Ground Mat

Tutorial
?

Grounding Design and Analysis Software

for Windows
Copyright 2002, SKM Systems Analysis, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

SKM Systems Analysis, Inc.

1040 Manhattan Beach Blvd.
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
(800) 232-6789
www.skm.com
support@skm.com

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Ground Mat
Tutorial
This tutorial describes the basic concepts required to operate Ground Mat efficiently and provides step-bystep instructions to create a ground grid design and analysis model.

Table of Contents

Important Concepts....................................................................................... Page 5

Part 1 - Getting Started ............................................................................... Page 11
Part 2 - Setting Up a Ground Mat Study..................................................... Page 13
Part 3 - Running Ground Mat Analysis ...................................................... Page 19
Part 4 - Analyze Study Output Results ....................................................... Page 23
Part 5 - Soil Resistivity Measurement and Interpretation ............................ Page 31
Part 6 - Safety and Standard ........................................................................ Page 33

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Important Concepts
Project Management
All project related information and study input/output data are stored in a separate folder for each project.
The project folder is created automatically when you start a new project in Ground Mat.
Each project contains many different studies. Each study contains input specifications for earth, grid, site
area, and output results for earth potential, touch voltage, step voltage and output report. Study setup
options are also kept with each study. A study can be copied and pasted to another and modified to create a
different scenario for easy evaluation of alternatives to establish an optimal design.

Project
Tree View

Solution Algorithms
The Ground Mat program follows IEEE Guide 80 / IEC 490 standards, uses finite element analysis of
multiple connected or unconnected grids and rods, and uses matrix analysis for conductor current
displacement. The Ground Mat program analyzes multiple layers in the earth models. Soil resistivity
measurement data can be curve-fit to a multiple layer earth model for analysis.

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Grounding Design and Analysis Steps

Step 1 Define the Earth Model

The first step in a grounding design is to determine the earth/soil model data. The Ground Mat program
has an earth model library and earth model fitting tools that calculate equivalent soil models based on the
soil resistivity measurement data. The resulting earth model data will be populated in the above
spreadsheet. If the number of soil layers, the depth of each layer and the resistivity of each layer are
known, the user can enter them directly.
Step 2 Define the Ground Grid

The second step is to define the grounding grid. The Ground Mat program comes with a grid wizard for the
user to select a shape, width, height, depth, spacing, number of conductors and intervals between
conductors for the grid. The preliminary grid design data will be filled in to the above spreadsheet, each
row in the spreadsheet defines a piece of conductor or a ground rod. The user can enter grid design data
directly or modify the data from the grid wizard. To assist with direct entry or modification, doubleclicking on a grid segment displays the coordinates of the segment.

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You can also copy and paste rows and shift values by any amount in the X, Y, or Z directions. To shift
values, select the rows you want to shift, use the drop-down list Select Item to select the column to
shift, enter the number of units to shift, and click the left arrow button to subtract and the right arrow button
to add the specified amount.

Step 3 Define the Site Area

The site area is the area within the substation where a human body may be exposed to voltage potential
differences between any two points. This is the area within which the study will be conducted, and the
earth potential profile, and touch and step voltage will be plotted. The site area is normally defined relative
to the grid. The Ground Mat program comes with a site area generator where a margin can be added to the
grid area. The user can alternatively enter any four points to define a rectangular area directly. If the
layout is symmetrical you may wish to define half or a quarter of the area to save calculation time, since the
results will be symmetrical as well.
Step 4 Define the Total Fault Current into the Grid
This is one of the most important study parameters. It depends on the substation grounding and the neutral
system configuration, impedance, fault location, and how the fault current distributed into the grid.
The user must make an effort to determine a reasonable worse case value.
In general, the total fault current into the grid can be identified by:
1. Determining the grounding paths to the main electrodes that connected to the grid.
2. Determining the fault clearing time, and the asymmetrical fault current at that time for each path.
3. Adding all the fault currents from each path together to come up with the total fault current into the grid.
Step 5 Define Other Important Study Parameters
Once Steps 1 to 4 are defined, the earth potential, step voltage and touch voltage at each location on the site
area can be determined. The following data defines the resistivity between the earth and the human body
and therefore affects the maximum step and touch voltage allowed.

