Influence analysis of calculated horizontally layered soil parameters on grounding parameters

Calculated parameters (soil layer resistivity, soil layer thickness, and the number of soil layers) of horizontally layered soil are usually obtained based on the measured apparent resistivity under different measurement distances, which are significant for the design, operation, and maintenance of grounding grids. Most existing calculation methods of soil parameters are just trying to make the calculation results approach the measurement data, ignoring the relationship among measurement data, the calculated soil parameters, and grounding parameters, which would increase the workload of the measurement. To better balance the distance range of the measurement data and the influence of the calculated horizontally layered soil on grounding parameters, this paper systematically studies the relationship among measured apparent soil resistivity, calculated horizontally layered soil parameters, and grounding parameters. The basic theories of apparent resistivity measurement, soil parameter calculation, and grounding parameter calculation are given, the influence of soil layer thickness on the measured apparent resistivity is studied, and the influence of the calculated soil parameters on the grounding resistance of different grounding models is analysed. Based on different scales of grounding grids, the results give a corresponding reference distance range of measured apparent soil resistivity. Therefore, this paper can help decrease the workload of soil resistivity measurement during grounding parameters analysis, which has far-reaching engineering significance.