explicitly. In addition, representative ground
resistances of the transmission, and distribution line towers and poles must be specified, in
order to take credit for the full benefit provided by these.
The model allows only a single-phase wire per power line; therefore, only the faulted phase and the
neutral conductors (or shield wires) are represented; the other phases are ignored. You may, however,
include an approximate of the contributions of the other phases by specifying the vector sum of the
currents flowing in the three phases of the circuit of interest as the current flowing in the faulted phase.
The average height and lateral position of the conductor bundle associated with the faulted phase are
specified in terms of their Cartesian coordinates. The positions of up to two static or neutral wires per
power line are specified in a similar manner. A concentric neutral can be modeled instead of simple
static or neutral conductors: this shield is modeled as a bundle of small conductors arranged to form a
cylinder resembling the concentric neutral.
The following input data can be extracted from the description of the circuit in Section 2.2.
Central Site
Name: East Central
Ground Impedance: To be supplied automatically by the grounding module each time the grounding
system is modified and upon its initial creation.
Terminals
Static Wires: 7 No. 8 Alumoweld
Page 7-2
Terminal (Source Substation) Characteristics Transmission Line Characteristics

Span Tower Ground
Name Fault Current Ground Number of
Length (m) Resistance ()
Contribution Impedance () Spans
(Amps)
Greenbay 1226 – j 5013 0.2 330 64 10
Hudson 722 – j 6453 0.3 330 25 28
Newhaven 745 – j 5679 0.3 330 33 28

Table 7-1 Terminal Information for the Example Study: Single-Phase-to-Ground Fault
at East Central Substation.
In this study, the static wires are located symmetrically with respect to the center line of the tower, at
a height of 35 m (115 feet) and at a distance of 7.3 m from the center of a tower (see Figure 2.3). You
will note that the primary purpose of the fault current analysis is to determine how much of the fault
current flows into the grounding system of the substation under study (i.e., the Central Station) during
a fault at that location and how much does not, because of alternate ground return paths provided by
static and neutral wires. The analysis will also determine the magnitude of the current that returns to
each power source, through the earth, via the terminal grounds and determine the influence of the
mutual impedances between the phase and static/neutral wires. This latter effect manifests itself as a
“trapped” current in the static/neutral wires. The computation results provide the self-impedances of
the static/neutral wires as well as the mutual impedances between the phase and static/neutral wires
for each power line modeled.
In this chapter, we will show how to set up the computer model of the transmission system connected
to East Central Substation
7.2.1 Data Entry

On the Project toolbar, click on the Circuit button. This will bring the Network Fault Current
Distribution window. As for the other parts of this tutorial, you can manually enter the data associated
with this tutorial by following the steps described in this section; or, if you do not wish to do so, you
can import all the data by proceeding as follows.
Importing Data
In the Network Fault Current Distribution screen, click on the Import button. Select the File
Name “\Files For Import\FC_Initial Design.F05”, then click OK. The data described in the
remainder of this chapter will be loaded and you will not have to enter it.
Page 7-3
The Network Fault Current

Distribution screen contains two tabs
(Central Site and Terminals) dedicated,
as their names indicate, to the data entry
for the Central Site and Terminals,
respectively. We will begin by entering
the Central Site data.
After specifying the name of the Central

Site (“East Central”), the impedance of the
grounding grid must be provided. At this
point, this impedance is unknown, since it
depends on the actual design of the
grounding grid. In fact, as the design of the
grounding grid is refined in the course of
the study, the value of this impedance will
change. The simplest way to specify the
impedance is to let the program compute it
from the data defining the grid: this option
can be selected by choosing Deduce from
Grounding Computations.
This screen also allows you to specify the

computation frequency (typically 60 or 50
Hz) and the average electrical
characteristics of the soil in the region
covered by the electrical network. These
properties are used when computing the
self and mutual impedances of the
transmission lines connecting the
terminals to the central site. These are not
highly sensitive to the soil resistivity, so an
order of magnitude estimate of the average
soil resistivity usually suffices. The soil’s
relative permeability is usually equal to
1.0.
The Terminals tab (shown next) is used to

define the properties of all terminals. We
will show how to specify the data for one
terminal completely, and then show some
shortcuts to rapidly create the other
terminals.
To begin entering the data, first type the name of the first terminal (“Greenbay”) in the Name field
and press Enter. The remaining fields on the screen should become active, allowing you to enter the
values listed in Table 7-1 for this terminal. First, enter a ground impedance of 0.2 + j 0.0 . Next, a
Page 7-4
current of a 1226 – j 5013 Amps should be

entered under Current Source, and 64
sections with a length of 330 m and a
tower ground resistance of 10  should be
defined under Sections (see the next
illustration).
To specify the characteristics of the

transmission lines connecting this terminal
to the central site, click on Define circuit.
The resulting screen, shown further below,
is separated vertically into two parts: the
left side is used to define the geometry of
a cross section of the line (the Conductor
Structure) and the right side is used to
define the electrical characteristics of the
static or neutral wires of the line.
The geometry of a cross section of the

transmission line is shown in Figure 2.3.
There are two static wires located at a
height of 35 m and at a distance of 7.3 m
from the center of the tower, on both sides.
To minimize the mutual interactions
between the phase wire and the static wires
and thus obtain the worst-case scenario, the
fault is assumed to occur on the phase
furthest away from the static wires, namely
Phase B2 (Phase C1 would have been just
as bad) in the figure. The coordinates of
this phase wire are X = 12 m and Y = 21.5
m. This can be specified by entering the
data shown on the screen entitled
“Conductor Specification” below.
Page 7-5
You can verify visually that the positions of

the wires are correct by clicking on the
Display button on this screen. The resulting
drawing shows a cross section of the power
line defined so far. Use the Zoom button to
look at finer details of the picture. You can
click on Illustrate to turn off the display of
the power line and return to the explanatory
illustration.
The simplest way to define the electrical

characteristics of the static wires is to import
the information from the conductor database.
To do this, click on Import from Conductor
Database. The following Category Filter
should appear.
In the Category Filter, you can narrow down

the number of conductors to be selected.
Choose Power Electric for Industry
category, All for Country, Overhead Shield
Wire for Application and Alumoweld for Conductor Type. Click Ok, the conductors that meet the
filter conditions are listed.
Page 7-6
Select “ALUMOWELD_7 No. 8, then click on Import. The data for this conductor will be exported
to the Conductor Specification screen.
This completes the data specification for Terminal Greenbay. Click OK to return to the Network
Fault Current Distribution screen.
Since the other two terminals are very similar to the
first, the simplest way to enter the corresponding data
is to create a copy of Terminal Greenbay and modify
the copy to account for the differences between the
terminals. To do this, click on Copy, enter “Hudson”
under Copy Terminal To, then click OK. We must
then correct the source current (722 – j 6453 Amps),
grid impedance (0.3 + j0.0 ) and number of sections
for this terminal (25), as well as the ground
resistances of the towers (28 ); the other
characteristics of the terminal are identical to those of
Terminal Greenbay. The remaining terminal
(“Newhaven”) can be handled in a similar way.
From the Network Fault Current Distribution screen, it is possible to view a schematic
representation of the circuit at any time by clicking on View Circuit. This invokes the GRSplits screen,
which offers a subset of the standalone utility GRSplits, which is shipped with AutoGrid Pro. You can
use the Help menu on this screen to obtain more information about the plotting options. Selecting all
three terminals, then using Plot | Plot circuit, yields the following plot, displayed in the GraRep utility.
Select File | Exit on this screen to return to the Network Fault Current Distribution screen.
The Display button on the Network Fault Current Distribution screen provides a quicker way to obtain
a plot of the circuit. When you click this button, a plot of the circuit appears directly on the screen.
Page 7-7
This plot is generated using default settings for all plotting options. You can click on Illustrate to
recover the original circuit illustration.
Page 7-8
Finally, you can click the Properties button to bring up the screen shown below. This screen allows
you to provide comments under Case Description and to select the System of Units, as was the case
for the Soil Resistivity Data Entry in Section 0.
This concludes the data entry session for the Fault Current Analysis module. Click on OK to save
your changes.
Page 7-9
Chapter 8. Performance Evaluation of East Central Substation
CHAPTER 8
PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF EAST
CENTRAL SUBSTATION
Now that we have specified an initial design for our grounding grid and that we have entered the data
defining the soil structure and the characteristics of the circuit connected to the main grounding grid,
we are ready to evaluate if our proposed design is safe and adequate.
In this chapter, we will demonstrate how to carry out the computations and how to extract the
computation results. The first step consists in determining suitable safety criteria to evaluate the
performance of the grounding grid. Then, we will show how to select a few representative reports and
graphics among those offered by the program, and how to generate those reports and graphics. These
reports and graphics will then be analyzed in order to determine at what locations, if any, mitigative
measures are required.
8.1 SAFETY CRITERIA

