BEHAVIOR OF GROUNDING SYSTEMS IN MULTILAYER SOILS - A PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS

An extensive parametric study of grounding grid performance in multila yer soil structures has been carried out for the first time. Various p ractical cases have been examined and the corresponding grounding grid resistances, current distributions, earth surface potentials and touc h voltages have been presented and compared for different soil structu res. The results presented in this paper provide a benchmark for futur e work in this domain. They also illustrate practical situations, such as frozen or partially frozen soil conditions, which has remained an open question to date, in which the multilayer structure of the soil m ust be considered if a safe grounding system design is to be achieved.