An experimental study on the electrical properties of fly ash in the grounding system

A good grounding system is the fundamental insurance to keep the safe operation of power systems. The grounding resistance reduction additive-fly ash is proposed in this study. Fly ash is the byproduct of coal-fired power plants. A pulverized coal boiler generates approximately 80% fly ash and only 20% bottom ash. Furthermore, the study of these materials will assume greater importance. Waste utilization is an attractive alternative to disposal in that disposal cost and potential pollution problems are reduced. Extensively used as an additive in Portland cement or as a mineral admixture in concrete in recent years, we have found that fly ash has a low resistivity, and so can be used as an agent for reducing resistance to grounding. Also, an effort is made to investigate the effect of water-to-cement(W/C) and temperature on the resistivity of the test specimens. The grounding resistance reduction agent was determined by considering various proportions of water, cement and salt. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach can effectively reduce the grounding resistance.