COMPUTATION AND MEASUREMENT OF AC ELECTIUC AND

MAGNETIC FIELD LATERAL PROFILES AND LONGITUDINAL

CONTOURS UNDER TRANSMISSION LINES
R. Maruthi, K. Karunakara, M. Kanya Kumari
K.M,Srinivasa, Dr-Channakeshava

Central Power Research Institute, Bangalore, India.

including induced voltages and

spark discharges. Besides the
induced effects, the fields are
also
likely
to
produce
biological effects on animals
and human beings. Persons coming
in contact with objects lying
below transmission lines may
experience shock or tingling
sensation, which may be fatal
depending upon the severity of
the field present within the
vicinity of the power lines.
Various countries throughout the
world follow different levels
for electric/magnetic fields as
allowable limits and exposure
time. These values vary from one
utility to other depending upon
the rules and regulations. It is
found that many countries follow
IRPA / INIRC guidelines. The
harmful effects of electromagnetic fields are not yet
clearly
defined
and
investigations are still being
continued throughout the world
for standardising the limits for
these fields based on the
harmful effects produced.
In India, no standard
limits exist for fields upto
date.
Some
utilities
have
initiated
the
work
of
establishing the limits for the
fields. The work has started
with measurements of field under
transmission
lines
and
substations. Lot of analytical
work also has been done in this
area inorder to compute the
fields. The analytical procedure
used
to
compute
the
is
electric/magnetic
field
described briefly in this paper.
The paper also presents the
longitudinal
and
lateral
profiles of electric/magnetic

ABSTRACT EHV
and
UHV
AC
transmission
lines
and
electrical equipment produce
electric and magnetic fields
AC
around
their
vicinity.
conductors used for 220 kV and
below are usually designed on
the basis of current carrying
capacity, whereas those for 400
kV and above have to take into
account
the
electromagnetic
fields produced by them. The
design of EHV & UHV lines should
also consider the consequences
of the fields on objects and
human beings when their levels
are beyond certain limits.
Because of this, it is necessary
to be able to estimate these
electromagnetic fields through
computations. A program has been
developed for computing the
electric and magnetic fields
around the transmission lines in
this country. The computed and
the measured values of these
fields are presented in this
paper for the existing lines in
Indian systems.
I. INTRODUCTION
In India, several 4 0 0 kV and few
800 kV lines are already in
operation and more 800 kV lines
are
being
planned
for
transmitting bulk power inorder
to satisfy the ever growing
demand for electrical energy.
All electrical equipment in
addition to these power lines
generate strong electric and
magnetic fields depending upon
the applied voltage and current
carrying capacity. Any object or
personnel present near or under
these power lines are subjected
to these fields which produce
various
induction
effects
IEEE Catalogue No. 95TH8130
0-7803-2981-3/95/$4.0001995IEEE

209

fields both measured as well as

computed values. A comparison of
measured and computed values are
presented
indicating
the
validity of the computations
while designing the lines. The
software developed is also an
useful tool in places where the
measurements are not possible
due to non-availability of meter
or atherwise.

neglected.
The height of the conductor
above the ground is taken
as the average value.
=,H
Hma- (2/3 sag) where, ,
,H
is the height at the support
point.

111. ELECTRIC FIELD COMPUTATION

The
following
additional
assumptions
are
made
for
electric field computations:
Ground is assumed as a
perfect
conducting plane
at zero potential,
conductors are assumed as
equipotential surfaces,
charge distribution around
the conductor is assumed as
uniform,
each conductor is replaced
by a line charge at its
centre.
The
charge
on
the
conductors
using
Maxwell
potential coefficient matrix
[pJnxlfor
an N phase system is
calculated as:

