GRIDRA

Lab

Fault Analysis Lab

Symmetrical-components short-circuit analysis for a source-transformer-cable feeder — pick a fault type, location and resistance, and see the resulting three-phase current and voltage waveforms and phasors, before and after the fault.

Einfach erklärt

Simuliert, was elektrisch passiert, wenn auf einer Stromleitung etwas schiefgeht — ein Kabel berührt die Erde, oder zwei Leiter berühren sich gegenseitig. Es berechnet, wie viel Strom fließen würde und wie die Spannung in der Nähe aussieht — mit derselben Standardmethode (symmetrische Komponenten), die Elektroingenieure seit Jahrzehnten von Hand nutzen — nur sofort und visuell statt auf Papier.

Network & fault

01 / input

One phase to ground — by far the most common fault type in practice (≈70-80%).

% of line
Ω

MVA
ratio

MVA
%
kV
/
%

Assumed Dyn (delta HV, grounded-star LV) — the standard arrangement for HV/MV distribution transformers, and the reason the grid source doesn't appear at all in the zero-sequence path below.


Ω

R, X — left to right.


Ω/km
Ω/km
km

0.121 kA fault current

Line-ground fault, 40% along the line — equivalent MVA at the largest phase current ≈ 4 MVA.

Reading point

02 / readout

Right at the fault location itself.

IA

0.121 kA

∠-89°

IB

0.000 kA

—

IC

0.000 kA

—

I0 (ground)

0.040 kA

VA

0% nom.

—

VB

171% nom.

∠-149°

VC

171% nom.

∠150°

Min. voltage

0%

Near-total voltage collapse, at the selected reading point.
Max healthy-phase voltage: 171% — ground-fault overvoltage on the unfaulted phase(s), a real effect of this network's grounding, not a display error.

Waveform & phasors

-0.20.41.0-20ms20ms60ms
Phase A Phase B Phase Cfault at t = 0, kA
0°90°ABCmax 0.1 kA

Solid = during fault, at At the fault. Dashed = pre-fault.

How this is built: symmetrical- components fault analysis (Fortescue transform + sequence networks) — the same closed- form method used in fault studies and relay-testing tools, not an iterative power flow. Positive- and negative-sequence impedances are treated as equal throughout; the transformer's zero-sequence impedance is assumed equal to its positive-sequence impedance; pre-fault load current is neglected (standard practice for a maximum fault- current study — it's also why MP2, downstream of the fault, reads ~0 current here). The transformer is assumed Dyn, so the grid source never enters the zero-sequence path — only the transformer and its grounding impedance do. Line and cable shunt capacitance is neglected: that is fine for solidly or low-impedance earthed networks, but in isolated or resonant-earthed (Petersen-coil) networks — common in German medium-voltage grids — the earth-fault current is set mainly by that capacitance, so treat single line-to-ground results there as the inductive part only. Per-unit values referred to a fixed 100 MVA system base internally; every result shown is scaled back to real kV/kA, so the choice of base has no effect on any number above.

Explore: IEEE 39-Bus Transient Stability

This lab is a single fault instant on one feeder — see how a fault plays out moment-by-moment across a full multi-machine system instead, including whether generators stay in sync.

Further reading

  • J. J. Grainger and W. D. Stevenson Jr., Power System Analysis. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994. — symmetrical components and fault current calculation
  • J. D. Glover, T. J. Overbye and M. S. Sarma, Power System Analysis and Design, 6th ed. Boston: Cengage Learning, 2017. — sequence networks and per-unit fault studies
  • IEC 60909-0, Short-circuit currents in three-phase a.c. systems — Part 0: Calculation of currents. Geneva: IEC. — the standard method for short-circuit studies; this tool follows its sequence-network approach but omits its voltage and correction factors