Reducing grounding electrode step voltage by installing underground insulating layers

This paper introduces a method to reduce the step voltage of grounding electrode. The method is able to reducing the step voltage without changing the design plan or increasing the electrode size. The financial cost of this method is low. By installing an insulating layer on the top of the grounding electrode, the leakage currents are forced to flow into the deeper layer of soil. Therefore, the step voltage values on the surface near the grounding electrode are reduced. By applying a numerical method, the efficiency of the method is analyzed and a field experiment is conducted to verify the effect of the method.