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4 authors:
Ferdinando Salata
Fabio Nardecchia
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F. Gugliermetti
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Research paper
h i g h l i g h t s
Optimal installation of electrical buried cables.
Proper evaluation of the thermal resistance of the soil.
Inuence of the geometric parameters of the trench.
Mutual inuence of multiple conductors in the same excavations.
Correction of design formulas provided by regulations.
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history:
Received 11 September 2014
Accepted 22 December 2014
Available online 3 January 2015
Nowadays companies supplying medium/high voltage electric energy, near residential areas, tend to use
underground cables laying. Hence the design engineer is required to estimate the thermal resistance
around the underground cable to perform a right dimensioning of the cables; as a matter of fact what it
should be avoided is the overheating determined by a bad heat dissipation due to the Joule effect.
IEC rules provides a formula for the evaluation of the soil thermal resistance which is easy to apply. But
from an experimental point of view, as the bibliography shows, it was discovered it tends to underestimate the problem when dealing with very dry soils in particular.
Thanks to an experimental system, some useful data were collected for the validation of a 2D FEM
model of an excavated area with a linear heat source reproducing the underground conduit. The numerical model presents a variation of both the geometrical parameters of the excavated area and the
distance characterizing other cables (hence heat sources) located in the same site of installation
examined. In this way two dimensionless coefcients, useful to correct the values of the thermal
resistance furnished by the current regulations, were determined.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Underground cable
Linear heat source
Dry soil
IEC 287
Design method
CFD model
1. Introduction
It can be noticed how, in the past few years, near residential
areas in particular, there was a tendency to use underground power
cables supplying energy through medium/high voltage alternating
current. The data [1] conrm that this solution is not widely used
yet: when the voltage is very high (380 kV) the percentage of the
RIEC
p
1
rT ln u u2 1
2p
(1)
269
where:
r: soil thermal resistivity (from 0.7 K m/W, for very humid soils,
to 3.0 K m/W, for very dry soils);
u: (2L/D);
L: distance from the center of the cable respect to the ground
level [mm];
D: outside diameter of the underground cable [mm].
where:
Hence the FEM software modeled different geometrical congurations [20] of the excavated area, and afterward different
positioning for two more cables installed near the disturbed cable,
in the same installation area where the cables are positioned. The
FEM model was validated experimentally thanks to a scale model of
an excavated area reproduced in a laboratory [9,21].
(2)
270
lled with river sand around the cable up to the ground level. The
sand, before being placed in the trench, was subject to a drying
process of 8 h at a temperature of 80 C (353 K).
The thermophysical properties of the backll materials are
showed in Table 1 [22,23]. Their density and thermal conductivity
were measured respecting the requirements of the IEE Standard
442-1981-1996 [24] by using specic tools (MAE A5000T Thermal
conductivity probe: MAE CTS-45) with a maximum accuracy of 5%.
All the signals sampled are the result of a HP Agilent 34970A
DATA multimeter model. The measurement error of the multimeter, during the measuring phase of the output signal of the
thermocouples, has a maximum value of 4 mV. Every thermocouple furnished values with an accuracy of 0.2 K, with the
temperatures ranging between 273 K and 373 K. The total measurement error (calibration error included) is of 4 K.
In order to determine, from an experimental point of view, the
soil resistance 4 measurements were carried out waiting for the
system to be in stationary conditions. The system was supplied
with electric power which determined, for every linear meter of the
pipe, a disposal of a heat q respectively of 8, 10, 13, 18 W/m. The
stationary condition was considered satisfying after 6 h the thermocouple, registering the pipe temperature, presented variations
higher than 0.2 K. The soil resistance was estimated as follows:
Rsper
Tt Tair Tt Tair rp It
q
Vr Vt
(3)
Rsper
Tt Tair
rp
It
Vr
Vt
6
4
0:033 10 3:6$10 0:0035 y3:7%
(4)
where:
dTt 0:6 K is the error generated by the type of thermocouple
used for the calculation of both the soil temperature and multimeter used for the surveying;
dTair 0:4 K is the error generated by the type of thermocouple used for the calculation of the air temperature;
Tt Tair 30 K is the temperature difference maintained
during the experimental phase;
drp =rp 106 is the accuracy of the resistor used by the experimental equipment;
dIt =It 0:0005=1:4 is the error determined by the measuring
instrument for the reading of the electric power owing
through the cable;
dVr =Vr ydVt =Vt 0:0035 is the error generated by the
measuring instrument for the reading of the potential drop
concerning the extremities of the accuracy resistor and the
cable;
Such value is acceptable because of the accuracy required by the
experimental measurements.
