4.6 Symmetricalfaults - NPTEL（4.6 Symmetricalfaults - NPTEL）.pdf

4.5 Fault Analysis: Under normal conditions, a power system operates under balanced conditions with all equipments carrying normal load currents and the bus voltages within the prescribed limits. This condition can be disrupted due to a fault in the system. A fault in a circuit is a failure that interferes with the normal flow of current. A short circuit fault occurs when the insulation of the system fails resulting in low impedance path either between phases or phase(s) to ground. This causes excessively high currents to flow in the circuit, requiring the operation of protective equipments to prevent damage to equipment. The short circuit faults can be classified as: • Symmetrical faults • Unsymmetrical faults 4.6 Symmetrical faults: ¯ A three phase symmetrical fault is caused by application of three equal fault impedances Zf to the ¯ three phases, as shown in Fig. 4.39. If Zf = 0 the fault is called a solid or a bolted fault. These faults can be of two types: (a) line to line to line to ground fault (LLLG fault) or (b) line to line to line fault (LLL fault). Since the three phases are equally affected, the system remains balanced. That is why, this fault is called a symmetrical or a balanced fault and the fault analysis is done on per phase basis. The behaviour of LLLG fault and LLL fault is identical due to the balanced nature ¯ of the fault. This is a very severe fault that can occur in a system and if Zf = 0, this is usually the most severe fault that can occur in a system. Fortunately, such faults occur infrequently and only about 5% of the system faults are three phase faults.