XIX International Conference on Electrical Machines - ICEM 2010, Rome
Analytical Calculation Model for Stator
Winding Faults in Synchronous Machines
Jens Rosendahl, Hendrik Steins
Φ
Abstract -- The calculation of currents and torques after
inner faults in the stator of synchronous machines requires
accurate models considering the inner asymmetry of the
winding. The paper introduces a mathematical network model
of a synchronous machine with arbitrary short circuited
windings, which is generally open for the consideration of
nonlinear iron. The system of equations is derived using an
example case of a phase-to-phase fault, for which results are
presented and compared to transient FEM calculations.
Afterwards the influence of iron saturation is investigated and
the extension of the model with current dependency of the
inductivities is discussed.
Index Terms -- AC machines, inner asymmetry, inner faults,
machine windings, power system faults, short circuit currents,
synchronous machines, turbogenerators.
I. NOMENCLATURE
FEM - Finite Element Method
ODE - Ordinary Differential Equation
FDTD - Difference Method in Time Domain
II. INTRODUCTION
S HORT CIRCUITS in the stator of a synchronous
machine damage the windings severely and may destroy
the whole stator core and possibly also components of
the shaft line. Despite their low frequency of occurrence,
research activities on inner faults are of great interest for
large machines, e.g. turbo generators.
In the past several scientists have concentrated on
investigating inner faults, especially winding and phase
faults. By the division of some of the strands into several
sub-strands, the symmetry according to the construction is
removed. Therefore, contrary to outer faults, e.g. the three
phase short circuit, inner faults cannot be calculated
adequately by the use of conventional calculation methods.
First research on the synchronous machine with inner
asymmetry was carried out in the 1940s and 1960s by
Galbraith [1], Kinitsky [2] and Hannakam [3]. The machine
is described by symmetrical components or using Park
Transformation. The leakage inductances of the damaged
coils are not considered correctly. This and other partly
strong simplifications lead to significant deviations
compared to measurements.
Another more accurate method was presented in 1979 by
Kulig [4] and in 1987 by Wang [5] independently from each
other. Every winding is described by its self and mutual
inductances, thus forming an elementary model of the
machine allowing for calculation of turn-to-turn and phase-
to-phase faults. Next to a high effort in modeling the
methods are not very suitable for the consideration of
nonlinear material properties.
Recently newer approaches have been presented by
J. Rosendahl and H. Steins are with TU Dortmund, Institute of Electrical
Drives and Mechatronics, Emil-Figge-Str. 70, 44225 Dortmund (e-Mail:
jens.rosendahl@tu-dortmund.de; hendrik.steins@tu-dortmund.de).
978-1-4244-4175-4/10/$25.00 ©2010 IEEE
Megahed and Malik [6] and Reichmeider [7]. The methods
allow for the calculation of arbitrary winding structures, but
cause bigger faults for higher asymmetrical field distribution
due to the disregard of higher air gap harmonics.
The literature survey shows that there is an ongoing
interest in analytic models to calculate short circuit currents
and torques in synchronous machines. Transient simulations
with Finite Element Method and Finite Difference Method
in Time Domain ([8] and [9]) have shown recently, that
much higher currents occur than the analytic models can
predict without taking iron saturation into account. Although
numerical field calculation methods are very accurate, the
complexity in modeling and effort in calculation time puts
the benefit into question. Therefore an applicable analytic
model is needed which has to be open for the consideration
of saturation effects.
Since all methods described above only roughly consider
nonlinear iron characteristics, a new model is derived in the
next chapters, which fulfills these requirements. Furthermore
an extension of the equations is suggested, which allows for
more accurate consideration of saturation. This ongoing
project is funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and
performed at the Institute of Electrical Machines and Drives
held by Prof. Dr. Dr. S. Kulig.
III. ANALYTICAL APPROACH
The analytical approach facilitates the simulation of a
phase fault in a 775 MVA synchronous generator with
double layer winding. Every strand consists of two parallel
coil groups with seven windings each. Figure 1 shows the
network model of this double star connected generator. The
branch with the current iK distinguishes the short circuit in
between a coil group of phase R and phase S. The short
circuit increases the number of strands with different
voltages. The machine’s symmetrical three strands split into
eight unsymmetrical sub-strands with different numbers of
turns.
u1 u2
i1 i2
uT1
iK
iR ZT
i3 u3
ZK uK u4
i4
uT2
iS ZT
i5
u5 u6 i6
u7
i7
uT3
iT ZT
i8 u8
u0 i0
Z0
Fig. 1. Network model for the stator winding of a synchronous machine
with inner faults; double star connected example generator with 7 turns each
coil group
A. Equations of Voltages and Motion Resulting from Kirchhoff’s law the currents in the stator
Using the Euler-Lagrange’s Equation a general model of [iS] and the currents through the lumped elements [iE] are
an electrical machine [4] is derived consisting of the voltage reduced to a linear combination of independent mesh
equations of arbitrary strands and the equation of motion of currents [i]:
the rotor with the rotor position ϕ as an additional degree of
freedom. The hyper matrices are separated in stator (index ⎡ i1 ⎤ ⎡1 0 0 −1 1 0 0 ⎤
⎢i ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⎡i2 ⎤
S) and rotor (index R) voltages: ⎢ 2 ⎥ ⎢1 0 0 0 0 0 0 ⎥ ⎢ i ⎥
⎢i3 ⎥ ⎢0 1 0 0 0 0 0 ⎥ ⎢ 3 ⎥
⎡ [uS ] ⎤ ⎡[ RS ] [0] ⎤ ⎡ [iS ] ⎤ + d ⎛ ⎡[ M SS ] [ M SR ] ⎤ ⎡ [iS ] ⎤ ⎞ ⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⎢i4 ⎥
⎢ ⎥=⎢ ⎜ ⎟ (1)
⎣[U R ]⎦ ⎣ [ 0] [ RR ]⎥⎦ ⎢⎣[iR ]⎥⎦ dt ⎜⎝ ⎢⎣[ M RS ] [ M RR ]⎥⎦ ⎢⎣[iR ]⎥⎦ ⎟⎠ ⎢i4 ⎥ ⎢0 0 1 0 0 0 0 ⎥ ⎢i ⎥
⎢i ⎥ = ⎢ 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 ⎥ ⎢ 5 ⎥ (4)
d 1 ∂ ⎡[ M SS ] [ M SR ] ⎤ ⎡ [iS ] ⎤ ⎢ 5⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⎢i6 ⎥
J ⋅ ϕ + DR ⋅ ϕ = ⎡[iS ] [iR ] ⎤
T T
−T ⎢i6 ⎥ ⎢0 0 0 0 1 0 0 ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
dt 2⎣ ⎦ ∂ϕ ⎢[ M RS ] [ M RR ]⎥ ⎢[iR ]⎥ d ⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⎢i7 ⎥
 ⎣  ⎦ ⎣
⎦
⎢i7 ⎥ ⎢0 0 0 0 0 1 0 ⎥ ⎢i ⎥
Tem
⎢⎣i8 ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣0 0 0 0 0 0 1 ⎥⎦ ⎣N8⎦

