Locating faults in the transmission network using sparse field measurements, simulation data and genetic algorithm

The paper presents a modeling and simulation approach to locate a fault in a transmission network. The basic concept is to match phasors recorded during fault with the corresponding phasors obtained by simulating the same fault. For the simulation, it is necessary to assume a fault location in a power system model, and then carry out short circuit study. The matching degree can be calculated by a pre-set criterion. The operation is repeated till the best match is found. The process of finding the best match is an optimization problem, therefore, the genetic algorithm (GA) is introduced to find the optimal solution. The proposed approach is suitable for situations where only sparsely recorded field data is available. Under such circumstances, the proposed approach can offer more accurate results than other known techniques. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.