Introduction to Symmetrical Fault in Power System:

Introduction to Symmetrical Fault in Power System devoted to abnormal system behavior under conditions of symmetrical short circuit (symmetrical three-phase fault). Such conditions are caused in the system accidentally through insulation failure of equipment or flashover of lines initiated by a lightning stroke or through accidental faulty operation.

The Introduction to Symmetrical Fault in Power System must be protected against flow of heavy short circuit currents (which can cause permanent damage to major equipment) by disconnecting the faulty part of the system by means of circuit breakers operated by protective relaying. For proper choice of circuit breakers and protective relaying, we must estimate the magnitude of currents that would flow under short circuit conditions this is the scope of fault analysis (study).

The majority of system faults are not three-phase faults but faults involving one line to ground or occasionally two lines to ground. These are unsymmetrical faults requiring special tools like symmetrical components and form the subject. Though the symmetrical faults are rare, the symmetrical fault analysis must be carried out, as this type of fault generally leads to most severe fault current flow against which the system must be protected. Symmetrical Fault in Power System is, of course, simpler to carry out.

A power network comprises synchronous generators, transformers, lines and loads. Though the operating conditions at the time of fault are important, the loads can be neglected during fault, as voltages dip very low so that currents drawn by loads can be neglected in comparison to fault currents.

The synchronous generator during short circuit has a characteristic time-varying behavior. In the event of a short circuit, the flux per pole undergoes dynamic change with associated transients in damper and field windings. The reactance of the circuit model of the machine changes in the first few cycles from a low subtransient reactance to a higher transient value, finally settling at a still higher synchronous (steady state) value. Depending upon the arc interruption time of circuit breakers, a suitable reactance value is used for the circuit model of synchronous generators for short circuit analysis.

In a modern large interconnected power system, heavy currents flowing during a fault must be interrupted much before the steady state conditions are established. Furthermore, from the considerations of mechanical forces that act on circuit breaker components, the maximum current that a breaker has to carry momentarily must also be determined. For selecting a circuit breaker we must, therefore, determine the initial current that flows on occurrence of a short circuit and also the current in the transient that flows at the time of circuit interruption.