Estimation of the Required Modeling Depth for the Simulation of Cable Switching in a Cable-Based Network

The simulation of an electromagnetic transient is only as good as the model´s data and the level of detail put into the modeling. One parameter with influence in the results is the size of the modeling of the area around the switched-on line. If the area is too small, the results are inaccurate. If the area is too large, the simulation requires a long period of time and numerical problems are more likely to exist. This paper proposes a method that can be used to estimate the depth of the modeling area using the grid layout, which can be obtained directly from a PSS/E file, or equivalent. The simulation of electromagnetic transients in cable-based networks requires larger computational effort than in an equivalent overhead-line (OHL)-based network. Therefore, the method is demonstrated for the former, with the cases of OHL-based networks and hybrid cable-OHL networks addressed in a future paper. One of the main reasons behind the long simulation times of a cable-based network is the simulation of all the cross-bonded sections. The introduced method can also be used to minimize the modeling of the cross-bonded sections.