Before describing the steps to extract the computation results, let us first identify the safety objectives.
One of the main concerns when designing grounding systems is to ensure that no electrical hazards
exist outside or within the substation during normal and fault conditions. In most cases, there are no
safety concerns during steady-state normal conditions because very little current flows in the neutral
and grounding system. This current, called residual current, rarely exceeds 10% of the nominal load
current in most electrical distribution systems. Therefore, safety is usually a concern only during
phase-to-ground faults.
In practice, most electric substations are fenced and the fence is quite often placed 1 m (3.28 feet)
inside the outer conductor loop of the grounding system. This way, a person contacting the fence from
the outside will be standing above or close to a ground conductor which will normally result in lower
touch voltages than in the case where the fence is not surrounded by such a ground conductor loop. In
this study, the fence at the East Central Substation is located 1 m inside the outer loop of the grounding
system. Furthermore a large portion of the fence is not metallic (concrete or bricks).
Therefore, unless there are concerns for transferred potentials to remote locations via overhead or
metallic paths, such as gas, oil or water pipes, railway tracks, etc., only the area delimited by the
grounding system outer loop conductor needs to be examined with respect to unsafe touch voltages.
However, step voltages must be explored everywhere inside and outside the substation site. In general,
however, step voltages are rarely a concern inside electric power substation grounding grids, when
touch voltages have been made satisfactory; outside the grid perimeter, however, step voltages need
to be checked.
Page 8-1
8.1.1 Touch Voltages

The first safety criterion used for the evaluation of the grounding system performance is the touch
voltage limit. The touch voltage is usually defined as the difference in potential between a point on the
earth’s surface, where a person is standing, and an exposed metallic structure (present or future) within
reach of that person. Since all metallic structure within a substation should be bonded to the grounding
grid, touch voltages are calculated by computing the difference in potential between the grounding
grid and earth surface points.
ANSI/IEEE Standard 80-2000 (North America) and IEC 479-1 (Europe) provide methodologies for
determining maximum acceptable touch and step voltages, based on the minimum current required to
induce ventricular fibrillation in a human subject. The touch and step voltage limits are a function of
shock duration (i.e., fault clearing time), system characteristics (for short fault clearing times), body
weight, and foot contact resistance (which depends on the electrical resistivity of the material, such as
crushed rock or soil, on which the person is standing, its thickness, and the subsurface soil resistivity).
The table below shows how the touch voltage limit computed in accordance with ANSI/IEEE Standard
80 varies as a function of earth surface covering material, for a 0.3 s fault clearing time, a system X/R
ratio of 20, and a 50 kg body weight.
Surface Layer Touch Voltage Limit (V)

Type Resistivity (-m)
Native Soil 297 286
15 cm Crushed Rock 3000 933
The crushed rock surface layer installed on the surface of the East Central Substation is 15 cm (6)
thick and has an estimated resistivity (when wet) of 3000 -m. The maximum total clearing time of
the backup relays and circuit breakers in this example is 0.3 s. The crushed rock surface layer overlies
a soil with a resistivity of 297 -m (as will be determined in Section 8.3.3). Resistivity varies as a
function of the type of rock, the size of the stones, the moisture content and the degree of contamination
(e.g., filling of the voids between stones by finer lower resistivity material). The above table and
similar ones can be produced using the Safety module, as explained in Section 8.1.5.
8.1.2 Step Voltages

A similar table can be compiled for step voltages, defined as the difference in potential between two
points spaced 1 m (3.28 ft) apart at the earth’s surface.
Surface Layer Step Voltage Limit (V)

Type Resistivity ( -m)
Native Soil 297 558
15 cm Crushed Rock 3000 3147
Inside a substation and within 1 m (3.28 ft) outside the perimeter fence, step voltages are usually lower
than touch voltages; furthermore, the maximum acceptable values are higher than for touch voltages.
Page 8-2
Consequently, satisfying the touch voltage safety criteria in this area normally ensures that that the
step voltage safety criteria will also be satisfied. The step voltages in the substation and in an area
extending 3 m (about 10 feet) outside the substation grounding grid will be examined. Outside the
extended area of the substation, no computations will be performed. However, it is unlikely for
hazardous step voltages to exist at such remote locations when they are safe closer to the substation.
8.1.3 GPR Magnitude

Sometimes, the absolute magnitude of the GPR of the grid can be a concern. This is particularly the
case for the rating of equipment installed to isolate telecommunications lines from equipment inside
the substation. The program allows you to specify a maximum value for the GPR of the grid; a warning
is issued when the maximum GPR exceeds this value.
8.1.4 GPR Differentials

Significant potential differences between distant parts of the grounding system can give rise to local
touch voltages or equipment stress voltages when low voltage insulated conductors connect equipment
at two such locations. Appropriate protection must be in place at such locations, rated for the GPR
differentials that can arise. The GPR differentials are not going to be a concern in this study since the
grounding grid is small. If the grid is extensive or if there are buried metallic structures connected to
the grounding system, the GPR differentials should be examined. This can be done, for instance, using
the MALZ or HIFREQ Computation Modules of the CDEGS package.
8.1.5 Determining Safe Touch and Step Voltage Levels

The various parameters governing
the safety limits for touch and step
voltages can be defined in the
Safety screen. This module also
provides a quick way to specify a
surface of observation points
covering the grounding grid.
Select Project | Define Safety

Criteria to open the Safety screen
shown in the following page. As Click here to define
discussed in the previous sections, safety criteria and border
there are several parameters that offset for observation
govern the magnitude of the safety points
limits for the touch and step
voltages. Two of the more
important parameters can be
defined directly on the main Safety
screen, namely the Insulating
Surface Layer Resistivity and the
Fault Clearing Time. Input 0.3 as the Fault Clearing Time and 3000 as the Insulating Surface
Layer Resistivity here (the correct safety limits will be obtained later). The remaining parameters can
be defined using the Standard and Advanced safety screens. The Advanced safety screen (shown in
Page 8-3
the following page) allows you to define all of the safety

parameters while the Standard safety screen contains only the
most often used parameters. The Sub-Surface Uniform Soil
Layer Resistivity should be set to a representative value of the
resistivity of the soil close to the earth’s surface. Normally, this
should be equal to the resistivity of the top soil layer, although
there may be cases where you want to specify a different value
(such as when the top soil layer is very thin). Selecting the Use
top soil layer resistivity option instructs the program to always
use the resistivity of the top soil layer. When this option is
selected, the program will automatically re-compute the safety
limits whenever there are changes made to the soil model. Since
we haven’t obtained a soil model yet from the soil resistivity
measurement data, the program doesn’t know the value of the
resistivity of the top soil layer. The computed values for the touch
and step voltage limits are therefore (probably) incorrect at this
stage, but will be automatically corrected the moment the soil
resistivity analysis is complete. (If no soil data is given, the
program uses 100 -m as a default value.)
To help in selecting appropriate values for the

Fault Clearing Time and Insulating Surface
Layer Resistivity on the main Safety screen,
the Safety (Advanced) screen allows you to
examine several scenarios at once by
specifying up to 3 different fault clearing times
as well as any number of equally spaced
resistivity values for the insulating layer.
If this information is entered in the Safety

(Advanced) screen as shown here and if you
click the Get Initial Safety Values button, the Safety

