TDR-Based Fault Detection in Grounding Electrodes Using a Rod Insertion Method

This paper describes a TDR-based technique for vertical grounding electrode fault diagnostics using a rod insertion method. In this technique, a supporting rod is employed to transmit a TEM wave. The delay of reflected propagating wave for various length of the rod is analyzed to identify the corroded damaged area on the grounding electrode. Full wave simulations show that the approach is capable of detecting faults to an accuracy of cm with a system bandwidth of 300 MHz.