Study on corrosion fracture diagnosis method of grounding wire of tower grounding device

Abstract

Tower grounding device provides the discharging channel for currents under lightning and fault. However, the grounding wire is prone to corrosion. Existing detection methods through measuring the grounding resistance to detect fracture, but it suffers from poor accuracy when the fracture grounding wire is inconsistent with the detection position. This paper proposed a simple, rapid and effective diagnosis method based on the ground potential rise (GPR). Firstly, the non-uniform corrosion characteristics of the grounding wire in soil are analysed and the corrosion deformation regularity of the grounding wire surface is obtained. Then the fracture model of the grounding wire is developed. The GPR variation feature and mechanism of the grounding wire under faults are studied. Finally, the simulation and experimental results show that the proposed method can accurately detect the fracture status of the tower grounding wire, which can provide a solid basis for diagnosis of the tower grounding devices.