A comparison of North American (ANSI) and European (IEC) fault calculation guidelines

The need for accurate fault analysis studies in industrial and transmission systems necessitated development of specific guidelines for short circuit computations in North America (ANSI) and overseas in Europe (IEC). Differences in fault current duty types, system component modeling, and computational procedures encountered between these two guidelines raise the question of whether results produced by computations adhering to either one can accommodate both. The author compares the salient features of the two fault computation guidelines from the point of view of system modeling, computational procedures, database requirements, and result exchangeability.<>