110 1

AbstractInsulation design of power equipment is based on

the frequency of occurrence of a specific event, the overvoltage
probability distribution corresponding to this event, and the
failure probability of the insulation. The lightning performance
of substation has major influence on the reliability of power
system.
This paper deals with the evaluation of the overvoltage on Bam
substation (230 kV/132 kV substation in the south east of Iran) by
using Monte Carlo method. In this simulation accurate available
models for substation component are used in ATP.

Index TermsOvervoltage, Backflashover, Monte Carlo,
Lightning, Substation, Modeling

I. INTRODUCTION
HE predication of the overvoltages that can be produced
in power systems is fundamental for the selection of
dielectric strength of power equipment. Insulation design of
power equipment is based on the frequency of occurrence of a
specific event, the overvoltage probability distribution
corresponding to this event, and the failure probability of the
insulation [1]-[3].
Lightning overvoltages can have destructive effect on power
system insulation [4]-[5], therefore many attempts are made to
improve the shielding effect of shield wire to prevent direct
stroke. As well as reducing the backflasher over.
In this paper, the authors present a Monte Carlo model of
the lightning performance of Bam substation (230 kV/132 kV
substation in the south east of Iran) due to backflashover.
In order to simulate the lightning overvoltage calculation
following steps are required.
1- Power system components have to be simulated (such as
line, tower, transformer, CVT, CT and arresters).
2- probability density functions of lightning current
parameters (amplitude, front time, tail time) have to be
prepared.
3- The values of the random parameters are generated at every
run according to the probability distribution function assumed

B. Vahiodi, M. Ghorat and E. Goudarzi are with department of Electrical
Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran Iran
(corresponding author: phone: (+98 21) 64543330, fax: (+98 21) 66406469; e-
mail: vahidi@aut.ac.ir).

for each parameter.
4- Calculation of overvoltage on line and component
After modeling the components the proposed system is
simulate on ATP.
Fig. 1 shows the simulated circuit.

Fig. 1. Simulated circuit.

II. MODELING
A. Lightning current waveshape
Lightning current waveshape is as [4]:
)
T
t
e
T
t
e (
m
I . ) t ( i
2 1
04 1

= (1)
Current waveshape is shown in Fig. 2.

282835 2
2
365434 1
1
.
s
T
T
R
T . T
=
=
(2)
Ts = Front time
T
R
= Tail time
Probability density function of Ts and T
R
are as (3) [4].
Overvoltage Calculation on Bam Substation by
Monte Carlo Method with Accurate Substation
Components Modeling
B. Vahidi, Senior Member, IEEE, M. Ghorat and E. Goudarzi
T
110 2

(
(
(

|
|
.
|

\
|

=
2
5 0
2
1
x ln
m
x ln x ln
. exp
x ln
x
) x ( P

(3)


Fig. 2. Current waveshape.

Mean value and standard deviation of Ts are 2 s and 0.4943
s respectively. Mean value and standard deviation of T
R
are
77.5 s and 0.577 s respectively.
The probability density function of lightning current
amplitude is as (4) [1].
6 . 2
31
1
1
) (
|
.
|

\
|
+
= >
I
I i P (4)
B. Tower and line model
The tower model that was used in this paper is as Fig. 2 [6].


Fig. 2. Tower model.

Parameters of model are as follow.
)
4
1
ln(
2
1
1
ln
) (
2
2 , .
4
4
4
1
3 2 1

h
Z
R
h h
Z
R R R
R L h R R
t
t
i i i i i
=
|
.
|

\
|

= = =
= =
(5)
c = 300m/ s
c
h
= Tower traveling time
h = Tower height
89 . 0
4 1
= = Attenuation factor
Tower footing resistance is calculated according to (6).
Ig
I
R
T
R
+
=
1
0
(6)
R
T
= Tower footing resistance
R
0
= Tower footing resistance at low current
I
g
= Current amplitude needed for initiating ionization.
I = Current
2
0
0
2 R
E
I
g

= (7)
= specific resistivity of the soil
E
0
= Electric field amplitude for initiating ionization
The probability density function of tower footing
resistance is as table 1.
Table I
PROBABILITY DENSITY FUNCTION OF FOOTING RESISTANCE







For configuration as Fig. 3 impedances and coupling
coefficient that are needed in this computation are as follows:




a() P(R<a)
5 0.1
10 0.45
15 0.7
20 0.9
25 1
110 3

Fig. 3. Line impedances.
1
r
1
2h
ln 60
1
Z = (8)
2
r
2
2h
ln 60
2
Z = (9)
12
d
12
D
ln 60
12
Z = (10)
12
Z Z
2c
Z
1c
Z
c
K
+
+
= (11)
Z Z Z = =
2 1
(12)
C. Arrester model
The arrester model is as Fig. 4, arrester parameters are as
[7].

