Magnetic field calculations within substation environment for EMC studies

The electromagnetic environment within high voltage substations needs to be correctly predicted and quantified especially as more and more sensitive microelectronic devices are introduced in proximity to the switching devices in the switchyard. This trend will only increase with the advent of the `smart grid'; therefore there is a need to re-evaluate the substation environment for EMC assessment, accounting for new scenarios. In this paper, the magnetic field distribution within a substation is calculated using an in-house developed numerical algorithm within Matlab. The flow of current in the substation is used as an input to the code and fields within the substation are then evaluated. The reported code can calculate the magnetic field distribution within an air insulated (AIS) high voltage substation under normal operating conditions as well as for the case of a lightning strike situation.