Surface Material:
Often times, for safety reason, the substation ground surface is covered by higher resistivity material. This
surface layer is not treated as a regular layer in the earth model. Adding a surface material layer is similar
to adding extra foot resistivity in the calculation.

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Body Resistance:
This is the approximate resistance of the human body. Select the applicable standard or enter your own
value. A larger body resistance is safer for the same touch and step voltage.

Foot Resistance:
The IEEE standard 80 defines the per foot resistance as 3 time the resistance of the first earth layer.
To add extra resistance on top of the value from the standard, enter a positive value. To subtract from the
standard, enter a negative value. Select User Defined Total if you would like to enter your own total foot
resistance.

Fibrillation Current limit:

This is the fibrillation threshold at which stoppage of the heart or inhibition of respiration may occur and
cause injury or death. This limit varies with the frequency of the fault current. Select the applicable
standard, or enter your own value.

Fault Clearing Time:

The amount of time it takes to clear the fault has a significant impact on the safety of the person working in
the substation.
Other parameters such as the step size and multiplier affect the accuracy of the study results.

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Step 6 Running the Ground Mat Analysis program

Once the input data and study parameters are defined, it is time to execute the analysis and get a cup of
coffee. Depending on the size of the grid, the site area, and the number of soil layers, some studies may
take a few minutes to run while others could take hours to run.

Step 7 Analyzing the Output Results

Earth Potential Profile Plot

Touch Voltage Plot

The earth potential plot displays the potential at any point within the site area. The touch voltage is defined
as the potential difference between the grid potential rise (GPR) and the surface potential at the point
where a person is standing while at the same time having a hand in contact with a ground structure.
Assuming that the metallic objects with in the substation that can be touched by a human are bounded to
the ground grid, the touch voltage can be calculated by subtracting the GPR from the earth potential at the
foot.
The step voltage can be calculated by subtracting the earth potential between the two feet.
Step Voltage Plot

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Output Text Reports

The Ground mat analysis program produces a user configurable text report for each case. When the user
navigates through the project/study tree to the report folder, the program will bring up the report
representing the most recent execution of the selected study. It includes safety requirements, earth
structure, grid and rod layout, site impedance, grid resistance, grid potential rise, and step and touch
voltage. The touch and step voltages are compared to the safety limit, and marked as $Dangerous if they
are higher than the safety limits. The $ reminds you additional analysis is needed. The user can also
configure the report to show dangerous areas only.
Sample portions of a report follow.

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Part 1: Getting Started

Install the Program
Insert the Ground Mat CD into the CD drive on your system, click on SETUP.EXE to start the installation.
At the end of the installation, you will be asked to run the key utility program to enable the software or hard
ware key. Refer to the separate Installation Instructions for more details on installation and the hardware
key or software key activation process.
After installation, the Ground Mat program can be found on the drive where you selected to install the
program. The Ground Mat folder is the root of the program where all the executable files are kept. A
separate sub-folder is provided to store project files. You can change the project names and locations as
you wish.

SKM Ground Mat program installs a collection of sample projects. There are many studies within each
project to illustrate some of the techniques that may be helpful to you.

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Start the Program

From the desk top, Start > Program > SKM Ground Mat, will start the Ground Mat program as follows:

The most recently used project will be opened when the program is started. Each sub-folder under the
Project root represents a Study, for example, Fence_only is a study inside this sample project. The subfolders under the study contain different parts of the input and output information for the selected study.
Take a few minutes to browse through the sub-folders under the project tree to discover the related
information. You can cut, copy and paste studies within the Project folder.

