On the Application of Modal Transient Analysis for Online Fault Localization in HVDC Cable Bundles

This paper presents the modal analysis of different HVDC cable bundles. Using modal theory, specific transformation matrices are presented, and the modal equivalent circuits are illustrated. The behavior of the resulting modes is studied in a wide frequency range, the impact of different cable parameters and burial configurations on the modal characteristics are analyzed. A concept for online fault localization in HVDC cable transmission based on the difference between the modal velocities and consequently the arrival times of the modal traveling wave (TW) initial peaks is presented. In this method, modal voltages and currents are used instead of direct measurements and the proposed concept uses one-sided measurement without needing to detect the second TW reflections. Multiple faults are applied to CIGRE HVDC models in PSCAD/EMTDC and the modal analysis is obtained in MATLAB. The impact of different sampling frequencies, fault resistance, fault location and different grounding schemes on the proposed modal fault location principle is analyzed. The theoretical results show the accuracy of the proposed modal fault localization concept for different HVDC cable bundles.