A Nonmeshing Approach for Modeling Grounding

International audienceNowadays grounding systems and protection devicesare designed in order to protect goods and people at the industrialfrequency range (50 Hz). In the future, buildings will includemore and more smart and power electronics devices. This impliesa need to consider a larger frequency range up to some hundredsMHz. Considering the heterogeneity of large systems includinggrounding, loads, power converters, and cabling, it could be interestingto benefit from the magnetic partial element equivalentcircuit approach for which it is not necessary to mesh the media.This paper presents the force of this method, which leads to anelectrical equivalent circuit of grounding and cabling systems directlyuseful in circuit simulator including power converters, loads,etc. The aim of this paper is to detail the modeling process, giventhis electrical equivalent circuit of grounding systems, taking intoaccount on one hand the physical characteristics of the earth (resistivityand permittivity) and on the other hand the frequencyrange of disturbances sources. Using this approach, local valuessuch as the current density along conductors, as well as potentialeverywhere in the studied domain, can be evaluated. Global valuessuch as equivalent impedances can also be determined in order toimprove the grounding design