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Part 2: Setting up a Ground Mat Study

Create a New Project
To create a new project, select New under the Project menu. Enter the new project name in the Create New
Project dialog and press OK.

Create a New Study

The following New Study dialog will prompt you for a new study name, enter a name that describes the
scenario you are trying to simulate and press OK.

You will then be prompted to select the study unit. Select Metric to display all length related data in
meters and millimeters. Select English to display length related data in feet and inches.
Here are the study related toolbar icons and menu items:

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Earth View

Click Earth under the selected study and the earth library selection dialog appears. You can use existing
earth models or enter a new earth model. To use an existing model, select one from the list and press OK.
To create you own earth model from soil resistivity measurement data, press the Library Edit button. If
you want to enter the earth model data directly and not save it in the library, press Cancel to enter the data
directly in the earth view.

After the data is entered, click Redraw to see the 3D graphical display of the earth model on the upper right
pane of the window. You can skip the height of the last layer since the program assumes it to be infinite.

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Surface Material
IEEE Standard 80 states: A layer 0.1 to 0.15 m (4 to 6 in) thick decreased the danger factor (ratio of body
to short circuit current) by a ratio of 10:1, as compare to natural moist ground. Adding a layer of surface
material is very useful in maintaining the moisture level of the topsoil layers (where the grid is), so that
fault current can be better distributed to the earth. The high resistivity surface material also reduces the
current through the human body during the fault. Refer to IEEE Standard 80 Table 12-1 for typical
resistivity values for different types of surface materials.
The toolbar icons and menu items for graphic manipulations of all the views that display graphics follow.

Grid View

Click Grid under the selected study and the grid wizard dialog appears. Select the type that is closest to the
shape of your grid. If your grid is not rectangular or L shape, you can choose Cancel to enter the starting
point and end point of each conductor in the grid input view. For most grid layouts, its easier to start with
one of these two types and enter additional pieces of conductors after the grid wizard generates the data for
you.

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If you select Type 1, the detail screen of the wizard will appear as shown below. Specify the grid width,
height, depth and segment spacing. The Initial space refers to the spacing between the outside grid
boundary and the first inside segment. The Interval refers to the spacing between the remaining segments
in the grid. The Radius defines the radius of each grid conductor. Click the Next button to get to the
Rod Creator, and enter the length, radius, and location of the rods.

Click the Finish button, and the program will generate the grid coordinate data on the bottom-right window
and display the data graphically on the upper-right window of the following screen.

Grid conductors and ground rods are entered in the exact same format: the starting point x, y, z, and the end
point x, y, z. The check boxes for the Rod column simply indicates that the data entered in the row
represents a rod, so that you may want to select all rows that represent rods to move or rotate them together.
The Group column represents different unconnected sub-grids. All grid conductors and rods that belong
to group Main are connected and have the same grid potential rise during the fault. Similarly, the
segments identified in Group Pipe are all connected together. But conductors in Group Main and the
conductors in Group Pipe have different GPR and the two groups are not connected.

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One way to add a piece of grid conductor or a rod is to insert a row, select another row that is in parallel
with the one you want to add, copy and paste to the inserted row to modify the data. To insert a row, place
the cursor on where you would like it to be inserted and press the right mouse menu to select Insert Row.
An empty row will be inserted. To copy a row, select the row header to highlight and choose copy from the
right mouse menu. To paste data to a row, select the row and choose paste from the right mouse menu.

You can also shift or rotate the entire grid with a given unit in one move. For example, to increase the Y
value by 2 meters for the whole grid, select Shifting Y, enter 2 meters, then press the increase (>) button.

Press the Redraw button to update the 3D picture of the grid.

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Select from Conductor Library

The Ground Mat program comes with a conductor library with many standard conductor sizes and their
radius. You can select conductors from the library to fill in the radius for the grid conductors or rods (you
still need to enter the starting point and end point of each conductor). To select a conductor from the
library, press the Conductor Librarybutton in the grid view, select Grid Conductor Library from Tools
menu, or use the toolbar icon.