Table screen shows up. This screen shows the safety
limits for touch and step voltages for all the
combinations of fault clearing times and insulating
surface layer resistivity that were specified in the
Safety (Advanced) screen.
As the screen indicates, the values shown on screen at

this point will be modified later once the sub-surface
resistivity is known.
Page 8-4
8.1.6 A Simpler Way to Specify the Location of Observation Points

As mentioned in the previous section, the main Safety screen also offers a simpler way to specify the
location of observation points for the computation of touch and step voltages. When the option
“Automatic Generation of Observation Points” is checked, the program will ignore any observation
points explicitly specified above the grid (as was done in Section 6.1) and will instead automatically
generate a rectangular surface covering the entire grid. This is shown in yellow in the screen. The
rectangular area extends beyond the region covered by the grid’s conductors by the maximum of the
amounts specified in Grid Border Offset for Touch Voltages and Grid Border Offset for Step
Voltages. By specifying 3 meters for the Grid Border Offset for Step Voltages, we are guaranteed
that the observation points will extend 3 meters outside the area of the grid, as is desired. The spacing
between the observation points can be controlled from the Automatic Zoom … screen obtained by
clicking on Advanced.
Moreover, the program will restrict the analysis of the touch and step voltages to the area defined by
the corresponding border offset. This means that, for the data as defined in the above screen, the step
voltages will be analyzed up to 3 meters outside the grid while the touch voltages will be analyzed up
to the edge of the grid, generally located 1 m outside the fence line.
Another advantage of using this automatic mode for the specification of the location of observation
points is that the program will automatically adjust the location of the points and of the safety analysis
areas whenever the grid is modified.
8.2 PLOTS AND REPORTS

We have now completed the data entry. What remains
is to select which reports and plots the program should
produce once the computations are complete, and to
customize the plots and reports.
8.2.1 Selecting Plots and Reports

Use Project | Report Preferences to load the Report
and Graphics Specifications screen. This screen
allows you to select which plots and reports are to be
produced once the computations are complete. These
plots and reports are produced every time the
computations are carried out.
The following reports are selected.
 System Data Summary: A summary of the

input data provided to the program.
 Requested Computation Reports and

Plots: A summary of the plots and reports that were requested in this screen.
Page 8-5
 Resistivity Comparison: A report that lists the comparison of measured vs. computed
apparent resistivities (click the Advanced button to see this option).
 List of Materials: A bill of materials report listing the characteristics of the conductors in
the grid.
 Soil Resistivity Measurement Interpretation: A report showing the soil model deduced
from the provided measurements.
 Ground Grid Performance: A report showing the resistance and other characteristics of
the main grounding grid and other grounding structures.
 Fault Current Distribution: A report showing the results of the fault current distribution
analysis.
 Safety Assessment: A report showing the safety table generated in Section 8.3.4.
Other reports are available, such as an ampacity assessment report, and a report listing the computed
self and mutual impedances of the conductors in the circuit (click the Advanced button to see the
options). They will not be generated in this tutorial.
Click on the Touch

Voltages and then
click on the View
Options…
On the Graphics tab, plots of touch and step voltage are selected, as well as a plot of the computed
and measured soil resistivities (as obtained from the Soil Resistivity analysis) and plots of various
quantities obtained from the Fault Current Distribution analysis. Other plots are available: the
Scalar Potential plot shows the earth potentials above the grid, the Grounding System
Configuration plot shows the grounding system itself and the Electric Network Configuration plot
Page 8-6
shows a schematic representation of the circuit (as was generated in Section 7.2.1). These plots have
not been requested in this tutorial.
Some of these selections can actually generate more than one plot. This, and other attributes of the
plots, can be controlled by clicking on View Options after having clicked on the pertinent item in the
window in the upper half of the screen: in this case,
click on the wording describing the option of interest,
not on the check box to the left of the wording. For
example, the options for touch voltage plots are shown
here. You can select to produce a plot of all values of
the touch voltages (Show All Values) or a plot of only
those values that are above the safety limit for touch
voltages (as defined in the Safety screen, Section
8.3.4) or both of these plots. For the latter plot, the
regions where the touch voltages are below the safety
limits are left transparent, making it easy to identify
the troublesome areas. Similar options are available
for step voltages. Click on Back to return to the
previous screen.
Several options are available for Fault Current
Distribution plots. You can choose to plot any
combination of the Section Span Current (i.e., the
current flowing in the shield and neutral wires along
the power lines modeled), the current discharged into
the earth by every tower and pole along the power
lines (Shunt Tower Currents) and the ground
potential rise of every tower and pole (Shunt Tower
Potentials). You can plot up to two terminals at a
time, and you can restrict the plots to a range of towers
and poles by defining the Beginning Section and
Ending Section fields (leave these fields blank to plot
all sections): recall that each “section” represents one
power line span. Note that these plots can be helpful
in gaining insight into the behavior of the power
system modeled; however, the key data required for
the design study is to be found in the corresponding
report, as will be seen.
The Type of Plots tab allows you to select the chart

types of the plots that should be produced. All the
plots selected in the Graphics tab will be produced (if
possible) using all of the selected chart types. The 2D
Spot plots are generally the most useful for a safety
analysis, since they display the touch and step
voltages above the grid as a color intensity plot superposed on a plan view of the grid: these plots
Page 8-7
constitute contour plots, with the regions between the contour lines shaded in different colors to make
the voltage levels clearer.
Note that this selection of plot types applies only for some of the plots: those available under
Computation Plots apply only to plots of touch voltages, step voltages and scalar potentials, while
those under Configuration Plots apply only to plots of the grounding grid itself.
The plot and reports selection is now complete. Click OK to close this screen and return to the main
screen of AutoGrid Pro.
8.2.2 Customizing Plots

You can customize the appearance of the
plots generated by AutoGrid Pro using the
functionality of the Setup screen, available
from Project | Graphics Preferences.
In the Printer Attributes and Screen

Attributes tabs, you can select the type of
font to use in the plots, and whether color
plots should be rendered in shades of gray.
These settings can be selected independently
for printed plots and plots displayed on
screen.
The Configuration tab allows you to control

certain aspects of the plots displaying the
grounding grid, such as the scaling factors to
employ when drawing the grid, and whether or not
to show the coordinate axes on the plot.
The Computations tab can be used to customize

all other plots. You can select a display threshold
value for spot plots (or instruct the program to use
the Safe Allowable Values, as was done in this
case) and you can also set the range of the
coordinate axes for 3D perspective plots.
For greater control over the appearance of the plots, you can use the GRServer graphics processor
(available at Project | Advanced Output Processor). This program gives you full control over the
display of plots. Chapter 10 shows how to use this program in greater detail.
8.2.3 Carrying Out the Computations and Producing the Plots and
Reports
Select Project | Process (or click Process on the Project Toolbar) to start the computations and create
the requested plots and reports. The program will analyze the changes you have made to the data to
determine which computations should be carried out. The following confirmation screen will appear.
Page 8-8
This screen shows which computations the program thinks it should perform. You can override the
program’s decisions by explicitly selecting or deselecting the options. You can also use this screen to
restrict the production of plots and reports to a subset of those that were selected in the Reports screen
in the previous sections.
The computations begin once you click OK on this screen. A message screen details the progress of
the computations and shows any errors or warnings generated in the run.
You can cancel the run at any time by clicking Cancel on that screen or by choosing Project | Cancel
Processing. Once the computations are complete, the requested plots and reports are produced and
displayed in the GraRep utility, as illustrated in the next section. Copies of the plots and reports are
also stored in the ‘Results’ folder that can be found in the ‘Initial Design’ sub-folder of your project
folder. The following figure shows the content of this folder after the run. The files with a “rep”
extension are the report files and those with an “EMF” extension are the plot files. The names of the
Page 8-9
report and plot files are pretty much self-explanatory. In case more details are desired, the file
“Results_Initial Design.txt” gives a short description of each file.
The following section will examine each one of these files in greater detail.
8.3 ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS

At this stage, the GraRep (Graphics and Reports Viewer) utility contains all the plots and reports that
were produced in the computations phase. The following screen automatically appears, giving you
access to the results. The plots are stored in the View Plots tab of the utility, and the reports in its View
Reports tab.
In this section, we will examine these

reports and plots and draw conclusions as
regards the safety aspects of our initial
ground grid design.
8.3.1 Using the GraRep

Utility
Before we proceed with a detailed
examination of the results, a few words
should be mentioned about the GraRep
utility. This utility displays all the
computation results produced by
AutoGrid Pro. It can be used to print these
results, both in text and graphical formats.
The following paragraphs summarize the
Page 8-10
most important features of the utility. Use GraRep’s on-line help (Help | Help Topics, or press the F1
key) to obtain more details.
GraRep displays graphical output in its View Plots tab and textual output in its View Reports tab
(there is a third tab that can be used to display messages, but is not used in AutoGrid Pro).
Several plots can be displayed in the View Plots tab, although only one can occupy the main viewing
area. The other plots can be activated by clicking on the corresponding item in GraRep’s Icon Queue,
which appears along the right-hand edge of the screen. You can select several plots simultaneously,
and print them using File | Print Selected Plots. You can also preview the printing using File | Print
Preview.
You can zoom on any part of the plot by holding the Shift key down while dragging the mouse in the
main viewing area to create a rectangle enclosing the area of interest. To restore the picture to its
original size, select Options | Fit to Size. (Do not try to magnify any part of the plot too much: at
some point the magnification process will refuse to continue, a limitation of the operating system
control used by the software.)
The View Reports tab can also hold several text reports simultaneously. The reports are all displayed
in the same window, separated by markers like Report # 1, End Report # 1. The reports can be printed
(File | Print) and previewed before printing (File | Print Preview).
8.3.2 General Information Reports

In GraRep, select the View Reports tab and scroll the window to the top (you can do this quickly by
first clicking in the window, then pressing Ctrl + Home.) The first report is a summary of the plot
and report selections for the run:
----------------------------------------------------------------
Input Data Summary Reports
----------------------------------------------------------------
System Data Summary

D:\Projects\AGP Tutorial\Initial Design\Results\System Input.rep
Requested Computation Reports and Plots
D:\Projects\AGP Tutorial\Initial Design\Results\User Input.rep
----------------------------------------------------------------
Graphics option chosen
----------------------------------------------------------------
Computation Plots
Touch Voltages
Show All Values
Show Unsafe Values Above Selected Safety Threshold
Step Voltages
Show All Values
Show Unsafe Values Above Selected Safety Threshold
Soil Resistivity Measurement Interpretation
Fault Current Distribution

Section Span Currents
Shunt Tower Currents
Shunt Tower Potentials
Page 8-11
One Terminal Plot

Terminal Number ................... 1
All Sections Selected
Configuration Plots
Grounding System Configuration
----------------------------------------------------------------
Types of plot selected
----------------------------------------------------------------
Computation Plots
2D Spot
Configuration Plots
Top View
Report #1: User Input Data
The second report summarizes the input data entered for the computations. The Safety section shows
the computed touch and step voltage safety limits.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------
Project Summary
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------
Case Description ............................ A simple substation grounding grid analysis using
AutoGrid Pro.
Run Identification .......................... Initial Design

System of Units ............................. Metric
Radius Measured in .......................... Meters
Frequency ................................... 60 Hz
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------
Soil Structure (deduce soil structure from field resistivity measurements)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------
Measurement method...........................Wenner
Type of measurement..........................Resistance
Probe depth option...........................Account for Probe Depth
Measurement Spacing S Apparent Depth of Depth of

Number (Meters) Resistance Current Potential
R (Ohms) Probes Do Probes Di
(Meters) (Meters)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
R1 0.3 152.3 0.1 0.05
R2 1 48.16 0.1 0.05
R3 2 6.12 0.1 0.05
R4 5 3.34 0.1 0.05
R5 7 1.76 0.15 0.05
R6 10 1.11 0.15 0.05
R7 15 0.692 0.3 0.05
R8 25 0.441 0.3 0.05
R9 35 0.32 0.3 0.05
R10 50 0.218 0.6 0.1
Page 8-12
R11 65 0.156 0.6 0.1

R12 90 0.106 0.6 0.1
R13 120 0.079 1 0.1
R14 150 0.064 1 0.1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------
Network Fault Current Distribution
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------
Average soil characteristics along electric lines:
Resistivity(Ohm-m) .......................... 100
Relative Permeability (p.u.) ................ 1
Central site definition:

Name ........................................ East Central
Ground Impedance (To be deduced from grounding computations)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------
Safety
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------
Determine Safety Limits for Touch and Step Voltages
Safety Threshold for Touch Voltages ......... 933.1 V
Safety Threshold for Step Voltages .......... 3146.7 V
Automatic Generation of Observation Points.
Grid Border Offset for Touch Voltages ....... 0 m
Grid Border Offset for Step Voltages ........ 3 m
----------------------------------------------------------------
The computation results are written in the following reports:
----------------------------------------------------------------
Soil Resistivity Measurement Interpretation
D:\Projects\AGP Tutorial\Initial Design\Results\Soil Structure.rep
Ground Grid Perfomance
D:\Projects\AGP Tutorial\Initial Design\Results\Ground Grid Performance.rep
Fault Current Distribution
D:\Projects\AGP Tutorial\Initial Design\Results\Fault Current.rep
Safety Assessment
D:\Projects\AGP Tutorial\Initial Design\Results\Safety.rep
Resistivity Comparison
D:\Projects\AGP Tutorial\Initial Design\Results\Resistivity Comparison.rep
List of Materials
D:\Projects\AGP Tutorial\Initial Design\Results\Bill of Materials.rep
Report #2: System Input Data
8.3.3 Soil Resistivity Analysis

The third report in GraRep summarizes the results of the soil resistivity analysis. This report shows
the computed soil structure and gives the RMS error between the computed and measured resistivities.
In our case, the soil is a two-layer soil: the top layer has a resistivity of 297 –m and a thickness of
0.67 m. The bottom layer has a resistivity of 66 –m.
=========< R E S I S T I V I T Y ( SYSTEM INFORMATION SUMMARY ) >=========
Run ID......................................: Initial Design

System of Units ............................: Meters
Page 8-13
Soil Type Selected..........................: Multi-Layer Horizontal

RMS error between measured and calculated...: 16.9464 in percent
resistivities (Note RMS=SQRT(average(Di**2)).
<--- LAYER CHARACTERISTICS --> Reflection Resistivity

Layer Resistivity Thickness Coefficient Contrast
Number (ohm-m) (Meters) (p.u.) Ratio
====== ============== ============== ============ ============
1 Infinite Infinite 0.0 1.0
2 297.0809 0.6741050 -1.0000 0.29708E-17
3 65.84766 Infinite -0.63713 0.22165
**WARNING** MORE THAN ONE SOIL MODEL CAN PRODUCE SIMILAR APPARENT RESISTIVITY
MEASUREMENT CURVES. IF YOU USE THE DEFAULT STEEPEST-DESCENT METHOD,
THEN YOU WILL MOST OFTEN OBTAIN DECENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN MEASURED
VALUES AND THE COMPUTED CURVE, WITH A REALISTIC SOIL MODEL; HOWEVER,
THE FIT MAY OCCASIONALLY BE SUB-OPTIMAL. IN SUCH CASES, THE MARQUARDT
METHOD WILL USUALLY YIELD AN EXCELLENT FIT, BUT MAY SOMETIMES SUGGEST
EXTREME RESISTIVITY VALUES. NOTE THAT DIFFERENT SOIL MODELS WILL USUALLY
YIELD SIMILAR RESULTS FOR YOUR GROUNDING SYSTEM MODELS (I.E., GPR, TOUCH &
STEP VOLTAGES), PROVIDED THAT THE GROUNDING SYSTEM IS LOCATED CLOSE TO
THE EARTH SURFACE. IF IN DOUBT, CHECK YOUR RESULTS WITH BOTH SOIL MODELS.
Report #3: Soil Resistivity Analysis
We have also requested a plot of the measured and computed resistivity values. This plot is the second
one displayed in the View Plots tab in GraRep (the first one shows the circuit, and was produced
earlier in Section 7.2.1). It shows a few measurement points that differ markedly from the computed
ones, a situation that explains the RMS error of 17% that was obtained in the run. Aside from these
discrepancies, the computed soil model fits the measured data quite well. This visual check is
important to evaluate the nature of the agreement between the measured data and the computed soil
model.
Report #4 provides a comparison of measured & computed apparent resistivities.