11- COMPUTATION OF ELECTRIC /

MAGNETIC FIELDS fl]
The voltages applied to the
conductors of a transmission
line produce electric field
while the magnetic field is
caused due to the current
through the conductors. * The
fields under DC lines are purely
static whereas fields under AC
lines are treated as quasistatic although they are time
varying at power frequency. This
is due to the low variation of
the fields at power frequency.
This permits the consideration
of the electric/magnetic fields
independent of each other for
the purpose of calculation of
these fields based on static
fielid concepts. In other words,
the electric field produced by
an electrical installation is a
function of applied voltage to
its different elements while the
magnetic field is a function of
the currents flowing through
these elements.
The
calculation
of
electric/magnetic field produced
by
transmission
lines
is
inherently complex because of
the practical aspects such as
sag, proximity of towers, uneven
ground surface, finite ground
conductivity etc. A number of
simplifying
assumptions
are
usually made inorder to reduce
the complexity of the problem.
The following assumptions are
usually
made
for
both
electric/magnetic fields:
conductors are assumed to
be smooth infinitely long
cylinders parallel to each
other and to ground.
the influence of towers and
of any objects in the
vicinity
of
lines
is

where,
[V],,,,
[QJnXl

voltage matrix,
charge matrix

The elements of P Matrix are

given by:
pij

ln-Iij , H-height
A ij

, r-radius

where,

IijC Aij are distances of

i and its image from
j respectively.
at a point p(x,y) due
q, at point (x,,y,)and
is given by:

conductor
conductor
The field
to charge
its image

The horizontal E,, & vertical E,

components
of
field
are
calculated from:
210

ut can have different values, if

ut is one solution the other
solutions are obtained
from
+ (m-l)n/2
where, m
&,=ut,
varies from 1 to 4 .
The
maximum
value
of
electric field is found
by
substituting the value of ut in
the above equation and finding
the maximum of the 4 values.

The
horizontal
&
vertical
components due to all n charges
of an N phase system is
calculated from:

IV. MAGNETIC FIELD COMPUTATION

For a conductor at point xl,yl
carrying line current of I, the
magnetic field vector H at any
point
p(x,y)
is
directed
perpendicular
to
the
line
joining the centre of the
conductor and the point p. Its
magnitude including the earth
return currents is given by:

Ehn =

Evn =

Ehl
131

Evl
1=1

In case of AC lines, since the

voltages
are
varying
sinusoidally,
the
resultant
electric
field
and
its
components also vary in time.
The charge phasors therefore can
be represented as real and
imaginary components. Due to
this, the electric field is
represented as real & imaginary
parts which are shown here:
n

RI =

R =

Y
where,

H2Cos2(at+
e ) + V2Cos2(ut+@ )
2

Ehlf Ehri

Ehli )
B=arctan( Ehlr

tan(2ot)

2
I

d[jw(o

PE)]

Gij is unit vector along

the line perpendicular to the
line joining conductor carrying
current and the point where
field is computed.
a,, a,,are unit vectors in
horizonta1,vertical directions.
The horizontal C vertical
components of field in vector

and
Evlrf
Evli are
real and imaginary components of
horizontal & vertical components
respectively.
The
maximum
value
of
electric field is given by:
Ehlr, Ehlit

ff2 =

J(X-Xl)2+(y-yl)2

where,

( x - ~ , ) ~ + (2 y 2+ y ~ + ~ )

E2

notation are given as:

V2 = Evzr+ Evzi

, @=arctan( -)Evli

The maximum value of magnetic

field
after
adding
the
contribution from all phase
conductors is found using the
same
method
described
for

Evlr

H2sine + v2sin2$
H'cose + v2cos2@
21 1

electric field.

single and double circuit lines

respectively. There is a good
agreement between measured and
calculated values which is
evident from these figures. The
variation of magnetic field with
phase configuration of double
circuit lines is shown in Fig.6
Similar to the case of electric
field, the magnetic field of
lines with reverse configuration
reduces at the edge of ROW.

V. MEASURED

AND CALCULATED
ELECTRIC/MAGNETIC FIELD
The electric/magnetic fields at
lm above ground was measured
under 220/400 kV single/double
circuit lines. The measured
values
are
compared
with
calculated
values.
The
computations are made using the
program
developed
in
the
organization using algorithm
mentioned previously.

VIII. LONGITUDINAL/EQUIFIELD
CONTOURS
The electric/magnetic field has
been measured at different
locations in between two towers
at different points lateral to
the line at each location for
the purpose of determining the
equifield contours. The program
has been modified so that it
takes conductor sag in to
account for the purpose of
computing fields at different
locations along the line route
in between two towers. The
measured & calculated equifield
contours are shown in Fig.7
which
shows
a
reasonable
agreement between them.

