Functionally Graded Multilayered Soil Models, an Alternative to Modeling the Soil Electrical Resistivity for Computing the Grounding Resistance

Abstract

Alternative models of the electrical resistivity of the soil to the well-known constant piecewise multilayer model are presented in this paper. By their special features, the proposed models lead to reasonably simple semi-analytical expressions for the electric potential. The parameters associated with these models are obtained from apparent resistivity measurements using an optimization procedure. The proposed models allow obtaining a continuous piecewise resistivity profile as a function of depth from the soil surface. From the full definition of the models, the grounding resistance of several electrodes is calculated and compared with that obtained from the classic multilayer model. Finally some application examples including data from field measurements are considered in this paper.