Comparison of Measured & Computed Apparent Resistivities
========================================================
C1-C2 SPACING APPARENT RESISTIVITY DISCREPANCY

POINT (meters) MEASURED COMPUTED Di (percent)
===== ============= ======== ======== ===========
1 0.900000 298.2 287.3 3.67
2 3.00000 303.7 179.5 40.91
3 6.00000 76.98 94.44 22.69
4 15.0000 104.9 68.16 35.05
5 21.0000 77.42 66.95 13.52
6 30.0000 69.75 66.32 4.91
7 45.0000 65.23 66.05 1.26
8 75.0000 69.28 65.93 4.83
9 105.000 70.37 65.87 6.40
10 150.000 68.49 65.85 3.86
11 195.000 63.71 65.85 3.35
12 270.000 59.94 65.85 9.85
13 360.000 59.57 65.84 10.54
14 450.000 60.32 65.84 9.14
=========
Average discrepancy: 12.14%
Page 8-14
RMS ERROR BETWEEN MEASURED AND CALCULATED RESISTIVITIES :
16.95 percent
*NOTE* RMS = SQRT( average(Di**2) )
Report #4: Soil Resistivity Comparison
8.3.4 Ground Grid Performance and Safety Analysis

The 5th report displayed in GraRep (the List of Materials report) gives some information about the
physical characteristics of the grid and its surrounding. This includes:
 The quantity and size of grid conductors and rods that were used.
 The number of interconnections in the grid at which bonding will be required.
 The characteristics of the insulating layer (surface area, thickness, volume, resistivity).
Page 8-15
****************************************************************
List of Materials
Creation Date/Time: 7 Jan 2012/13:23:26
****************************************************************
Interconnection / Bonding Nodes ....................... 63

Extent of Grounding System ............................ 6000 (Square Meters)
Surface Layer Thickness ............................... 15 (Centimeters)
Volume of Insulating Layer ............................ 900 (Cubic meters)
Wet Resistivity of Insulating Surface Layer ........... 3000 (Ohm-m)
Grounding System Data
Number of Rods Length (m) Diameter (m)

----------------------------------------------------------------
None - -
Number of Grid Conductors Length (m) Diameter (m)

----------------------------------------------------------------
7 100 0.012
9 60 0.012
Total Length of Grid Conductors (m) Diameter (m)

----------------------------------------------------------------
1240 0.012
Report #5: List of Materials
The next report shows a table of computed safety limits corresponding to different values of resistivity
of the insulating layer and different fault clearing times. Note the “Equivalent Sub-Surface Layer
Resistivity” entry. The value used here is the value that was computed for the resistivity of the top soil
layer, as shown in the previous section. The remaining data reflects the data we entered in Section
8.1.5.
Report #6:
Date of run (Start) = Saturday,07 January 2012
Starting Time = 1:23:26 PM
>>Safety Calculation Table
System Frequency....................................: 60.000(Hertz)

System X/R..........................................: 20.000
Surface Layer Thickness.............................: 15.000(cm)
Number of Surface Layer Resistivities...............: 10
Starting Surface Layer Resistivity..................: NONE
Incremental Surface Layer Resistivity...............: 500.00(ohm-m)
Equivalent Sub-Surface Layer Resistivity........... .: 297.08(ohm-m)
Body Resistance Calculation.........................: IEEE Std.80-2000
Fibrillation Current Calculation....................: IEEE Std.80-2000 (50kg)
Foot Resistance Calculation.........................: IEEE Std.80-2000
User Defined Extra Foot Resistance..................: 0.0000 ohms
==============================================================================
Fault Clearing Time (sec) | 0.100 | 0.200 | 0.300 |
+----------------------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+
Decrement Factor | 1.232 | 1.125 | 1.085 |
Fibrillation Current (amps)| 0.367 | 0.259 | 0.212 |
Page 8-16
Body Resistance (ohms)| 1000.00 | 1000.00 | 1000.00 |

==============================================================================
==========================================================================
| Fault Clearing Time | |
Surface |-----------------+-----------------+-----------------| Foot |
Layer | 0.100 sec. | 0.200 sec. | 0.300 sec. | Resist |
Resist |-----------------|-----------------|-----------------| ance |
ivity | Step | Touch | Step | Touch | Step | Touch | 1 Foot |
(ohm-m) |Voltage |Voltage |Voltage |Voltage |Voltage |Voltage | (ohms) |
|(Volts) |(Volts) |(Volts) |(Volts) |(Volts) |(Volts) | |
==========================================================================
NONE | 850.5| 435.9| 658.8| 337.7| 557.7| 285.8| 928.4|
|---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
500.0| 1159.3| 513.1| 898.1| 397.5| 760.3| 336.5| 1447.1|
|---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
1000.0| 1896.9| 697.5| 1469.4| 540.3| 1244.0| 457.4| 2685.9|
|---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
1500.0| 2625.2| 879.6| 2033.6| 681.4| 1721.6| 576.8| 3909.2|
|---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
2000.0| 3350.7| 1060.9| 2595.5| 821.8| 2197.3| 695.7| 5127.6|
|---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
2500.0| 4074.9| 1242.0| 3156.5| 962.1| 2672.2| 814.5| 6343.9|
|---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
3000.0| 4798.4| 1422.9| 3717.0| 1102.2| 3146.7| 933.1| 7559.0|
|---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
3500.0| 5521.5| 1603.7| 4277.1| 1242.2| 3620.9| 1051.6| 8773.6|
|---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
4000.0| 6244.4| 1784.4| 4837.1| 1382.2| 4094.9| 1170.2| 9987.6|
|---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
4500.0| 6967.1| 1965.0| 5396.9| 1522.2| 4568.9| 1288.6| 11201.4|
|---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
* Note * Listed values account for short duration asymmetric waveform
decrement factor listed at the top of each column.
Report #6: Safety Limits Calculation Table
This report depicts the safety threshold values applicable to various scenarios of clearing times and
surface layer resistivities. It indicates that touch voltages of 933 V or less and step voltages of 3147 V
or less are safe if a 15 cm (6) crushed rock layer with a resistivity of 3000 -m is overlying a native
soil with a resistivity of 297 -m, for a 0.3 s fault clearing time. Touch voltages of 286 V or less and
step voltages of 558 V or less are safe if no surface crushed rock is present at East Central Substation.
Note that outside the substation where there is no crushed rock, step voltages must not exceed 558
Volts.
The next report summarizes the performance aspects of the grounding grid.
DATE OF RUN (Start)= DAY 7 / Month 1 / Year 2012

STARTING TIME= 13:23:26:67
===========< G R O U N D I N G ( SYSTEM INFORMATION SUMMARY ) >===========
Run ID......................................: Initial Design

System of Units ............................: Metric
Earth Potential Calculations................: Single Electrode Case
Type of Electrodes Considered...............: Main Electrode ONLY
Soil Type Selected..........................: Multi-Layer Horizontal
SPLITS/FCDIST Scaling Factor................: 9.3560
1
1
Page 8-17
MULTI-LAYER EARTH CHARACTERISTICS USED BY PROGRAM
LAYER TYPE REFLECTION RESISTIVITY THICKNESS

No. COEFFICIENT (ohm-meter) (METERS)
----- ------ ------------- ------------- -------------
1 Air 0.00000 0.100000E+21 Infinite
2 Soil -0.999990 297.081 0.674105
3 Soil -0.637132 65.8477 Infinite
1
CONFIGURATION OF MAIN ELECTRODE

===============================
Original Electrical Current Flowing In Electrode..: 1000.0 amperes