Fig. 4. Frequency dependent model for arrester.
D. CT and CVT models
CT model is as Figs. 5.

Fig. 5. CT model.
CT parameters are as follows:
R
p
= 0.576
L
p
= 0
R
S
= 0
L
S
= 10
-7
H
R
M
= 1.2 M
L
M
= 0.15 mH
CVT model is as Figs. 6 the parameters are as [8].

Fig. 6. CVT model.
E. Transformer model
Trans former model is as Fig. 7 [9].
R p R s L p L s
R m
L m
C hl
C l C h

Fig. 7. Transformer model.
Transformer parameters are as follows:
R
P
= 0.4
R
S
= 0.529
R
m
= 5760000
L
P
= 0.15 mH
L
S
= 0.126 mH
L
m
= 0.15 mH
C1 = 7.5 nF
Ch1 = 5 nF
Ch = 2.5 nF
L
m
is computed from table II.

III. SIMULATION RESULTS
Fig. 1 is simulated on ATP. In this simulation after each
simulation maximum value of voltages are saved. In order to
do simulation according to Monte Carlo method,
programming is done in Matlab environment and the
probability of overvoltages occurrence are computed.
110 4
TABLE II
I CHARACTERISTIC OF TRANSFORMER
I (A) Flux-linked (Wb-T)
-36.825 -94.91
-18.4125 -93.76
-6.1375 -90.91
-1.2275 -88.05
2.1485 -81.19
4.05 -68.61
7.365 49.17
11.66 70.32
16.57 78.9
24.55 85.76
36.21 90.33
56.46 93.76
98.2 97.2
135.02 97.77

In the first simulation without presence of arrester the
overvoltage on transformer (T
3
) are as Figs. 8 to 10.


Fig. 8. Probability of overvoltage occurrence on A phase of transformer
(without arrester).

Fig. 9. Probability of overvoltage occurrence on B phase of transformer
(without arrester).

Fig. 10. Probability of overvoltage occurrence on C phase of transformer
(without arrester).


In the second simulation with presence of arrester the
overvoltage on transformer (T
3
) are as Figs. 11 to 13.


Fig. 11. Probability of overvoltage occurrence on A phase of transformer
(with arrester).
110 5


Fig. 12. Probability of overvoltage occurrence on B phase of transformer
(with arrester).


Fig. 13. Probability of overvoltage occurrence on C phase of transformer
(with arrester).

IV. CONCLUSION
A Monte Carlo model of then lightning performance of
Bam substation has been constructed in ATP. The values of
the random parameters are generated at every run according to
the probability distribution function assumed for each
parameter and overvoltages are computed. The probability of
overvoltage occurrence is computed. This method could be
helpful for insulation coordination design in substation.








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into transmission line by Monte Carlo method, Proceedings of 24
th

Annual Conference of IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, IECON 1998.
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[7] P. Pinceti and M. Giannettoni, A Simplified Model for Zinc Oxide
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Behrooz Vahidi (M 2000, SM 2004) was born in Abadan, Iran in 1953. He
received the B.S. in electrical engineering from Sharif University of
Technology, Tehran, Iran in 1980 and M.S. degree in electrical engineering
from Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran in 1989. He also
received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from UMIST, Manchester, UK in
1997. From 1980 to 1986 he worked in the field of high voltage in industry as
chief engineer. From 1989 to present he has been with the department of
electrical engineering of Amirkabir University of Technology where he is now
an associate professor. His main fields of research are high voltage, electrical
insulation, power system transient, lightning protection and pulse power
technology. He has authored and co-authored 120 papers and four books on
high voltage engineering and power system.