Measurement of Soil Resistivity and Interpretation of Results 117

Fig. 9.7 : Circuit for testing earth tester in the laboratory

connected between terminals P1, and P2. Resistances, R1, and R2, of different values are connected
between P1 and C1 and between P2 and C2 terminals of earth tester, respectively. The ratio R1/
R2 is varied between 0.2 and 5. The reading of the meter should not change when ratio R1/R2 is
changed. Test may be repeated for several different values of R. It has been observed that in the
procedure commonly adopted for testing earth testers, terminal P1 is shorted to C1 and terminal
P2 to C2. A meter calibrated with this method gives correct reading only when resistances R1 and
R2ERWKDUHPDGH]HUR7KLVLVQRWFRQVLVWHQWZLWKDFWXDOFRQGLWLRQVREWDLQHGLQWKHHOG(YHQLI
the meter is calibrated with resistance Rl = R2 it may not give correct reading under all conditions
of measurements at site. As a result many of the earth testers widely in use give incorrect values
of resistivity.

9.6 MEASUREMENT OF RESISTIVITY OF GRAVEL

9.6.1 General
Resistivity of gravel can vary from 1000 :-m to 10000 :-m depending on the type of parent rock.
Gravel or crushed rock is often used as surface material to cover the natural soil in substations for
various reasons one of which is to increase the permissible magnitude of step voltage and touch
voltage [Equations (9.5) and (9.6) in Chapter 3]. These values will be high for dry gravel and will
be reduced for moist gravel. For estimating the permissible magnitude of step voltage and touch
voltage, it is advisable to determine resistivity of the type of gravel or crushed rock to be used.
The resistivity should be determined under conditions of wetness of gravel as is usually obtained
at site.
Resistivity of gravel is the lowest when wet; water on the surface of rock and in between the pieces
of rock forms the main conduction path for electric current. Conduction through the rock pieces
will depend on the porosity and chemical composition of rock and will be usually much reduced.
118 0DQXDORQ(DUWKLQJRI$&3RZHU6\VWHPV

Size of the rock pieces is important as larger aggregate will have fewer contact points and a higher
wet resistivity than smaller aggregate of the same material.

Fig. 9.8 : Set-up for measurement of resistivity of gravel for use as surface layer

9.6.2 Method of Measurement

The set-up for measuring resistivity of gravel/crushed rock is shown in Fig. 9.8 [12, 13]. A plastic
or glass cylinder of diameter d meter and height 1 meter is used as container for test sample. It
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some other metal. An insulated wire lead is attached to the plate for passing current through the test
sample. The diameter of cylinder and height are of the order of 0.15 m to 0.30 m. The container is
OOHGZLWKWKHWHVWVDPSOHXSWRLWVOHYHOEULP7KHWRSRIWKHVDPSOHLVFRYHUHGZLWKVHYHUDOOD\HUV
of aluminium foil or steel wool, forming a pad with which an even connection with test sample can
be ensured. A weight of 25 kg is to be placed on top of the aluminium/steel wool pad. Test sample
is then removed from the container and immersed in tap water for 10 minutes after which the water
is drained off and gravel sample is lightly sponged dry. It would be preferable if resistivity of water
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and weight are then placed back on top.
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weight are put in place. Then after removing the weight and aluminium foil/steel wool pad from the
top the container with test sample is placed in a shallow tub and water is poured on the sample from
 Measurement of Soil Resistivity and Interpretation of Results 119

top. The water will seep through sample and collect in the tub; this water is poured back in from
the top. This is continued for 10 minutes. Then the container is removed from the tub and water
drained off completely. The aluminium foil/steel wool and weight are then placed back on top.
Insulated wire lead is connected to the aluminium foil/steel wool pad also for completing the
electrical circuit. Resistivity is obtained by measuring resistance of the column of test sample.
For this purpose, electric current is passed through the sample with a variac and 230 V ac supply.
Resistance is obtained from observation of current passing through the sample and voltage between
metal electrodes at the top and bottom of the container. If resistance of the sample is R ohm, the
resistivity U is obtained from the relation
Sd2R
U =  ...(9.12)
(41)
It is recommended that enough gravel/crushed rock should be obtained from source so as to be
able to perform the test on three samples of the same batch. Average of the three measurements
should be taken as resistivity of the sample. If necessary, the test can be performed by using water
of different conductivities, to determine the effect of different types of impurities in water. For this
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9.7 SUMMARY
The chapter deals with the following topics:
(i) Common methods of measurement of soil resistivity are given.
(ii) Interpretation of measured data for determining either single layer or two-layer soil model
is described.
(iii) Procedure for ascertaining accuracy of earth tester is given.
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described.
(v) A case study of evaluation of soil resistivity and effect of soil model on earthing system
parameters is given in the Section 11.6.

REFERENCES
[I] IEEE Std 81-1983, IEEE Guide for Measuring Earth Resistivity, Ground Impedance, and
(DUWK6XUIDFH3RWHQWLDOVRID*URXQG6\VWHPand IEEE Std 81.2-1991, IEEE Guide for
Measurement of Impedance and Safety Characteristics of Large, Extended or Interconnected
Grounding Systems.
[2] Indian Standard Code of Practice for Earthing (First Revision), IS: 3043 - 1987.
[3] Seedher Hans R. and Arora, J. K. Evaluation of Soil Resistivity Parameters from Resistivity
Measurements, Proc. All India Seminar on Electrical Grounding Systems, pp. 1-11, Bihar
Section of I.E. (India), Patna, 1987.
[4] Dawalibi F. and Blattener, C. J. Earth Resistivity Measurement Interpretation Techniques,
IEEE Trans, on Power App. and Systems, vol. PAS-103, pp. 374-382. Feb. 1984.
[5] Tagg, G. F. Earth Resistances, George Newnes Ltd., London, 1964.