• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.516-522
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• 2020

Water trees can cause considerable damage to the performance of underground cables. Theymay formwithin the dielectric used in buried or water-immersed high voltage cables. They grow in a bush-like or tree-like form, often taking decades before causing damage to a cable's performance. They are usually found on very old underground cables, often in an inaccessible place. It is costly and time-consuming to detect watertrees in underground cables. Tree detection technology, including mathematical modeling,can reduce the maintenance cost and time necessary for detecting these trees.To simulate detection of water trees in this study, a mathematical model ofan XLPE cable and a water tree were developed. The complex water tree structure was simplified, based on two identified patterns of aventedtree. A Matlab simulation was performed to calculate and analyze the capacitance and resistance of a cable insulation layer,based on growth of a watertree. Capacitance size increased about 0.025×10^-13[Farads/mm] compared to normal when the tree area of the cable was advanced to 95% of the insulation layer. The resistance value decreased by about 0.5×10¹⁶[ohm/m]. These changesand changesshowninaBurkes paper physical modeling simulation are similar.The value of mathematical modeling for detecting water trees and damage to underground cables has been demonstrated.