Table 1
Thermophysical properties of the materials used for the experimental equipment.
Material
Density d [kg/m3]
Specic heat cp
[kJ/(kg K)]
Thermal conductivity
l [W/(m K)]
Sand
Clay
1700
380
837.2
840
0.35
0.29
271
0
1
X !
v
!
!
rE V$ y rE p V$@keff VT
hj J j teff $ y A Sh
vt
(5)
where: r is the density [kg/m3], E is the energy [J], !
y is the speed
[m/s], p is the pressure [Pa], keff is the effective conductivity, T is the
!
temperature [K], h is the enthalpy [H], J j is the diffusion ux of
species j, teff is the effective stresses tensor. The rst three terms on
the right side of the equation are respectively the energy transferred by conduction, species diffusion and the viscose dissipation.
Sh is the heat of the chemical reactions and other volumetric heat
sources which, in this case study, are absent. For a closer examination refer to Ref. [25].
Governing equation of the system is solved by nite-element
method employing semi-implicit method for pressure-linked
equations (SIMPLE) algorithm. The second order upwind scheme
is used for discretization of the equations. The convergence criteria
for all the dependent variables are specied as 1015.
While trying to reproduce the geometry to examine, one of the
main problems faced was the correct generation of the mesh
constituting the grid where the software would solve the equations. A structured mesh helps avoiding problems caused by the
error propagation. As a matter of fact we chose this kind of mesh,
preferring the Quad Map type. Due to the peculiar geometry
taken into consideration, it was assumed the case of a indenitely
extended cable and it was examined its transversal section in a
two-dimensional reproduction. Even the spacing and number of
cells can compromise the good quality of the calculus, hence the
numerical results obtained. What it should not happen is an excess
of cells, where estimation is performed, in order to avoid an
excessive load on the hardware resources of the machinery performing the calculation. This is why a mesh sensitivity was
conducted.
The cable is represented by a circumference divided into 4 arcs,
each of 90 . The area surrounding the cable is formed by a square
mesh representing the sand bed. The center of the circumference,
representing the cable, is placed in the point of intersection of the
diagonals of the square. The mesh connecting both the circular and
square geometry is the area requiring a higher level of accuracy to
avoid a loss of information while solving those equations describing
the thermal exchange phenomena inside the cable. This is the
reason why the more we distance from the area representing the
excavated area, the denser the section with the structured mesh
will be. Fig. 3 shows a detail of the mesh inside the cable.
It can be noticed how every arc forming the cable is divided into
22 equidistant nodes. The side characterizing the square geometry
surrounding the cable is divided into the same number of nodes as
well. Each node is connected, through a segment, to the corresponding node on the arc of the circumference. Each segment is
divided into 15 nodes with a ratio of 1.05. The rest of the excavated
area is divided into mapped quadrilaterals with cells characterized
by a regular shape. Outside the excavated area the ground is
mapped with cells characterized by a rectangular geometry where
the more we distance from the area taken into consideration, the
less dense the section will be; the distance between each node
increases with a ratio of 1.02. The mesh is then formed by about the
whole of 5.2 105 cells and it will be called, Mesh 1X.
The properties of the materials supplied as inputs to the simulation software are reported in Table 1. As for the experimental
equipment, the section of the mesh representing the excavated area
was virtually lled with dry river sand, while the simulation of soil
outside the trench was performed by using expanded clay.