Current Scaling Factor (SPLITS/FCDIST/specified)..: 9.3560
Adjusted Electrical Current Flowing In Electrode..: 9356.0 amperes
Number of Conductors in Electrode.................: 16
Resistance of Electrode System....................: 0.53773 ohms
SUBDIVISION
===========
Grand Total of Conductors After Subdivision.: 110
Total Current Flowing In Main Electrode......: 9356.0 amperes

Total Buried Length of Main Electrode........: 1240.0 meters
EARTH POTENTIAL COMPUTATIONS

============================
Main Electrode Potential Rise (GPR).....: 5031.0 volts
Report #7: Grounding Grid Performance

This report shows that the ground resistance of the East Central substation grid is 0.538 , and that
the fault current injected into the grid is 9.36 kA, for a ground potential rise (GPR) of 5.03 kV.
We also requested 5 plots related to the performance of the grounding grid. The first one (and the next
in the queue in GraRep’s View Plots tab) is a plan view of the grounding grid itself.
The following plot shows the touch voltages throughout the grid. Recall from Section 8.1 that the
touch voltages are computed up to a distance of 1 meter outside the fence line, i.e. up to the edge of
the grid. The touch voltages can reach values as large as 2.28 kV. The larger values occur in the corners
of the grid, which is typical. These values are very much above the safety limit for touch voltages (933
Volts) that was displayed in the safety report.
Page 8-18
This can be verified in the next plot, which shows the “unsafe” values of the touch voltages. In this
plot, any value of the touch voltages falling below the 933 Volts limit is left transparent; therefore all
colored areas are above the limit and should be considered unsafe. Most of the plot is colored for this
initial design: we will therefore have to reinforce the grid substantially to eliminate this problem.
Page 8-19
The next plot shows the step voltages over an area extending up to 3 meters outside the grid. The
maximum step voltage reached is 525 Volts. This is below the safe step voltage limit computed in the
presence of crushed rock (3147 Volts). This can be verified in the step voltage plot following the first
one: only “unsafe step voltages” are colored. Since there are no colored areas over the grid, the grid is
completely safe from the point of view of step voltages. Note that the step voltages are also safe even
when there isn’t any crushed rock, since in this case the safety limit for step voltages is 558 Volts.
The situation encountered here is quite common: the touch voltages over the grid are unsafe but the
step voltages are fine. The safety requirements for step voltages are usually easier to meet than those
for touch voltages.
It is important to mention that computations of step voltages are sensitive to the location of observation
points. When the maximum computed step voltage is on the border line as compared with the safe step
voltage limit (525 V vs. 558 V for native soil in this case), it is recommended to reduce the spacing
between observation points to less than 1 m in order to capture the worst case step voltage which are
usually at the corners of a substation where earth potentials drop quickly.
Page 8-20
8.3.5 Computation of Fault Current Distribution

The next report in GraRep’s View Reports tab summarizes the results of the fault current distribution
analysis. This report shows the computed value of the current injected into the East Central substation
grid (the “Total Earth Current”) as well as a wealth of information regarding the various terminals of
the circuit. Note that the computations used the computed value of the grid’s “Ground Resistance”,
namely 0.538 .
DATE OF RUN (Start)= DAY 7 / Month 1 / Year 2012

STARTING TIME= 13:23:26:69
Page 8-21
=======< FAULT CURRENT DISTRIBUTION ( SYSTEM INFORMATION SUMMARY ) >=======
Run ID.......................................: Initial Design

Central Station Name.........................: East Central
Total Number of Terminals....................: 3
Average Soil Resistivity.....................: 100.00 ohm-meters
Printout Option..............................: Detailed
1
Central Station: East Central
Ground Resistance........................: 0.53773 ohms

Ground Reactance.........................: 0.0000 ohms
1
Terminal No. 1 : Greenbay
Number of Sections..............: 64
Ground Impedance................: 0.20000 +j 0.0000 ohms
Source Current..................: 5160.7 Amps / -76.257 degrees
Neutral Connection Impedance....: 0.0000 +j 0.0000 ohms
Span Length.....................: 330.00 m
1
Terminal No. 2 : Hudson
Span Length.....................: 330.00 m
1
Terminal No. 3 : NewHaven
Span Length.....................: 330.00 m
1
TERMINAL GROUND SYSTEM (Magn./Angle)
Term: 1 Total Earth Current...: 3869.0 Amps / 93.292 deg.

Earth Potential Rise..: 773.80 Volts / 93.292 deg.
Average Resistivity...........: 100.00 Ohm-meters
Grid Impedance................: 0.53773 +j 0.0000 Ohms
< Magnitude / Angle >
Total Fault Current...........: 17355. Amps / -81.073 degrees
Total Neutral Current.........: 8068.5 Amps / -75.565 degrees
Total Earth Current...........: 9356.0 Amps / -85.821 degrees
Ground Potential Rise (GPR)...: 5031.0 Volts / -85.821 degrees
Report #8: Fault Current Distribution Calculation
The next plot on the View Plot tab of GraRep shows the “Section Current” (i.e., the current flowing
in the shield wires of the transmission line) for the first terminal of the circuit. The plot shows that a
considerable portion of the fault current (about 3000 A) leaves the fault site via the shield wires. This
current, however, quickly flows into the earth via the first few towers and then levels off to a constant
“trapped” current maintained by induction from the faulted phase.
Page 8-22
The next plot shows the “Shunt Current”, i.e. the current flowing in every tower structure of the
transmission line. It confirms that most of the current is discharged close to the fault site: we see that
the values drop off quite abruptly and then increase again as the terminal station is approached.
This is also reflected in the following plot (“Shunt Potential”), which shows the GPR of the tower
structures along the transmission line.
Page 8-23
Page 8-24
Chapter 9. Reinforcing The Grounding System
CHAPTER 9
REINFORCING THE GROUNDING SYSTEM
The touch voltages obtained in Chapter 8 indicate that our initial design is quite far from providing a
safe ground grid design: touch voltages exceed the safe limit at most locations throughout the
substation. The highest values occur in the corner meshes of the grounding grid, which suggests that
there is a need to have more conductors towards the edge of the grounding system than towards the
central portion. This observation is consistent with analytical and experimental results. However, the
optimum or most efficient conductor compaction at the periphery of a grounding system depends on
many factors, particularly on earth structure characteristics. Moreover, practical considerations often
introduce additional constraints, which must be accounted for. In general, however, the following
crude rules of thumb can be used as a preliminary set of guidelines:
 When the surface (shallow depth) soil resistivity is small compared to that of the deeper
layers (those which are not in contact with the grounding system), use grids with more
conductors at the edge than in the central area (exponentially-spaced conductors). The
degree of conductor clustering (compactness) at the periphery of the grid should increase
with an increase in the contrast between the surface and deep layer resistivities.
 When the surface soil resistivity becomes larger than that of the deeper soil layers, the
clustering (compactness) ratio should decrease towards a uniform distribution of
conductors in the case where the contrast ratio is significant (5 or more) and the thickness
of surface layers is small compared to the size of the grounding system (1/5 or less).
 Finally, when the surface soil resistivity is quite large compared to that of the deeper layers
and its thickness is small enough so that use of ground rods penetrating into the deeper
layer is efficient, a number of ground rods should be installed wherever possible to reduce
the GPR, touch and step voltages instead of using unequally spaced conductors.
Based on the soil model and the initial design, we will combine the first and the third methods in this
study. We will also increase the total number of conductors in the grid. The improvements will be
carried out in two steps: first, the grid itself will be modified to use a denser exponential design, then
some grounding rods will be added.
9.1 EXPONENTIAL GRID DESIGN

At this point, we want to make some modifications to the grounding grid. We could modify the data
directly in the “Initial Design” scenario we have been working with so far. If we do this, the “Initial
Design” scenario will be lost. Instead, we will use a different scenario to make the changes. If you
have chosen to enter the data manually, proceed to the next section to create a new scenario. Otherwise,
go to Section 9.1.3 that shows how to open an existing scenario.
Page 9-1
9.1.1 Creating the Exponential Grid Scenario

Select Project | New Scenario. In the
resulting dialog, specify “Exponential
Grid” for the Scenario Name. The
program will automatically define a
Scenario File Location, which you can
override. Make sure to select Based On
Existing Scenario for the Reference
Scenario and to use Initial Design as a
reference.
Click Create on the New Scenario screen.

