Review on the Effect of Soil Properties and Ground Electrode on Soil Ionization Processes

Abstract

Grounding systems are commonly used in residential and commercial power systems, industries, telecommunication systems, and utilities. Even though technologies and research have contributed to the development of grounding systems, there are still many cases of faults occurring in the system, causing a substantial economic loss. The grounding system needs to have low magnitude resistance to achieve its effectiveness. Under high impulse currents, the soil ionization process would take place, leading to the reduction of the soil resistivity. This would reduce ground resistance of the system, which reduces the rising of transient ground-potential on the ground surface; thus, providing a more effective grounding system. Soil ionization is affected by several factors, which can be taken into consideration during the grounding system design. Previously, in many papers, soil ionization has been investigated. However, a detailed study on factors affecting soil ionization was still needed. Therefore, in this paper, factors affecting soil ionization are investigated, which should be taken into consideration during grounding system design.