While the voltages of the strands [uS] are still unknown, N  

[i ]
[iS ] [ B ]T
the voltages of the rotor [UR] are given parameters: The
excitation voltage UF for the field winding and zero for a ⎡i2 ⎤
⎢ ⎥
simplified d-axis and q-axis damper winding each. The ⎡iK ⎤ ⎡0 0 0 1 −1 0 0 ⎤ ⎢i3 ⎥
equations contain the resistances [R] of the strands and a ⎢ i ⎥ ⎢ 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 ⎥ ⎢i ⎥
⎢ 0⎥ ⎢ ⎥⎢ 4⎥
fully populated matrix of the mutual inductances [M]. ⎢iR ⎥ = ⎢1 1 0 0 0 0 0 ⎥ ⎢i5 ⎥ (5)
The equation of motion consists of the moment of inertia ⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥⎢ ⎥
of the shaft line J, the drive torque Td and the electro- ⎢ iS ⎥ ⎢0 0 1 0 1 0 0 ⎥ ⎢i6 ⎥
⎢ i ⎥ ⎢ 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 ⎥ ⎢i ⎥
magnetic torque Tem including all mesh currents and the ⎣
⎣ T ⎦  

N ⎦ 7
[iE ] ⎢ ⎥
spatial derivative of the mutual inductances. There is also a [ E ]T ⎣i8 ⎦
N
possibility to consider friction through the parameter DR. [i ]

