Transient Heat Conduction Problems in Power Cables Solved by the Finite Element Method

This paper presents the use of the finite element method in the solution of thermal transient problems. The thermal transients in a 275 kV oil/paper insulated buried power cable system is calculated when the load current has a prescribed variation with time. The dielectric loss and shield loss are taken into account. The results are presented and commented. The finite element method has definite advantages over the finite difference method for this application.