Computerized Analysis of Grounding Plates in Multilayer Soils

This paper presents the analysis of grounding plates in horizontally layered soils. The analysis is similar to the theory used for grounding grid buried in multilayer soils based on the method of images published previously by the authors. Numerical results are presented for various configurations such as a grounding plate only, a plate with ground rods, and multiple plates forming a box. The grounding plate solution is valuable because a plate represents the limiting case of an extremely dense grounding grid which cannot be accurately modeled. At design stage, the plate model will provide the lowest possible ground resistance and touch voltages. The plate model can also be used to represent or approximate other electrodes such as steel rebars in concrete which cannot be accurately modeled due to their great density, metallic gates immersed in water or simply a human bare foot.