This instructs the program to create a copy
of the Initial Design scenario and give it the name “Exponential Grid”. You can now proceed to Section
9.1.3 to make the necessary changes to this scenario.
9.1.2 Opening the Exponential Grid Scenario

To open an existing scenario, select
Project | Open Scenario. Make sure that
the Existing tab is active, then select the
Exponential Grid scenario from the list.
Click Open to open this scenario.
9.1.3 Modifying the Exponential Grid Scenario

At this point, your AutoGrid Pro screen should look as follows. The Active Scenario, that is, the
scenario that can presently be edited, is Exponential Grid. The other scenario (Initial Design) will no
longer be used in this tutorial and can be closed by closing the window containing the drawing of the
grid (the one that shows Scenario Initial Design in its title bar).
Page 9-2
The simplest way to modify the grid is to use the Edit | Edit Object command. To do this, the grid
should first be selected. To select the grid, click on any point on the grid; the grid should turn red to
confirm your selection. This operation will be easier to perform if you first turn off the display of the
observation profiles. To do this, uncheck the option View | Profiles.
Once the grid is selected, select Edit | Edit Object. The screen should appear in the following page.
This screen is very similar to the Create Object screen used in Section 6.1 and is used in the same way.
Make the following changes:
Parameter Old Value New Value
Nab 7 13
Nac 9 17
Compression Ratio 1 0.8
Page 9-3
We have increased the number of conductors substantially and defined a compression ratio different
than 1. This last option instructs the program to bunch the conductors located towards the edge of the
grid more closely together. The ratio of the distance between successive pairs of conductors decreases
by the factor entered in this field.
The resulting screen is shown in the following page. Click OK to confirm the changes. The modified
grid will be shown in the main drawing.
Since we know that the step voltages are safe already, we will turn off the production of the step
voltage plots. Select Project | Define Safety Criteria and uncheck the Step Voltages option under
Determine Safety For. Click OK in the Safety screen to return to the main screen. (If the safety limits
are not correct, they will be updated after computations.)
Page 9-4
The data entry is complete. Select Project | Process to start the

computations and click OK on the confirmation screen. The
program will automatically compute the grid impedance, the fault
current and the touch voltages.
Once the computations are complete, the analysis of the results can
proceed as in Section 8.3. Here, we will focus only on the touch
voltages, since we know them to be problematic.
The results are shown in the following page. The maximum touch
voltage has been reduced to 1.15 kV, which is still above the safety
limit. The plot of unsafe touch voltages shows that the large values
of touch voltages are concentrated at the periphery of the grid. It is
therefore likely that adding ground rods at the corners of the grid
will fix this problem. This is what we will attempt in the next
section.
Page 9-5
9.2 ADDING GROUND RODS

As noted above, adding ground rods to the grid should fix the last problem with the touch voltages.
We will briefly describe how to do this in this section. The steps are very similar to what was done in
the previous section, namely create a new scenario based on the current one, modify the data by adding
rods, run it and analyze the results.
9.2.1 The Details

If you are entering the data manually, create a new scenario as was done in Section 9.1.1,
using the name Exponential Grid With Rods for the scenario and using the Exponential
Grid scenario as a reference. If you are following the pre-made tutorial, then simply open
the existing Exponential Grid With Rods scenario as was done in Section 9.1.2.
To add rods to the corners of the grid, select Options | Pointer Mode | Power Tool, or simply click
on the button on the toolbar at the left of the main screen. This will load the Power Tool.
Make sure to select the Create Rod option. By default, the program will create 10 meter long rods
with a radius of 0.01 meters. We will keep these default settings, but will change the length from 10
m to 20 m.
Page 9-6
With the Power Tool still

loaded, click successively
at the four corners of the
grid. As you do this, the
picture should change to
show the newly created rod
as an empty circle. It
should also indicate with
magenta circles the
location of the nodes in the
grid that are connected to
the one you clicked. This
makes it easier to verify
that the desired point was
clicked on, and not a
neighboring one. You
don’t have to be very
precise with the mouse
clicks, since the program
will automatically snap to
the closest conductor. In fact, if you don’t click close enough to a conductor, the program will refuse
to create a rod and warn you about it. Note also that you can easily undo any undesired action using
Edit / Undo.
To close the Power Tool, select any other option under Options | Pointer Mode, typically Select
Objects.
Once all four rods are created, select Project | Process. Once the computations are complete, we can
look at the touch voltage plot. This time, all values are safe, the maximum value being 874 Volts, and
the analysis is complete.
Further design iterations may be required to remove or reposition some conductors to more practical
locations. Extra ground rods may be added to account for winter soil freezing or summer extreme
drought conditions. In some cases, other soil structure models may need to be analyzed to account for
inherent data uncertainties or known soil characteristic variations. In such cases, the worst-case
scenario should be retained as a reference for the final recommended grounding design configuration.
Page 9-7
9.3 EXPORT GROUNDING GRID INTO DXF FILE

At this stage, it is possible to send directly the grid configuration to a DXF compatible CAD drawing
system. For example if your CAD system is AUTOCAD (or DXF compatible), you may proceed as
follows:
In the AutoGrid Pro, select Save Document As… under the Files menu. Select the CAD Files from
the Files of types, change the file name to “Exponential Grid With Rods.DXF” and click on OK. The
file “Exponential Grid With Rods.DXF” is created.
On a final note, it is worthwhile mentioning that when redesigning an existing grounding system
(update, upgrade, etc.), you could import the actual system configuration from a DXF-compatible
CAD file by clicking the Import… under the Files menu in the AutoGrid Pro (after a New Document
is created in AutoGrid Pro). It is however important to note here that some drawings may contain
overlapping lines which will ultimately result in invalid overlapping conductors in MALT.
Furthermore, too many details such as short wire connections and bonding conductors have a minimal
Page 9-8
impact on the grounding design performance but a significant negative impact on the computations in
terms of run time and run accuracy. One way to remove this kind of problem is to use the minimum
conductor length threshold to ignore such non-significant short conductors. This strategy, however,
can be used in MALT only and may have a negative impact on the node subdivision process.
Page 9-9
Chapter 10. Using GRServer
CHAPTER 10
USING GRSERVER
This chapter shows how to use the GRServer program to examine the computation results of AutoGrid
Pro in greater detail. This program allows you to produce high-quality 2D and 3D plots of the results,
and to save those plots to disk or print them. It also allows you to manipulate the plots (e.g., rotate,
translate and scale them) for better viewing. While this program is somewhat more difficult to use than
the GraRep utility (which is used by default in AutoGrid Pro), the greater quality of the graphics it
generates may well be worth the extra effort.
This chapter is not an essential part of the tutorial, and can be skipped if you are not interested in
creating plots of higher quality.
10.1 STARTING GRSERVER

To start the GRServer program, use Project | Advanced Output Processor or click on the GRServer
button on the Project toolbar in AutoGrid Pro. This starts the program, and loads the computation
databases for the active scenario in AutoGrid Pro. Note that these computation databases, which are
created when processing a scenario, should be available before starting GRServer. This is the case
here, since we created the databases for scenario Exponential Grid With Rods in the previous step.
The screen shown in the following page should appear when the program first loads. The main screen
of the program displays an empty plot window, and three options (Soil, Grid and Circuit) are available
in the toolbar to the left of the screen, corresponding to the computation options in AutoGrid Pro.
These options are available as the first, second and last buttons in the toolbar. The other buttons in that
toolbar allow you to create plots for the MALZ, HIFREQ and SPLITS programs of the CDEGS
package; these are not available in AutoGrid Pro.
The Plot Options window should also be visible. This window is the main interface to create and
customize plots in GRServer. This window may disappear during the execution the program. If this
happens, you can use Plot | Options to bring it back.
Page 10-1
The program is presently ready to create soil

resistivity plots. Click on the Grid button
(the second button from the top) on the
toolbar to activate the grid plotting module,
which is used to plot touch and step voltages.
A second blank plot should appear.
In the Plot Options window, click on the