The voltages of the stator branches with only lumped

elements are given as follows. The rotor branches are The voltages (1) and (2) are inserted in the mesh
determined analogously: equations (3) and the currents are replaced by (4) and (5).
Algebraic transformations lead to the resulting system of
⎡ uK ⎤ ⎡ RK 0 0 0 0 ⎤ ⎡iK ⎤
⎢u ⎥ ⎢ 0 R ⎥ ⎢i ⎥ voltage equations and the equation of motion with [i], [iR]
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ 0 0 0 ⎥⎢ 0 ⎥
0 0 and φ representing degrees of freedom of the machine:
⎢ uT1 ⎥ = ⎢ 0 0 RT 0 0 ⎥ ⎢iR ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥⎢ ⎥
⎢uT2 ⎥ ⎢ 0 0 0 RT 0 ⎥ ⎢ iS ⎥ ⎡[U RST ]⎤ ⎡[ B ][ M SS ][ B ] [ B ][ M SR ]⎤⎥ d ⎡ [i ] ⎤
T

⎢u ⎥ ⎢ 0 = ⎢ ⋅ ⎢
0 RT ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣ iT ⎥⎦ ⎢ ⎥ ⎥
⎣ [U F ] ⎦ ⎣⎢ [ M RS ][ B ] [ M RR ] ⎦⎥ dt ⎣[iR ]⎦
⎣ T3 ⎦ ⎣ 0 0 T

N
⎡⎣ RE,S ⎤⎦ [iE ]
d ⎡[ B ][ M SS ][ B ] [ B ][ M SR ]⎤⎥  ⎡ [i ] ⎤
T
⎡ LK 0 0 0 0 ⎤ ⎡iK ⎤ + ⎢ ⋅ϕ ⋅ ⎢ ⎥
⎢0 L
⎢ 0 0 0 0 ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎥ d ⎢ i0 ⎥
dϕ ⎢ [ M ][ B ]T
⎣ RS [ M RR ] ⎥⎦ ⎣[iR ]⎦
+ ⎢ 0 0 LT 0 0 ⎥ ⋅ ⎢iR ⎥ (2) ⎡[ B ][ R ][ B ]T [ 0] ⎤ ⎡ [i ] ⎤
⎢ ⎥ dt ⎢ ⎥ +⎢ S
⎥⎢ ⎥
⎢ 0 0 0 LT 0 ⎥ ⎢ iS ⎥ ⎢⎣ [ 0] [ RR ]⎥⎦ ⎣[iR ]⎦
⎢0 0 0 0 L ⎥ ⎢i ⎥
⎣
  

T⎦ ⎣N T⎦
⎡[ E ] ⎡ R ⎤ [ E ]T ⎤ ⎡ [i ] ⎤ ⎡[ E ] ⎡ LE,S ⎤ [ E ]T ⎤ d ⎡ [i ] ⎤
[iE ] ⎣ E,S ⎦ ⎣ ⎦
⎣⎡ LE,S ⎦⎤ +⎢ ⎥⎢ ⎥+⎢ ⎥⋅ ⎢ ⎥
With the methods of network theory mesh equations are ⎢⎣ ⎡⎣ RE,R ⎤⎦ ⎥⎦ ⎣[iR ]⎦ ⎢ ⎡ L ⎤ ⎥ dt ⎣[iR ]⎦
⎣ ⎣ E,R ⎦ ⎦
set up for the example in figure 1:
⎡U R ⎤ ⎡ 0 1 1 0 0 ⎤ d
⎢U ⎥ ⎢ 0 1 1 0 0 ⎥ u J ⋅ ϕ + DR ⋅ ϕ + Td
⎢ R⎥ ⎢ ⎥⎡ K ⎤ dt
⎢ U S ⎥ ⎢ 0 1 0 1 0 ⎥ ⎢ u0 ⎥ 1 ∂ ⎡[ B ][ M SS ][ B ] [ B ][ M SR ]⎤ ⎡ [i ] ⎤
T

⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥⎢ ⎥ = ⎡[i ] [iR ] ⎤
T T
⎢ ⎥⎢ ⎥
⎢ 0 ⎥ = ⎢ 1 0 0 0 0 ⎥ ⎢ uT1 ⎥ 2⎣ ⎦ ∂ϕ ⎢ M
[ ][ B ]
T
[ M ] ⎥⎦ ⎣[iR ]⎦
⎢U ⎥ ⎢ −1 1 0 1 0 ⎥ ⎢u ⎥  ⎣  
RS RR