Site Area

Click Site Area under the selected study and the site area generator dialog appears. Enter the margin
around the grid to define the area where the study will be conducted.
You can alternatively enter the four corners of the site area in the following format directly.

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Part 3: Running Ground Mat Analysis

After defining the earth model, ground grid and site area, the ground mat analysis can be run by any one of
the following three actions: selecting Analysis under the Study menu; pressing the toolbar icon; or by
using the F5 short cut from your keyboard. The Analysis option will perform the calculations for the
selected project folder. The Analyze Multiple Study option will perform the calculations for multiple study
folders.
(toolbar icon to run study)

Each time you run a study, the options are displayed so that you can edit them before the analysis. Keeping
the study options specific to each study allow you to copy/paste studies, modify the options to create a
different scenario, and run multiple studies to compare the results. You can edit the study options without
running the study by selecting Study Setup from the Study menu.

Analyze Multiple Studies

Selecting Analyze Multiple Studies from the Study menu will bring up the following dialog. Select the
studies you want to run as a batch process and press the OK button.

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Study Options - Safety Criteria

The Safety Criteria page defines the following data:

o

Body Resistance, IEEE /IEC assumes average body resistance as 1000 ohms, select User Defined
to enter you own value.

Foot Resistance (per foot), IEEE standard 80 defines the per foot resistance as 3 time the
resistance of the first earth layer. The IEEE Standard 80 value ignores resistance of shoes and
socks. To add extra resistance in addition to the value from the standard, enter a positive value in
the Extra Ohms field. To subtract from the standard, enter a negative value. Select User Defined
Total if you want to enter your own total foot resistance.

Fibrillation Current Limit (Ib), the fibrillation threshold at which stoppage of the heart or
inhibition of respiration might occur and cause injury or death. There are 5 standards to choose
from, or select User Defined to enter your own fibrillation current limit.

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The standards follow:

IEEE Standard 80 50 kg body,
IEEE Standard 80 70 kg body,
IEC Standard C1, t >= 0.04 sec.
IEC Standard C1, t < 0.04 sec.
IEC Standard C2, t >= 0.04 sec.
IEC Standard C2, t < 0.04 sec.
IEC Standard C3, t >= 0.04 sec.
IEC Standard C3, t < 0.04 sec.

Ib = 0.116 / sqrt(t)
Ib = 0.157 / sqrt(t)
Ib = 0.5
Ib = 0.5 + (0.04-t) * (880-500)/(4.2-2)
Ib = 1.0
Ib = 1.0 + (0.04-t) * (1650-1000)/(4.2-2)
Ib = 1.75
Ib = 1.75 + (0.04-t) *(2600-1600)/(4.2-2)

Ib :
Fibrillation current limit is amps.
t:
Clearing time in seconds. In the case of IEC C1, C2, C3 with t < 0.04 second, Ib is
calculated by sampling two points from the curve given from the standard and curve fitting.

o Fault Clearing Time, the amount of time it takes to clear the fault has very significant impact on
the safety of the person working in the substation. The fibrillation current limit depends on the
fault clearing time.
All parameters the Safety Criteria page affect the maximum touch and step voltages limits allowed.

Study Setup

The Study Setup page defines the following data:

o

Total Fault Current into the Grid, as we mentioned before, is the most important parameter of the
input data. It depends on the substation grounding and the neutral system configuration,
impedance, fault location, and how the fault current is distributed into the grid. Consult the fault
analysis engineer on the project to determine this value.

Max Number of Iteration: The program will stop accumulating contributions from images of the
current sources when the specified maximum number of iterations is reached, even if the study
tolerance had not been achieved.

