Tower Electric and Magnetic Fields Title
 

Transmission

Table of calculated magnetic fields produced by underground cables in operation in the UK

See also the companion table for electric and magnetic fields from overhead lines.

       

magnetic field in µT at distance from centreline

0 m

5 m

10 m

20 m

400 kV

and

275 kV

trough

0.13 m spacing
0.3 m depth

maximum

83.30

7.01

1.82

0.46

typical

20.83

1.75

0.46

0.12

direct buried

0.5 m spacing
0.9 m depth

maximum

96.17

13.05

3.58

0.92

typical

24.06

3.26

0.90

0.23

Deep bore tunnel

0.4 m spacing
10-20 m depth

maximum

2.68

2.22

1.45

0.61

typical

0.16

0.15

0.13

0.08

132 kV

separate cores

0.3 m spacing
1 m depth

typical

9.62

1.31

0.36

0.09

single cable

1 m depth

typical

5.01

1.78

0.94

0.47

33 kV

single cable

0.5 m depth

typical

1.00

0.29

0.15

0.07

11 kV

single cable

0.5 m depth

typical

0.75

0.22

0.11

0.06

400 V

single cable

0.5 m depth

typical

0.50

0.14

0.07

0.04

Notes

1. All fields calculated at 1 m above ground level

2. All fields are given to the same resolution for simplicity of presentation (0.01 µT = 10 nT) but are not accurate to better than a few percent.

3. Calculations at 132 kV and above ignore zero-sequence current.  This means values at larger distances are probably underestimates, but this is unlikely to amount to more than a few percent.

4. Cable designs are not standardised to the same extent as overhead lines and the examples given here are representative.

 

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