More (>>) button to open the Computations
Setup screen. Select Touch Voltages under
Determine. You can then collapse this
screen by clicking on the Less (<<) button in
the Plot Options window. At this point, we
are ready to create touch voltages plots using
GRServer.
10.2 CREATING 3D PLOTS

By default, the program creates a 3D perspective plot of the touch voltages. Click on Draw in the Plot
Options window to generate the plot. The screen should look as follows (the touch voltage plot
window was maximized, for easier viewing).
Page 10-2
Note that the maximum touch voltage displayed on the plot is about 1.92 kV, as opposed to 929 V
when plotted directly with AutoGrid Pro. The reason for this difference is that AutoGrid Pro restricts
the computation of the touch voltages to a region just covering the grid. This is explained in Section
8.1.6, where the Grid Border Offset for Touch Voltages is specified as 0. This information is not
transmitted to GrServer, which examines the touch voltages over the entire area covered by
observation points, namely up to 3 meters outside the grid.
You can restrict the analysis of the touch voltages to points that are located only above the grid using
the Zoom Polygon feature of GrServer. This feature allows you to restrict the display of computed
quantities (touch or step voltages) to points that lie inside a specified polygon. To restrict the analysis
to points located directly above the grid, the polygon should be a rectangle of the same size as the grid
(60 m by 100 m), with one corner at the origin of the coordinate system.
To specify this zoom polygon, first click on the More (>>) button in the Plot Options window to open
the Computations Setup screen, and select the Zoom & Report tab (on the left side of the window).
Enter the following numbers in the Search Zone Vertices Table:
No X Pos Y Pos Z Pos

1 0 0 0
2 0 60 0
3 100 60 0
4 100 0 0
Finally, click Draw. The following plot should be produced. This plot agrees with the result obtained
previously with AutoGrid Pro (Section 9.2.1).
Page 10-3
Several aspects of the plot can be customized. For example, the plot can be easily rotated. To do that,
select Plot | Rotate | Free or click on the last button in the program’s main toolbar, and select the Free
option. Then, drag the mouse (i.e., move the mouse while the mouse button is pressed) in the plot area:
a cube indicating the new position of the plot follows the movements of the mouse. Once you release
the mouse button, the plot is redrawn in the new position.
There are many other options to control the rotation of the plots. For instance, you can restrict the
rotation to be around one the axes of the coordinate system. You can also move the plot (Plot | Move),
scale it up and down (Plot | Scale) or zoom on any region of interest in the plot (Plot | Zoom).
Other options are available to control the appearance

of the plots. These are regrouped in the 3D Advanced
Plot Setup window. Click on the Plots button in the
Plot Options window to get to that screen. You can
control the color of certain plot elements, whether or
not the legend is displayed, etc… For example, the
following figure shows what happens when a “Spot”
ceiling is requested by selecting the Spot option
under Ceiling Projection Types.
Page 10-4
10.3 CREATING 2D PLOTS

The GRServer program can also
be used to create 2D plots. To do
this, select 2D under Plot View
in the Plot Options window,
select Touch Voltages, and
click on Draw. (Note that the
plot below was generated with
the Zoom Polygon option turned
off.)
When moving the mouse cursor

in the resulting plot, the value of
the X coordinate (here, the
distance from the starting point
of the computation profile) and
of the Y coordinate (here, the
touch voltage at that point)
corresponding to the location of
the mouse in the plot are shown
in the program’s status bar.
10.4 SAVING AND PRINTING PLOTS

You can save a plot produced in GRServer by selecting File | Save As when that plot is the active plot.
The following screen should appear. By default, the program offers to save the file as ‘mt_Exponential
Grid With Rods.emf’ in the Exponential Grid With Rods scenario folder. If this isn’t satisfactory, you
Page 10-5
can click on Save As again, then browse to the desired filename. Click OK in the Save As screen to
complete the operation.
You can also print the current plot, or even print all open plots or only the selected plots. To print the
currently selected plots, use File | Print (or File | Print Selected Plots if more than one plot is currently
selected) and follow the instructions in the ensuing dialogs. To print all the plots, select File | Print
All Plots.
10.5 SUMMARY
This chapter has described briefly the main features of the GRServer plotting program. The capabilities
of the program were illustrated by producing 2D and 3D plots of the touch voltage above the grounding
grid studied in scenario Exponential Grid With Rods. The program could also be used to generate the
soil resistivity plots and the fault current analysis plots for that scenario (or any AutoGrid Pro
scenario).
Only a few of the program’s options were explored. Consult GRServer’s on-line help for more
details on the options available in that program.
To exit the GRServer program, select File | Exit.
Page 10-6
Chapter 11. Conclusion
CHAPTER 11
CONCLUSION
This concludes our concise step-by-step instructions on how to prepare, submit and examine results
for a simple grounding analysis problem using AutoGrid Pro. You can use File | Exit to quit the
program. Accept to save the changes when prompted to do so.
Only a few of the many features of the software have been used in this tutorial. You should try the
many other options available to familiarize yourself with the CDEGS software package. Your SES
Software distribution medium also contains a wealth of information stored under the PDF directory.
There you will find the Getting Started with SES Software Packages manual (\PDF\getstart.pdf)
which contains useful information on the CDEGS environment. You will also find other How
To…Engineering Guides, Annual Users’ Group Meeting Proceedings and much more. All Help
documents are also available online.
Page 11-1
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HOW TO… Engineering Guide

Date Version Number Revision Level

December 2019 16.2 0

As SES software is constantly evolving, with frequently created updates, minor

Address comments concerning this manual to:

Safe Engineering Services & technologies ltd.

3055 Blvd. Des Oiseaux, Laval, Québec, Canada, H7L 6E8

5.1 A HORIZONTAL TWO-LAYER SOIL MODEL ...................................................................... 5-1

Please note that you may press the F1 key at

If you are anxious to start entering data and

1.3 COMPUTER MODELLING TOOL

1.4 METHODOLOGY OF THE GROUNDING DESIGN

1.5 ORGANIZATION OF THE MANUAL

1.6 SOFTWARE NOTE

1.7 FILE NAMING CONVENTIONS

Application Abbreviation Application Abbreviation

1.8 DEMO EVALUATION

1.9 WORKING DIRECTORY

<drive>\CDEGS HowTo\Autogrid Pro

e.g., C:\CDEGS HowTo\Autogrid Pro

1.10 INPUT AND OUTPUT FILES USED IN TUTORIAL

Input Files: Examples\Official\HowTo\Autogrid Pro\inputs

1. The substation and associated

2.1 THE SUBSTATION GROUNDING SYSTEM

2.2 THE OVERHEAD TRANSMISSION LINE NETWORK

The ground resistances of the transmission line

Figure 2.3 Transmission Line Configuration.

2.3 THE SUBSTATION TERMINALS

Figure 2.4 Power System Network Analyzed in Example.

Greenbay: 1226 - j 5013 A

2.4 THE SOIL CHARACTERISTICS

Separation Depth of Depth of Apparent

3.1 PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

3.2 USING AUTOGRID PRO

3.2.1 Starting AutoGrid Pro

3.2.2 Working with Projects and Scenarios

3.2.3 Specifying Data for a Scenario

3.2.4 Processing a Scenario

 Saving of the scenario’s data.

 Computation of an appropriate soil structure from the measured soil resistivities.

 Determination of an appropriate safety zone where the analysis should be conducted.

 Computation of the main grid resistance.

 Determination of the distribution of the fault current throughout the network.

 Computation of the safety limits for touch and step voltages.

 Computation of touch and step voltages, and safety analysis.

 Production of reports and plots.

Other optional steps may include ampacity assessment, etc…

3.2.5 Adding New Scenarios

3.2.6 Closing a Project

3.2.7 Ending Your AutoGrid Pro Session

4.1 START-UP PROCEDURES

 Right-of-Way is a powerful integrated software package for the analysis of electromagnetic

 SESEnviroPlus is a sophisticated program that evaluates the environmental impact (radio

 SESCircuitSimulator is an electrical circuit analysis program for studying the performance of a

 SESeBundle finds the characteristics of an equivalent single conductor accurately representing a