Study Tolerance, if the contribution from an image of current source is smaller than this value, it is
considered accurate enough and the accumulation of the contribution from the image is

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terminated.
o

Meters per Sub-Segment Cut, the ground mat program divides/cuts the grid conductors and rods
into small pieces, the current at each piece is considered evenly distributed. The smaller the cut,
the longer calculation time may take, and the more accurate the result may be.

Step Size, defines the solution step size used to calculate the earth potential. The smaller the step,
the longer calculation time may take, the more accurate the result may be.

Step Size Multiplier allows you to increase the Step Size beyond the standard selections. The Step
Size Multiplier should be equal to or greater than 1. The step size multiplier is used to enlarged
the selected step size in horizontal and/or vertical directions.

Contour Interval, a contour is a projection of all 3D equal potential points to a 2D plan. The value
entered here defines how often/dense you would like to see the equal potential contours been draw
on the bottom of the 3D earth potential and touch voltage plots.

Report Setup

The Report Setup page includes the following options:

o

Include Touch Voltage: check this to include the touch voltage report section.

Include Step Voltage: check this to include step voltage report section.

Include Dangerous Points Only: check this to report only dangerous points that exceed the defined
touch and/or step voltage limits.

Output File Name: Enter the output report file name to store the results from the study.

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Part 4: Analyze Study Output Results

After the study options are specified, the Run button will start the calculation, generate the report, and
store the graphical results.

Study Progress Dialog

o
o
o
o

The first progress bar identifies the status of the current process.
The second progress bar identifies the status of the total study process.
The list box identifies errors and other messages during the calculation.
The progress window allows you to cancel the study at any time.

Output Results in the Text Report

The Ground mat analysis program produces a user configurable text report that includes the following
parts: Study options and safety requirements; Earth structure; Grid and rod layouts; Grid impedance; Step
and touch voltages.

Text Report Study Options and Safety Requirements

Based on the selections from the study options, the report lists all important study parameters and calculates
the foot resistance, fibrillation current, reflection and reduction factor, touch and step voltage limits. The
total fault current flow into the main grid is also listed here.

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Text Report Earth Structure Report

Text Report Grid Layout Report

Each unconnected grid has a layout report that lists the conductors and rods that make up the grid. In this
example, there are two unconnected grids, named Main, and Fence.

Text Report Grid Summary Report

Each unconnected grid has a grid summary report that lists the total length of grid conductors and rods, the
total grid current, grid resistance, and grid potential rise. In the case of a Fence (which is not the main
grid), you will see the mutual resistance to the Main grid reported as well. If you only have a single grid,
the mutual resistance value is not applicable and will not be shown.
In each grid, the total grid current distributed among all conductor and rod segments should be equal to the
total fault current flow into the that grid. Since the Main grid is the only one that has fault current flow into
it, the total grid current for sub-grids such as a Fence should be zero.
Grid resistance for the Main grid is a very important piece of data. In most well designed grounding
systems, it should be between 1 and 5 ohms.
There will be a potential rise during the fault for conductors and rods in each unconnected grid. Since
equipment inside the substation is connected to the grid, when a person touches a piece of equipment, the
potential difference between his hand and foot will define the touch voltage. Therefore, it is important to
report the grid potential rise. The ground mat program assumes all conductors connected together have the
same grid potential.

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Text Report Touch Voltage Report

The Touch Voltage Report lists the potential difference between the grid potential rise (GPR) and the
surface potential at the point where a person is standing while at the same time having a hand in contact
with a ground structure. Any equipment within human reach is assumed to be connected to the grid, and
therefore the person touching the equipment will be exposed to the potential difference between the earth
and the equipment (grid). The touch voltage is then compared to the safety limit, and marked as Dangerous
if the touch voltage is higher than the safety limit. The $ sign reminds you that additional analysis is
needed to improve the safety of the site.