⎢ S⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⎢ T2 ⎥ Tem
⎢U T ⎥ ⎢ 0 1 0 0 1 ⎥ ⎢⎣uT3 ⎥⎦
⎢U ⎥ ⎢ 0 1 0 0 1 ⎥
⎣ T ⎦ ⎣ 
N
⎦
The system of differential equations can be solved with
[U RST ] [E] numerical standard algorithms. The following results are
⎡ u1 ⎤ achieved through MATLAB programming with Runge-
⎡ 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0⎤ ⎢ ⎥ Kutta standard ODE-solver, though other methods are
⎢ 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 ⎥ ⎢u2 ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢u ⎥ thinkable.
⎢ 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0⎥ ⎢ 3 ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢u4 ⎥ B. Determination of the Inductance Matrix
+ ⎢ −1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ (3)
u The determination of the mutual inductances between
⎢ 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0⎥ ⎢ 5 ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ u6 ⎥ each strand requires magneto-static finite element calcu-
⎢ 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0⎥ ⎢ ⎥ lations.
⎢ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 ⎥ ⎢ u7 ⎥
⎣ 
⎦ ⎢ ⎥ Concerning the geometry of the cylindrical rotor
⎣Nu8 ⎦
[ B] synchronous machine the matrices [MSS], [MSR] and [MRS]
[ uS ]
contain mutual inductances, with value depending on the
position of the rotor. Therefore the mutual inductances are
described as Fourier series.
According to this, higher harmonics are neglected for all
couplings between the Stator and the Rotor and for the
couplings of the Stator strands only the second harmonic is
considered. The values for the mutual inductances are
calculated using unsaturated iron. Thus the analytical model
simulates only linear magnetic material in the stator and
rotor. In a second step the inductivities can be calculated for
different current values, wherefore the model is principally
open for the consideration of iron saturation.

IV. RESULTS – EXAMPLE CASE OF AN INNER FAULT

The following explanations deal with the calculation of
the phase to phase short circuit considering the analytical
approach compared to the results from FEM. As described
the analytical model is capable of calculating the inner fault
taking only linear material properties into account. However Fig. 2. Current iK in the short circuited branch in no-load condition with 5%
the FEM considers the magnetic saturation of iron. of nominal voltage at the terminals
To investigate the capability of the analytical model, the
short circuit is initialized in the no-load condition. Due to
the varying level of excitation voltage UF, three different
voltage levels at the terminals are achieved. Here the
condition of 5, 50 and 100 percent of nominal voltage is
tested.
In order to compare the results of the calculations the
fault is triggered, when the short circuit branch encloses the
highest magnetic flux linkage, which can be determined by
the function of the voltage at the lumped element ZK. The
value of the voltage runs through zero. In summary this
scenario represents the worst case, because the first peak of
the current iK reaches the highest possible value and results
in severe damage at the winding of the machine.
Considering the fault at 5 percent of nominal voltage
Fig. 2 presents the short circuit currents iK achieved by FEM
simulation and analytical method. In this case the
electromagnetic field contribution does not provoke
saturation inside the machine. The deviation of 13 % in
between the first peak values arises from the simplifications Fig. 3. Current iK in the short circuited branch in no-load condition with
in the network model like disregard of eddy currents in the 50% of nominal voltage at the terminals
rotor.
Furthermore the Fourier series of the inductance matrices
[MSS], [MSR] and [MRS] have been simplified as stated above
and due to time discretisation the instant of time the fault is
triggered is not exactly the same for both methods.
Focussing on the faults at 50 and 100 percent of nominal
voltage in Figs. 3 and 4 the deviations in between the peak
values increase to 18 respectively 28 %. Furthermore the
time constant of the decay of the transient DC part decrease
in saturated machines due to lower inductances. This effect
is not considered by the analytical method.
A further distinctive attribute of the inner fault is the
asymmetrical current distribution in the machine, leading to
a non constant value of the electromagnetic torque Tem
shown in Figs. 5-7. The case of no-load operation at 5
percent of nominal voltage shows very good accordance
between the FEM simulation and the analytical approach. A
deviation of the peak values of the electromagnetic torque is
observed of about 4 % in this case. Due to stronger
saturation effects the difference increases to 17 respectively Fig. 4. Current iK in the short circuited branch in no-load condition with
100% of nominal voltage at the terminals
29 % for the cases with higher terminal voltages.
 V. PROPOSAL FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF IRON
SATURATION
The calculations of the phase to phase short circuits for
higher excitations lead to an increased inaccuracy in all
currents and the electromagnetic torque. In this case the
saturation inside the machine comes to the fore.
Considering the inner fault initialized from the rated
operation the impact of the saturation is enormous. To
improve the accuracy it is thinkable to extend the function of
the non-saturated inductance by a sub-function:
L ( i, ϕ ) = μeff ( i ) ⋅ L0 (ϕ )
Herein the function L0 represents the non saturated
mutual inductance of the strands depending on the position
of the rotor, which is used in the approach presented here.
The additional sub-function μeff enables the consideration of
saturation. According to this the range of values is
determined between zero and one as outlined in Fig. 8. For
unsaturated inductances the sub-function the value becomes
Fig. 5. Electromagnetic torque Tem at 5% terminal voltage
one. The more the saturation inside the machine increases
the merrier the sub-function converges to zero.
The challenge is the adaption and the determination of a
sub-function, which connects the nonlinear state of
saturation with the distribution of the currents in the strands.

