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Maximum Distance between Busbar Supports

A.G.N Bandara*

* Senior Electrical Engineer, KIK Lanka (Pvt.) Ltd

Abstract- Distance between busbar supports determines the amount of current that can be passed through a busbar during short
circuit condition. In general switchgear assemblies are designed for certain short circuits values. The. Key parameters that
determine the distance between busbar supports is electromagnetic forces between busbars during short circuit incident. The
Standard IEC 60865, “Short-circuit currents – Calculation of effects –Part 1: Definitions and calculation methods” has all the
mathematical tools for calculating forces between busbars on short circuit condition. It has also provided a method to calculate
effects on the support during short circuit. In this paper the calculation methods of IEC 60865 are used and computer simulations
are used to verify the results.

Index Terms- Busbar, Electromagnetic Forces, Short Circuit, IEC 60865, Main Conductors, Sub Conductors

I. PARAMETERS OF CALCULATING DISTANCE BETWEEN BUSBAR SUPPORTS

There are bunch of parameters which determines the distance between busbar supports. To calculate electromagnetic forces due to
short circuit Short circuit level, Busbar size and shape and distances and conductor type are required. The support type and
material are also considered. In brief, parameters for calculating distance between busbar supports are listed below.

1. Short Circuit Level

2. Busbar Shape
3. Busbar Size
4. Distance between Sub Conductors
5. Distance between Main Conductors
6. Conductor Material
7. Support Type
8. Support Material

II. THEORY OF ELECTROMAGNETIC FORCE BETWEEN BUSBARS

Basic theories of calculating forces between busbars due to short circuit are Amperes law and
magnetic force expression.

𝜇0 𝐼2
𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑛𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑓𝑒𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝑎𝑡 1𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑤𝑖𝑟𝑒 2(𝐵) =
2𝜋𝑑

I2 = Current in wire 2
μ0 = magnetic permeability
d = distance between 2 wires

𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑛 1 𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑟𝑒 (𝐹) = 𝐵𝐼1 𝐿

I1=Current in wire 1
L = length of the wire
𝜇0 𝐼1 𝐼2 𝐿
Figure 1 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑤𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑠 =
2𝜋𝑑

Equation in the IEC 60865 for calculating the force

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– For Main conductors.

𝜇0 √3 2 𝑙
𝐹𝑚3 = 𝑖
2𝜋 2 𝑝 𝑎𝑚

-For Sub conductors

𝜇0 𝑖𝑝 2 𝑙
𝐹𝑚2 = ( )
2𝜋 𝑛 𝑎𝑚
Ip = peak short circuit current
l = length of the conductor
am = effective distance between conductors
n = number of sub conductors

The reason there is √3/2 for the main conductors .Because there are phase difference between main conductors .a m is a correction
for shape and multiple of the conductors. am Value can be found using the Figure 1 Chart in the IEC 60865 standard.

III. EFFECTS ON BUSBAR DURING SHORT CIRCUIT CONDITIONS

The stress exerts on the busbar is depends on the support type, support distance and electromagnetic force applied. The equation
for stress on the main conductor is

𝐹𝑚 𝑙
𝜎𝑚 = 𝑉𝜎𝑚 𝑉𝑟𝑚 𝛽
8𝑊𝑚
Vσm and Vrm can be obtained from the Table 2, IEC 60865.
Fm = Maximum electromagnetic force due to short circuit
Wm = the section modulus of the main conductor
β value can be found in below table.

To withstand the given short circuit the calculated total stress must be smaller than qf y , q = 1.5 for rectangular conductors,
fy = yield stress of the busbar material. Total stress is the sum of stress in main conductor and the sub conductor.
𝜎𝑡𝑜𝑡 < 𝑞𝑓𝑦

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IV. EFFECTS ON THE SUPPORTS DUE TO SHORT CIRCUIT CONDITION

Forces on supports are calculated using below equation.
𝐹𝑟 = 𝑉𝐹 𝑉𝑟𝑚 𝛼𝐹𝑚3

VF and Vrm can be found from The Table2, IEC 60865 standards.
α can be found from the Table 3, (Shown above)
Fm3 = Electromagnetic force due to short circuit on main conductor.

