Computation of Electric Fields Inside Large Substations

Calculation of electric field based on integral equations approach and suited to solving large-scale problems is presented. Integral equations are solved by appliance of BEM and Galerkin method. Unknown distribution of the surface charge density is approximated by bicubic splines, which ensure smooth approximation of sources. Accurate calculation of electric fields requires detailed modeling of power system equipment inside substations. This results in large models, which are solved by parallel computing. Numerical results are compared to measured fields inside a 400 kV substation. Comparison shows good agreement, thus approving applicability of the proposed approach in analysis of exposure to electromagnetic fields and electromagnetic compatibility.