Fig. 8. Outline of the sub-function μeff describing the saturation

VI. CONCLUSIONS
The paper at hand presents a calculation model capable of
Fig. 6. Electromagnetic torque Tem at 50% terminal voltage
predicting the currents and torques after an inner fault in the
stator winding of a synchronous machine. Comparison with
numerical field calculation validates the model for short
circuits at low terminal voltages.
With higher voltages and currents, i.e. stronger
saturation, the accuracy is reduced significantly. Therefore
the model is open for an extension by dependencies of the
currents. Furthermore a proposal for the consideration of
saturation effects has been given.
The results show that very high currents flow through the
turns, which causes severe damage to the machine. In some
cases (achieved by FEM and FDTD and presented in [9]) the
currents even exceed the three phase terminal short circuit
considerably.
In future research the application of network models
taking nonlinear material properties into account should be
set with the objective to accurately predict the currents and
torques after short circuits in the stator winding particularly
during nominal operation when saturation strongly comes
into focus.
Fig. 7. Electromagnetic torque Tem at 100% terminal voltage
 VII. REFERENCES
[1] R. A. Galbraith, "Short circuit in Synchronous Machine Armature,"
IEEE Transactions, vol. 60, p. 1024, 1941.
[2] V.A. Kinitsky, “Calculation of Internal Fault Currents in
Synchronous Machines,” IEEE Transactions on PAS, vol. 84, no. 5,
pp. 381-389, May 1965.
[3] L. Hannakam, "Berechnung von Kurzschlussströmen bei
Teilkurzschluss in der Statorwicklung einer leer laufenden
Synchronmaschine", Archiv Elektrotechnik, vol. 61, pp. 7-15, 1988.
[4] S. Kulig, “Über die Beeinflussung der Ströme und des Drehmoments
von Turbogeneratoren durch Windungs- und Phasenschlüsse,“ Ph.D.
dissertation, Universität Hannover, Germany, 1979.
[5] J. D. Gao and X. H. Wang, "The Multi Loop Theory of Alternating
Current Machine and the Analysis of Internal Faults Laws of Multi
Branch Windings," Proc. CSEE, no. 5, pp. 1-10, 1987.
[6] A.I. Megahed and O.P. Malik, “Simulation of Internal Faults in
Synchronous Generators,” IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion,
vol. 14, no. 4, Dec. 1999.
[7] P. Reichmeider, D. Querrey, C. A. Gross and D. Novosel, S. Salon,
“Partitioning of synchronous machine windings for internal fault
analysis,” IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion., vol. 15, no. 4,
pp. 372–375, Dec. 2000.
[8] J. Rosendahl and S. Kulig, “Numerical Field Calculation of Stator
Winding Faults in Synchronous Machines,” COMPEL, vol. 28, no. 6,
pp. 1662-1671, Nov., 2009
[9] J. Rosendahl, “Ursachen und Auswirkungen von Windungs- und
Phasenschlüssen im Stator großer Synchronmaschinen”, Ph.D.
dissertation, TU Dortmund, 2009.
VIII. BIOGRAPHIES
Jens Rosendahl graduated 2004 from TU Dortmund University, Germany,
and studied Electrical Engineering. He achieved the Ph.D. degree in January
2010 at TU Dortmund.
He is employed as scientific assistant at the Institute of Electrical Drives
and Mechatronics at TU Dortmund. His special fields of interest include the
modeling and simulation of coupled problems, esp. the dynamical behavior
of electromechanical systems.
Hendrik Steins graduated 2009 from TU Dortmund University, Germany,
and studied Electrical Engineering.
He is actually employed as scientific assistant at the Institute of
Electrical Drives and Mechatronics at TU Dortmund. His special interest
concerns interaction between the electrical and mechanical domains in
electrical drives. His focus is large machines, especially turbogenerators.