MATLAB Library for Simulation of High Impedance Faults in Distribution Networks and Related Protective Relay Behaviour Analysis

High-impedance fault detection is a recurring issue tackled by academics. The lack of publicly available manufacturers know-how, real measurements and logged data from electric utilities regarding their occurrence and the related protection schemes operation forces researchers to develop computational models resembling the contingencies present in power systems within the accuracy provided by peers’ previous validated work. This paper introduces a library comprised of built-in and user-defined blocks and subsystems that are necessary for: different high impedance fault conditions simulation, symmetrical component measurements, signal processing, feature extraction, and assessment of relay operation. The purpose of this paper is to provide researchers and technical practitioners with a user-friendly and straightforward framework that facilitates the simulation of a variety of high impedance fault conditions and the analysis of related protective relay behaviour.