Influence of soil temperature characteristic on the grounding electrode temperature rise

Abstract

The working current of DC grounding electrodes is constantly increasing with the rapid development of high-voltage direct current systems. Thus, the temperature rise of grounding electrode conductors is increasingly becoming an important safety factor. Therefore this study measured the soil temperature characteristics of water content and resistivity; established an electric heat coupling finite element model for DC grounding electrodes that is based on current field and temperature field theories to analyse the temperature changes in common DC grounding electrodes. In contrast to traditional models, the proposed model realises electric heat coupling field calculation by considering the mutual influence of temperature rise and soil parameters. The results show that the soil resistivity increases with increasing temperature and the soil resistivity change further influence the temperature changes of the grounding electrodes. The change in grounding electrode temperature rise is not steady and includes a sharp growth stage.