Calculation of the ampacity of medium voltage self-supporting cable bunch

The paper presents various approaches for determining the current rating of the bunch of self-supporting insulated 10 kV cables including the developed finite element method. The calculation results are compared to the experimental data obtained in laboratory tests. It has been shown that all available approaches have provided results that match with the experiments with a reasonable accuracy. However, the results obtained by the finite element approach have been found to be in the closest agreement with the measurements. This can be explained by the fact that this model makes it possible to consider all circumstances affecting the ampacity of cables including the heat transfer to the surrounding ambient by radiation and convection, as well as the effect of solar heating.

► A finite element model has been developed for the calculation of the ampacity of a self-supporting bunch of 10 kV cables.
► The calculation of the ampacity has been also performed using three different analytical methods including the IEC approach, for comparison.
► The finite element model has provided the best match with the experimental results.