Design and analysis of grounding systems for wind turbines using Finite element method

This paper proposes different designs of grounding systems for wind turbines. For each grounding system the maximum Electric field distribution is obtained. This paper introduces a new grounding system which decreases the electric field distribution in the grounding foundation used for wind turbines during the lightning strike. A performance comparison among proposed scheme is addressed. A detailed design procedure of the proposed grounding systems is also presented. To verify the analysis of proposed method, Simulation results have been presented in MATLAB and ANSYS using Finite element method.

I. INTRODUCTION

The main objective of a grounding system is to provide a Ways to ground under the condition of short-circuit currents. Large fault currents will distribute in the grounding grid and directly affect on the step and touch voltages. Therefore, in designing the grounding system it is necessary to consider a number of requirements such as follows [1], [2]. –

Under steady state of fault conditions, living bodies do not expose to unsafe condition.

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Under fault condition, the retain voltage does not exceed to a danger level.

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Provide a low resistance to facilitate the operation of electrical protection.