Mitigating Skin and Proximity Effect in High-Voltage Underground Segmented Cables Through Individually Insulating Conductor Strings

Soheil Ahmadi (), S. H. Khan and K. T. V. Grattan
Additional contact information
Soheil Ahmadi: Engineering Department, City St George’s, University of London, London EC1V 0HB, UK
S. H. Khan: Engineering Department, City St George’s, University of London, London EC1V 0HB, UK
K. T. V. Grattan: Engineering Department, City St George’s, University of London, London EC1V 0HB, UK

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 7, 1-19

Abstract: High-voltage underground cables inevitably experience frequency-dependent electromagnetic (EM) losses, driven primarily by skin and proximity effects. These losses become more severe at higher harmonic frequencies, which are increasingly common in modern power networks. In traditional multi-segment cable designs, uninsulated conductor bundles enable large circular eddy current loops that elevate AC resistance and exacerbate both skin and proximity phenomena. This paper investigates the impact of introducing a thin insulating layer between individual conductor strings in a five-segment high-voltage cable model. Two insulation thicknesses, 75 µm and 100 µm, are examined via two-dimensional finite element (FE) harmonic analysis at 0, 50, 150, and 250 Hz. By confining eddy currents to smaller loops within each conductor, the insulating layer achieves up to a 60% reduction in AC losses compared to the baseline uninsulated model, lowering the ratio of AC to DC resistance from about 3.66 down to 1.47–1.49 at 250 Hz. The findings confirm that adding even a modest inter-strand insulation is highly effective at mitigating skin and proximity effects, with only marginal additional benefit from thicker insulation. Such designs offer improved energy efficiency and reduced thermal stress in underground cables, making them attractive for modern power distribution systems where harmonic content is pervasive.

Keywords: eddy current; skin and proximity effect; finite element analysis; multi-segment conductors; insulation layer; AC resistance; power loss; electromagnetic fields (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/7/1605/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/7/1605/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:7:p:1605-:d:1618746

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().