Earthing and Grounding

Resistance testing on site
Testing High-voltage equipment

Typical consultancy services provided by PhysElec Solutions in earthing and grounding for power systems and lightning include, but are not limited to:

  • Soil resistivity measurements and interpretation.
  • Soil resistivity modelling, including multi-layer and complex soil structures.
  • Earthing / grounding system design and analysis for power systems – substations and transmission lines, industrial facilities and sites.
  • Specialised earthing / grounding system design for transients (lightning discharges).
  • Design optimisation to achieve electrical safety of personnel and equipment (EPR/GPR, step and touch voltages) in compliance with international standards;
  • Quantitative, risk-based and deterministic earthing/grounding analysis for power systems (depending on the standard with which compliance is required).
  • Earthing / grounding designs in compliance with national and international standards;
  • Earthing / grounding system measurements using current injection test techniques;
  • Computations of fault current distribution in power system networks.
  • Capacitive, inductive and conductive interference studies, including EMC analysis and mitigation for pipelines, telecommunication cables, railways etc.
  • Regular delivery of a comprehensive, professional engineering seminar on earthing, namely:
    • Fundamentals of Earthing for Power Systems. (Click here for the next seminar date)

Modelling and computations utilise the world-class CDEGS software suite.

Some of the earthing and grounding consultancy projects PhysElec has delivered to clients include:

  • Transmission and distribution line earthing/grounding improvements under lightning transients for mission critical sites and facilities, particularly mines and processing plants.
  • Extensive soil resistivity testing around Australia and overseas.
  • Development of professional computer models of soil resistivity profiles for clients in all industries.
  • Standards-compliant earthing/grounding designs for major zone substations and distribution substations in many industries, including a variety of mine sites, power authorities, water authorities, wastewater plants, major airports, recycling plants, port authorities, hospitals, commercial and industrial, distribution centres, etc.
  • Verification of above-mentioned earthing/grounding system designs via current injection testing for various mine sites, power authorities, water authorities, major airports, recycling plants, commercial and industrial, etc.
  • EPR/GPR studies of lightning/fault current impact on pipelines for water and gas clients.
Earthing design chart
Earthing profiling chart