Short Circuit Study is a critical component in the design, operation, and protection of electrical systems. It helps identify fault currents that may occur during electrical failures such as ground faults, phase-to-phase contacts, or three-phase short circuits. Based on these insights, protective systems can be properly designed to safeguard both personnel and equipment.

Why Is Short Circuit Study Necessary?

Real-life situation

Risks Without Short Circuit Analysis

New system design

Inappropriate equipment selection, leading to potential fire or explosion risks

System expansion

Increased fault current exceeding equipment capacity

Safety inspection

Failure to meet technical standards, resulting in rejected approvals

Actual operation

Protective devices malfunction, causing widespread power outages

Benefits of Short Circuit Analysis

  • Identifying fault currents across the system
    Evaluate the severity of short-circuit scenarios and select appropriate equipment for safe operation.
  • Designing and selecting protective devices
    Provide the technical foundation for choosing circuit breakers, fuses, and relays with suitable specifications. For existing equipment, compare rated short-circuit capacity with calculated values to assess compatibility.
  • Optimizing protection coordination
    Premise for study selective coordination of protective devices, allowing rapid fault isolation and minimizing the risk of widespread outages.
  • Analyzing and simulating fault scenarios
    Support testing of various short-circuit cases — single-phase ground faults, two-phase faults, and three-phase faults — to assess system reliability.

Outcomes Of Short Circuit Study

  1. Detailed report explaining the input data, study cases, observations and recommendations
  2. Fault currents at various buses and branches in the system
  3. Breaking current – AC and DC components, peak making current and short time withstand ratings of equipment
  4. Input to Relay coordination study
  5. Input to Arc Flash Study