Text Report Step Voltage Report

The step voltage report lists the earth potential difference between two feet. The distance between the two
feet is called the step size, it can be set to 1, 1/2, or 1/3 meters from the study options dialog. A step size
multiplier can be entered to increase the step size. The step voltage calculated at each location is then
compared with the safety limit to see if it is safely with in the limit or not. If at some areas, the step voltage
is bigger then the limit, a $Dangerous will show in the remark column. The $ sign reminds you that
additional analysis is needed to improve the safety of the site.

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Output Results in the Graphic Plots

The Ground mat analysis program produces 3 Dimensional graphic plots to display study results intuitively.
Each study includes a 3D earth potential plot, a 3D touch voltage plot and a 3D and 2D step voltage plot.
The 3D plots are color coded to help you see the problem areas immediately.

Graphical Results Earth Potential Plot

The followwing plot illustrates the earth potential distribution for a simple case study from A.P. Sakis
book. It is interesting to see that the earth potentials above the energized grid segments are higher than that
of the unconnected grid segments.

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Graphical Results Touch Voltage Plot

The following plot illustrates the earth potential distribution for the study from A.P. Sakisbook. It is
interesting to see that the touch voltages above the energized grid segments are lower than that of the
unconnected grid segments. The increased earth potential above the grid, makes the difference between the
grid and the earth smaller, and therefore safer.

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Graphical Results Step Voltage Plot

The flowing plot illustrates the 3D and 2D step voltage distribution for the study from A.P. Sakisbook.
The 3D view shows the relative height of the step voltage across the site area, while the 2D view shows the
step voltage values in each mesh.

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Graphical Results Graphic Properties

There are three sets of colors for you to change, one for the screen, one for the color printer, and another for
the black & white printer. When you preview a plot, the color set for the color printer will be used.

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The 3D earth potential and touch voltage plots are configured by the 3D View properties. The check boxes
are designed to turn on/off parts of the graphics. For example, if you dont want to show the Grid Pane,
uncheck that check box. The ground mat program is shipped with a set of default colors to represent safe
and unsafe results for the plots, you can select user defined and modify the default colors.

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Part 5: Soil Resistivity

Measurement and Interpretation
Uniform Layers Representation
In ground mat analysis, we use layers of uniform horizontal soil to simulate the earth. In reality, the soil
under the substation may be different than the uniform layer model we use, but as long as the soil model
and reality produce the same earth potential rise in response to the same fault current, we can use the model
to represent the earth.

Soil Resistivity Measurement

IEEE Standard 81-1983 described a number of techniques for soil resistivity measurement. The following
picture illustrates the popular four-pin method. Four probes are driven into the earth along a straight line.

In the Wenners method, equal spacing is assumed between any two probes, therefore c = d = e, also the
depth of the probe into the earth is assumed to be small compared to distance between two probes.

? a = 2pcR
Where

?a

apparent resistivity of the soil in O-m

Ra
c

resistance in ohms, voltage reading from the potential probes/reading from current probes
distance between any two probes

The Schlumburger-Palmer method is more sensitive for large probe spacing, here e = c is assumed.

Refer to IEEE Standard 80 and 81 for other measurement methods.

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Soil Measurement Fitting Library

Now that the resistivities at each spacing are available, you can create a new entry in the soil measurement
fitting library. Enter the resistivites at each spacing and press the Fit Data button, the fitting program will
come up with the closest possible model.

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Part 6: Safety and Standards

Grounding Design Objectives
The IEEE Standard 80 states the following two objectives for a safe grounding design:
o

To provide means to carry electric currents into the earth under normal and fault conditions
without exceeding any operating and equipment limits or adversely affecting continuity of service.

To assure that a person in the vicinity of grounded facilities is not exposed to the danger of critical
electric shock.

Unsafe Situations
The IEEE Standard 80 lists the following circumstances:
o

Relatively high fault current to ground in relation to the area of the ground system and its
resistance to remote earth.

Soil resistivity and distribution of ground currents such that high potential gradients may occur at
points at the earth surface.

