A simple model for a numerical determination of electrical characteristics of a pillar foundation grounding system

Unknown leakage current distributions from vertical wire ground electrodes which form an armature of a pillar foundation grounding system are determined in this paper. Electrode system is fed by a very low-frequency current. The leakage currents are determined by a numerical solving of a scalar potential integral equation (SPIE) system. It is realized using the moment method, which actually presents the indirect boundary element method. For longitudinal current along the wire conductor's axes, a polynomial approximation of the first order is used. Then, grounding impedance and electric scalar potential (ESP) distribution on the ground surface in the surrounding of the grounding system are determined. In order to do that, the foundation grounding system is assumed as a homogeneous semi-conducting semi-spherical domain with equally located vertical wire electrodes, treating the surrounding ground as a lossy half-space. In order to form the SPIE system, new approximate expressions for the Green functions of ESP are proposed.