Underground power cable health monitoring and its electro-thermal effect on ampacity values in power distribution

While designing electrical power systems, underground cable ampacity is extremely important. There are several methods to calculate ampacity. For similar installation, different methods can give diverse ampacity values. The assumptions and relevant parameters must be calculated correctly to perform accurate sizing of power cables for the respective ampacity calculation method. In this master dissertation, the aim is to study, analyze and provide a standardized analytical ampacity calculation for a specific power cable. The conditions under which the ampacity calculation is performed are detailed. Analytical calculations are performed using two methods based on two international standards namely IEEE and IEC. This dissertation details the assumptions used in each method and the reasons of differences in the ampacity values calculated employing these two methods. Software calculations are performed using two software namely ETAP and MATLAB/Simulink. For the specific cable, Important parameters such as resistance, reactance, inductance and impedance are calculated using the ETAP software and these calculated values are substituted in a MATLAB/Simulink model.Master of Science (Power Engineering