The conditions of the area surrounding the cable furnished to
the software are: a temperature of 333 K on the surfaces of the
underground cable, a temperature of the outside environment of
313 K and an adiabatic condition on the other limit surfaces of the
excavated area.
To perform mesh sensitivity analysis two more meshes were
realized: one which is less dense (Mesh 0.5X) composed by a
number of cells of 1.8 105 and another which is denser (Mesh 2X)
with a number of cells of 1.3 106. In order to determine the good
quality of the number, while solving the thermal exchange equations of the three meshes, the difference between the heat exiting
from the circular surface (representing the electric cable) and the
dispersion of heat through the upper surface of the mesh (representing the soil) were compared. Table 2 reports these differences.
Table 2
Percentage difference between the heat generated, for each linear meter, by the
underground cables and the one dispersed from the soil (at ground level) for the
mesh tested with reference to 1X Mesh.
D%
Mesh 0.5X
Mesh 1X
Mesh 2X
32.58%
2.21%
272
Fig. 4. Trend of the temperatures: simulated values against experimental values according to the distance from the pipe.
273
Fig. 6. Variation of the depth values characterizing the underground cable laying in a trench lled with sand.
variation. 8 different geometrical congurations (congurations: 4.1, 4.2, 4.8) were examined.
The geometrical parameters of every conguration examined
are reported in Table 3. Every conguration is identied through an
ID composed of two gures divided by a point. The rst gure refers
to the case, the second represents the geometrical conguration.
The geometry considered as a point of reference is the same for the
4 cases and the second gure is number 1 (1.1 2.1 3.1 4.1).
The last column of Table 3 reports the ratio between the soil
thermal resistance estimated through the output data of the FEM
simulations respect to the values calculated (in accordance with the
regulations) through Equation (1).
While examining the results reported in the last column of
Table 3 and the graph in Fig. 10, it can be noticed how, in every case
analyzed, the values of the soil resistance are higher than those
provided by the regulations, in accordance with what was said in
the previous paragraph. This represents a demonstration of the
validity of the superheating problems affecting the exerted cables
planned by taking into consideration the data provided by the
regulations.
Hence it is possible to determine a dimensionless multiplicative
factor f1 (function of the geometrical parameters considered)
Fig. 8. Variation of the dimensions of the excavated area with the same installation depth.
274
Fig. 9. Variation of the dimensions of the excavated area and installation depth.
c a d b h g
RFEM
c d h
A$
f1 ; ;
$
$
b D D
b
D
D
RIEC
(6)
Table 3
Geometrical parameters of the different geometries examined through the FEM
model and the ratio between the thermal soil resistance, used for the simulations,
and the one estimated by the regulations.
RFEM
RIEC
Conguration
1.2
1.1
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
1.2
1.2
1.2
1.2
1.2
1.2
1.2
1.2
1.2
1.2
1.2
1.2
1.2
1.2
1.2
1.2
1.2
1.1
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
1.2
1.1
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
1.1
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
1.1
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
1.1
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.7500
0.7500
0.7500
0.7500
0.7500
0.7500
0.7500
0.7500
0.7500
0.7500
0.7500
0.7500
0.7500
0.7500
0.7500
0.7500
0.7500
0.7500
0.8082
0.8764
0.9568
1.0358
1.1726
1.3214
1.5068
0.8082
0.8764
0.9568
1.0358
1.1726
1.3214
1.5068
1.3875
1.3875
1.3875
1.3875
1.3875
1.3875
1.3875
1.3875
1.2875
1.1875
1.0875
0.9875
0.8875
0.7875
0.6875
0.5875
0.4875
0.3875
1.2875
1.1875
1.0875
0.9875
0.8875
0.7875
0.6875
1.2875
1.1875
1.0875
0.9875
0.8875
0.7875
0.6875
1.711
1.636
1.567
1.501
1.434
1.369
1.305
1.214
1.870
1.993
2.103
2.209
2.313
2.415
2.522
2.640
2.765
2.903
1.829
1.915
1.991
2.064
2.138
2.217
2.304
1.607
1.508
1.416
1.329
1.252
1.187
1.135
h/D: ratio between the depth of the underground cable and its
diameter.
