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Soil Resistivity Testing Method – The Wenner 4 Probe Test

Soil Resistivity Testing Methods a popular post. Originally published in 2013 and now updated.

A Wenner probe test is a geotechnical investigation method used to determine the electrical resistivity of the soil.

Soil resistivity testing can be carried out using different methods. The Wenner 4 Probe test is one of the most common soil resistivity testing methods. Also, its one of the three most popular soil resistivity methods employed, to perform a soil resistivity test. Therefore, this piece describes how to carry out the Wenner 4 Probe Test Method.

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Importance of Soil Resistivity Testing for Electrical Earthing Design

What is Soil Resistivity?

Soil resistivity is a measure of how much the soil resists the flow of electricity. Soil Resistivity Testing is determining that measure. Therefore, is a critical factor in the design of systems that rely on passing current through the Earth’s surface. An understanding of the soil resistivity and how it varies with depth in the soil is necessary to design the electrical earthing systems. In an electrical substation, or for lightning conductors. Also for the design of earthing electrodes for substations and high-voltage direct current transmission systems needs this measurement. Because most substations, use the earth to conduct all or, a significant portion of fault current when there are earthing faults on the system.

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Soil Resistivity Testing – 3 Helpful Tips to Avoid The Most Common Mistakes

We receive a lot of questions asking how to do a Wenner test or What are the steps in a soil resistivity testing. The key thing to take away is that once you have the appropriate equipment**… the act of ‘doing’ a Wenner Soil Resistivity Test is not that complicated.  However, you must take a consistent, systematic approach to the task, otherwise, the chances of error creeping-in are high and will appear discretely, sometimes without you noticing (unless you have the means to process the data on-site during the task).

It’s imperative to understand, errors in the data at this early stage of the process for electrical earthing design can be disastrous.  Disastrous for safety from the system, and disastrous from a functional perspective for the earthing system (grounding).

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