Sheath-to-Ground Fault Impedance Calculation and Localization Method in Cross-Bonded High-Voltage Cable Systems

Abnormal circulating current induced by sheath grounding faults in cross-bonded high-voltage cables is a major cause of single-phase grounding faults. For the early detection and localization of sheath grounding faults, this paper constructs an equivalent circuit model for three-phase nine-section cross-bonded cables. Circuit model parameters are estimated via online monitoring data. The relational equation between sheath electrical quantities, fault impedance, and distance is derived for typical sheath grounding faults. Using the Adam algorithm, the solution of fault impedance and location is converted into the minimization of an optimization objective function. Simulation results show that under the influences of phase current imbalance, measurement error, and fault impedance fluctuation, the Adam algorithm exhibits superior optimization accuracy and computational efficiency in comparison with the ED and GA algorithms. Experimental results show that for low-resistance sheath grounding, the proposed method has a fault impedance calculation error ≤ 0.59% and a fault positioning error ≤ 1.89%. For metallic sheath grounding with zero resistance, the positioning error is ≤1.37%. Field test results demonstrate that the proposed method performs similarly to the time-domain reflectometry method, with a positioning deviation ≤ 0.15 m, and can meet online monitoring requirements.