Thanks to the exertion of the statistical function nlint of the
MatLab software it was possible to determine the constant values of
the relation (6). The values estimated are:
A 0.1218;
a 0.0443;
b 0.3273;
g 0.9003.
The design engineer facing these kind of problems can use the
formula (a formula which can be applied easily) provided by the
regulations (1) corrected through the multiplicative factor f1, in
this way the result is a soil thermal resistance whose value reects
the reality. It must be stressed that this is a precautionary value
since it refers to very dry soils [26e28]. The good quality of the
relation (6), used to determine the corrective coefcient f1, is
reported in Fig. 11 showing a maximum deviation of 8% respect to
the values used for the estimation (they are reported in the last
column of Table 3). The corrective coefcient f1 is valid in those
values characterizing the geometric parameters reported through
Table 3.
3.2. How the presence of other cables in the excavated area around
the underground cable affects the soil thermal resistance
Sometimes it happens that, for technical and economical reasons, many cables are installed in the same excavated area. The
Fig. 10. Ratio between the simulated soil thermal resistance and the one of the regulations for each geometric conguration examined.
275
Table 4
Geometrical parameters of the congurations with the 3 cables examined through
the FEM model and ratio between the resistance of the soil for the simulations and
the one of the conguration with just one cable taken as a point of reference
assumed by the regulations.
Conguration
Fig. 11. Trend of the soil resistance estimated through the correlation (6) respect to the
value provided by the simulations.
A.a
A.b
A.c
A.d
A.e
B.a
B.b
B.c
B.d
B.e
C.a
C.b
C.c
C.d
C.e
0,0221
0,0441
0,0883
0,1324
0,2648
0,0221
0,0441
0,0883
0,1324
0,2648
0,0312
0,0624
0,1248
0,1873
0,3745
1,2000
1,2000
1,2000
1,2000
1,2000
1,1559
1,1117
1,0235
0,9352
0,6704
1,1779
1,1559
1,1117
1,0676
0,9352
RFEM
RIEC
1,9175
1,8460
1,7715
1,7283
1,6688
1,8955
1,8011
1,6818
1,5923
1,3785
1,8805
1,7933
1,6897
1,6190
1,4773
letter is in capital letters and represents the case, the second letter
is in lowercase and represents the geometrical conguration. The
geometry, taken as a point of reference for all 3 cases (A, B, C), is the
one presenting just one cable and the same adopted in the previous
paragraph.
While analyzing the values reported in the last column of
Table 4 and the graph in Fig. 13, the soil resistance seems to be, in
every case, higher than the one furnished by the regulations. This
conrms the superheating problems characterizing the cables if
installed in the same excavated area.
As in the previous paragraph, it is necessary to determine a
dimensionless multiplicative factors f2 (function of the geometrical parameters considered) able to correct the value of the soil
thermal resistance estimated through Formula (1) provided by the
regulations.
d z
RFEM
i i e
i
i
e
; ;
B$
f2
$
$
D h i
D
h
i
RIEC
(7)
Fig. 12. Geometrical parameters of the distance characterizing the three cables in case A (horizontal disposition), case B (vertical disposition), case C (triangular disposition)
inside the excavated area.
276
Fig. 13. Ratio between the soil thermal resistance simulated and the one taken as a
point of reference for every geometrical conguration examined.
Fig. 14. Trend of the soil resistance estimated through correlation (7) respect to the
value obtained with the simulations.
4. Conclusions
The study here presented is an approach to improve the standard formula for the estimation of the thermal resistance of dry
soils surrounding the underground electric cables. Experimentally
it was demonstrated that the regulations tend to underestimate the
thermal issue of heat dissipation towards the soil causing malfunctioning problems affecting the cables which turn out to be
underpowered. Corrective coefcients were estimated and discussed by examining the numerical results obtained.
c/b
277