VI. ELECTRIC FIELD

Figs 1 & 2 show a comparison
between
the
measured
and
computed values of the electric
field for 220/400 kV single
circuit and 220/400 kV double
circuit lines respectively. It
is clear that there is a
reasonable agreement between
both results in each case. It is
also evident that the value of
electric field at the edge of
right-of-way
(ROW)
is
not
exceeding
lkV/m.
From
measurements and computations it
is found that, most of the
existing lines in this country
at 400kV level and below do not
present electric field exceeding
lkV/m at the edge of ROW. This
indicated that the
lines in
this country are so designed
that the electric field value at
edge of ROW does not exceed this
value
though
it
is
not
considered as a standard value
for the purpose of limits.
Fig.3 show the lateral
profile of electric field for
the double circuit 220 & 400kV
lines with symmetrical (ABC/ABC)
and
reverse
(ABC/CBA)
configuration.
The
figures
indicate the
variation
of
electric
field
with
phase
configuration.
In both the
cases, the field at the edge of
ROW reduces by 30-40%. The
reverse configuration is thus
useful in reducing the electric
field at the edge of ROW [2].

1.

IX. CONCLUSIONS
The field values presented
here can be considered as
typical values existing
under the 220/400kV lines
of Indian systems.

2.

Both electric / magnetic

fields can be reduced at
the
edge
of
ROW by
adopting reverse
phase
configuration f o r
the
lines.

3.

Because of good agreement

bound
between
the
measured/calculatedvalues,
the program developed can
be used
as tool for
designing the transmission
lines.

X. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
authors
thank
The
authorities
of
CPRI
permitting to publish
paper.

VI10 MAGNETIC FIELD

The magnetic field existing
under these lines are presented
in Figs. 4 & 5. for 220/400kV
212

the

for
this

XI. REFERENCES
"Transient Line Reference
Book, 345kV and Above"
EPRI Report.
"Reduced phase lines may

1.
2.

reduce
EMF
1eve1s"
by
J.Michae1 Silva, Transmission
and Distribution NOV,1993 PP 44-

46.

FIG.1 ELECTRIC FIELD LATERAL PROFILE

FIG.2 ELECTRIC: FIELD LATERAL PROFILE.

220kV & 400kV SINGLE CIRCUIT LINES.

220kV & 400kV DOUBLE CIRCUIT LINES.

9r

.... *...

0
LATERAL DISTANCE FROM TOWER CENTER IN m.

220kV COMPUTED
220kV MEPISUHED
4OOkV COMPUTE0
400kV MEPISUREO

10
20
30
40
LATERAL DISTANCEFROM TOWER CENTER IN m.

FIG.3 ELECTRIC: FIELD LATERAL F'ROFILE FOR DIFFEREN1

PHASE CONFIGURATIONS OF 2 2 0 k V B 400kV DOUBLE CIRCUIT LlNI

FIG.4 MAGNETIC: FIELD LATERAL F'ROFILE.

22OkV & 400kV SINGLE CIRCUIT LINES.

15

140r

120 -

./

100

...----

'

.*-..*.-

:>-+-..
._*._e.

.
80 .

+
-

60 .

22MNSYMMETRIWL
4OOkV5~MEIK(cM

40

.,
'4..

20

'

*..?,.*:
" *.,;

22flkV
220kV
400kV
400kV

'.*a:*

COMPUTED
MEASURE[)
CCIMF'UTED
MEASURED

Ll.%
-*w,*

--h
'c

10
20
30
LATERAL DISTANCE FROM TOWER CENTRE IN m

0
ij

4c
L

10

22OkV
220kV
400kV
400kV

100

.___.

::
-

LAlERAL DISTANCE FROM TOWER CENTER IN m.

FIG.6. MAGNETIC FIELD LATERAL PROFILE FOR DIFFERENT PHASE

CONflCURATICJNS--220
& 400 kV [JOUBLE CIRCUIT LINE.

FIG.5 MAGNETIC: FIELD L A T E M L PROFILE.

220kV & 400kV DOUBLE CIRCUIT LINE..

so

+
+
+
,

'

COMPUTE1
MEASURE[
COMPUTEI
MEASURE[

IO
20
30
4
LATERAL DISTANCE FROM TOWER CENTER IN m.

LATERAL DISlANCE FROM1OWER CENTRE IN m

213

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