Survey of underground cable generated magnetic fields in a residential subdivision

Increasingly dense residential housing developments have spurned new concerns about electromagnetic fields. A survey of the magnetic fields generated by the distribution system in such a residential subdivision is performed. The magnetic fields above the underground cables, around the transformers and junction boxes, and at the service entrance panels are measured. The largest magnetic fields of 95 mG and 148 mG are recorded at the surfaces of the transformer enclosures and junction boxes, respectively, at around 30% to 40% of full load. It is also observed that magnetic fields reduce to less than 3 mG at a distance of ~1 m from the distribution system infrastructure. To support estimations of peak magnetic fields at full load conditions, software is developed to model the magnetic field generated by the underground cables composed of twisted conductors.