Fr force on supports creates a stress on the support. The stress depends on the arrangement of the busbar. In some busbar
configurations (eg. Horizontal Busbar Configuration) the electromagnetic forces act perpendicular to each other. Then the
maximum stress on the support must be calculated. This stress will change according to the mounting type and support
configuration. Analyzing them mathematically would be complicated. Best thing is to simulate the force on a detailed computer
model in recommended FEA software.

V. COMPARING EFFECTS
Busbar deformation criterion – As discussed in the above section the criterion is,𝜎𝑡𝑜𝑡 < 𝑞𝑓𝑦 , the total stress of the busbar must not
exceed 1.5 times its yield stress.

Support Break criterion - This criterion depends on the forces acts on supports during short circuit condition. (F r ) , Stress on the
support due to this force must not exceed its flexural strength.

The distances between supports are calculated for above two criteria and minimum value of those two is selected for the distance
between supports.

VI. SIMULATION RESULTS

The simulation is done for 50 x 10 x 1 vertical busbar configuration for 50kA short circuit level. The calculated value for the force
acting on central main busbar is 20.9kN.The busbar configuration is simulated in Ansys following are the results.

The peak short circuit value depends on the initial phase angle. Below graph shows how the maximum force varies with the initial
phase angle

Figure 2 - Max Force vs Ph. angle

A parametric sweep for initial phase angle from 00 to 1800 has done using Ansys .Figure 2 shows the results. According to the
graph the maximum value of the electrodynamic force is around 150 0. The maximum value is 20.4kN for 150 0 phase angle.
Figure 3 shows how the Electrodynamic force behaves with time at 150 0 starting phase angle. Figure 3 shows that the maximum
force exerts between left and middle busbar. When all the graphs are analyzed (from 00 to 1800) it is clear that the maximum force
always exerts on the central busbsr.The maximum value of the short circuit current diminishes over time according to the Figure 3
.This is because the DC component of the short circuit current .It depletes exponentially over time. Below equation is used to
simulate the current. Latter part of the equation is the DC component.
𝑅
𝐼𝑥 = √2𝐼𝐾" sin(2𝜋𝑓𝑡 + 𝜃𝑥 + 𝜔) + √2𝐼𝑘 "𝑒 −2𝜋𝑓𝑡.𝑋
Ik = initial symmetrical short circuit current. f =system frequency, θx = angle between phases, ω = initial phase angle, t = time. R/X
= factor k of the transformer.

Simulated value is 20.4kN and the calculated value is 20.9kN. Calculated value is slightly higher than simulated value. The reason
is the approximations used in calculation method such as effective distance calculation. Another reason is mesh size and accuracy
of simulation. Here optimal mesh size and simulation settings are used.
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Figure 3 Force vs Time at 150 Deg.

Practically actual force will be smaller than the calculated value therefore it is safe to use calculated value. Below figure shows the
magnetic flux around busbars when maximum force applied.

Figure 4 , Magnetic flux when maximum force is excreted

VII. CALCULATED VALUES

Comparing the calculated values and simulation results .It is clear that the method of calculation provided in IEC 60865 is
sufficient for calculating maximum distance between busbar supports. Below table shows an example of calculation for maximum
busbar support distance, 50kA short circuit value, Safety factor 1.1, and busbar configuration - vertical

Busbar Size No. of Runs Rated Distance between phases, mm Maximum distance between supports ,mm
Current, A
50 x 10 1 1000 70 309
40 x 10 2 1250 70 290
50 x 10 2 1600 70 334
60 x10 3 2000 90 474
100 x 10 3 3200 126 671
100 x 10 4 4000 126 767

REFERENCES
[1] IEC 60865 - Short-circuit currents – Calculation of effects –Part 1: Definitions and calculation methods

AUTHORS
First Author – A.G.N Bandara, BSc in Engineering, AMIESL, [email protected]

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