Presence of an individual at such a point, time, and position that the body is bridging two points of
high potential difference.

Absence of sufficient contact resistance or other series resistance to limit current through the body
to a safe value under the above circumstances.

Duration of the fault and body contact, and hence, of the flow of current through a human body for
a sufficient time to cause harm at the given current intensity.

How Much Current Can a Person Tolerate?

o

1mA

Perception

1-6mA

Muscular contraction

6-9mA

Let-go threshold, able to release the energized object

9-25mA

Difficult or impossible to release the energized object

60-100mA

Ventricular Fibrillation, stoppage of the heart, injury or death

> 100mA

Lethal

The actual amount of current a person can tolerate also depend on the body resistance, foot resistance, fault
duration, and frequency of the electric current (50 or 60Hz are the most dangerous frequency range for
human), etc.

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Fibrillation Current Limit

There are several standard fibrillation current limits to choose from in the ground mat study setup
including:
IEEE Standard 80 50 kg body,
Ib = 0.116 / sqrt(t)
IEEE Standard 80 70 kg body,
Ib = 0.157 / sqrt(t)
IEC Standard C1, t >= 0.04 sec.
Ib = 0.5
IEC Standard C1, t < 0.04 sec.
Ib = 0.5 + (0.04-t) * (880-500)/(4.2-2)
IEC Standard C2, t >= 0.04 sec.
Ib = 1.0
IEC Standard C2, t < 0.04 sec.
Ib = 1.0 + (0.04-t) * (1650-1000)/(4.2-2)
IEC Standard C3, t >= 0.04 sec.
Ib = 1.75
IEC Standard C3, t < 0.04 sec.
Ib = 1.75 + (0.04-t) *(2600-1600)/(4.2-2)
Ib :
Fibrillation current limit in amps.
t:
Clearing time in seconds. In the case of IEC C1, C2, C3 with t < 0.04 second, Ib is calculated by
sampling two points from the curve given from the standard and curve fitting.

Foot Resistance
The human foot is usually represented as a conducting metallic disc. The ground resistance for the metallic
disc if radius b on the surface of resistivity ? s can be represented by the following equation, the contact
resistances of shoes and socks are ignored here.

Where

Rf
?s
b
Cs

?
hs
a

foot resistance (per foot)

surface material resistivity in O-m
radius of the circular metallic disc representing the foot
correction factor considering reflection between surface and the first layer
resistivity of the first layer beneath the surface material in O-m
thickness of surface material
0.09

If extra foot resistance Rextra is entered in the study option to represent the contact resistances of shoes,
socks, etc.

Since a persons foot is consider as an area of approximately 200 cm2

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Body Resistance
The resistance of a human body depends on many factors, such as size, skin condition, pressure at the
contact, and level of the voltage raised between two feet, among others. Reasonable values are 2000 ? for
the resistance from one foot to another, and 1000 ? for the resistance from foot to arm. The pessimistic
values 1000 and 500 ? are used occasionally, respectively. Both IEEE 80 and IEC Standards suggest using
a body resistance of 1000 O.

Touch Voltage Limit

The touch voltage limit can be calculated from the Fibrillation current limit, the body resistance, and the
equivalent foot resistance. Since the 2 feet are considered in parallel in this case, the equivalent resistance
is half of what it is for one foot.

Step Voltage Limit

The step voltage limit can be calculated from the Fibrillation current limit, the body resistance, and the
equivalent foot resistance. Since the 2 feet are considered in serious in this case, the equivalent resistance
is twice of what it is for one foot.

If the study results from the touch and step voltage plots show that some areas in the substation the values
are bigger than these two limits, the grounding system design should be reevaluated. Adjustments should
be made to increase the conductors or rods in the grid, or surface material, etc. Sometimes adding a small
grid under where human may be exposed helps improve safety and save money compare to modify the
original big grid.

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