Sensitivity analysis of voltage sag based fault location algorithm

In this paper, the global, variance-based, sensitivity analysis is used to quantify the impact of measurement imperfections on voltage sag based fault location. This kind of fault location requires voltage phasor information from meters to be compared to simulated cases in order to locate faults. However, meters are prone to measurement imperfections. It is therefore critical that the impact of measurement imperfections, such as measurement and loading errors, are fully assessed to account for uncertainty in algorithm inputs. Sensitivity analysis was used to attribute responsibility for uncertainty in fault location to uncertainty in the inputs of the fault location algorithm. The results demonstrate that the single most detrimental factor to precise fault location is large fault resistance, both alone and in combination with other factors. Although accurately deduced by the algorithm, other impacts of this fault feature adversely impact accuracy.