Steady State Effects of Design Properties and Environmental Conditions on Underground Power Cable Ampacity

The steady state analysis of the cables under selected design and installation conditions provide information to ensure that the cables remain within allowable operating temperature limits. Manufacturers share the ampacity levels and derating factors under certain conditions for the cables that they produced, depending on the standards. However, the diversity of conditions can increase in the real applications. In this study, ampacity comparisons have been carried out for different design and environmental characteristics of an underground cable system. The selected parameters have been analyzed for steady-state conditions within certain ranges. Characteristic ampacity trend curves corresponding to the relevant parameter changes have been generated with iterative solutions.