Computer Aided Design of Power Plant Grounding System

This paper presents Computer Aided Design (CAD) software which assists engineers to design grounding facilities for power plants, substations and buildings. The program is used to perform soil resistivity measurement interpretations, elevation of ground potential rise and danger point evaluation within any area of interest. The soil module supports both “ single-layer” and “ two-layer” soil model analysis. The grid module computes the tolerable step and touch voltages. CYMGRD® ; ; software was used to perform ground-electrode sizing, ground potential rise computation and the equivalent resistance of the grounding system. Surface potential and touch voltage potential gradients at any point of interest within the area of investigation can be computed. Equipotential contours for surface and/or touch potentials, and potential profiles showing touch and step voltages along the chosen direction are presented. Two and three dimensional plots are presented for the grounding system of thermal power plant TE-TO Osijek. The safety of personnel and the equipment in and around the grounding grid is satisfied.