The Effects of Dielectric and Soil Nonlinearities on the Electromagnetic Transient Response of Cables Lying on the Surface of the Earth

In this paper, a method of including nonlinear breakdown of the cable dielectric and the soil for an insulated cable lying on the surface of the earth is presented. The resulting nonlinear model is then applied to the problem of a surface cable illuminated by an electromagnetic pulse from a nuclear burst. The results of this study show that the nonlinear effects can greatly increase the peak amplitude and the late time response of the induced current, but the peak voltage is reduced. It was found that the cable dielectric breakdown was more important than the soil breakdown insofar as influencing the response.