Update ground clearance lines

Earlier we set our standard clearance line at 5.5m. This is displayed as a blue horizontal line in the Profile view:

To update it select the Clearances menu and modify the height of the line we've labelled Standard from 5.5m to 5.9m:

Set ground clearance rules

To check our ground clearances, we need to set up the Clearance Rules table. This defines the clearance requirement depending on the kV of the line and the type of object we want to measure to.

In this example we want to make sure that the ground clearance in the clearance rules is set to 5.9m.

Select the Clearance menu
Set 5.9m in the 11kV cell in the Ground row
Add Hot to the Applies to environments field above the table. This is the environment that we want to check our ground clearance under.

Check ground clearance

Neara provides two ways to check for ground clearance violations.

Use the Profile view

This is the easiest method to check for ground clearance violations.

In the Profile view in the lower part of the screen, select a circuit to see areas where the conductor breaches the clearance line (in this case, the blue line):

Create a Ground Clearance Report

You can also get accurate, detailed clearance measurements by creating a Ground Clearance Report using the Neara Report builder.

Click the (+) to the left of the Profile view tab
In the pop-up, click Create custom report
When prompted, select GroundClearanceReports as the data source for the report, and give your report a name e.g. Ground clearance
Click Create
The new report is a table that appears in a tab in the lower part of the screen, next to the Profile view

You can move that new report tab out into its own panel so that you can simultaneously see the Perspective, Profile and Ground Clearance Report views

The table in the report shows the minimum clearance of each span under the environment specified in the clearance tab, and whether it fails or passes the criteria that we have set (5.9m):

We can hide rows that Pass to allow us to focus only on the spans that are failing the clearance requirement:

Hover the mouse over the Pass column header
Click the Filter icon that appears under that column's title:
In the pop-out, select to show only rows with a Fail result

To fix these clearance issues, we can replace those poles to raise the clearance of this span, or we can also increase the tension of the line.

Delete a report

Click the (+) to the left of the Profile view tab
In the pop-up, click Report Manager
In the Report Manager tab, hover over the report to delete, and click the trashcan icon that appears
If you have moved the report tab into its own panel in the Workspace, you have the option of removing the now-empty tab and panel

Conductor Clearance Lines

There are times that you may want to visualise clearance from the conductor rather than from the ground, for example in areas where there is uneven terrain.

To do this, we need to set up or amend Conductor Clearance Lines within the Clearances menu which will display in the Profile view and DXF export.

If you need to add a new line you can use the + Add new entity option which will add a row with default values pre-populated which can be updated.

Label is a free text, optional field
Height is the distance from the conductor towards the ground
Show has three options
1. Minimum will display the clearance line measured from the conductor closest to the ground within the span
2. Maximum will display the clearance line measured from the conductor furthest from the ground within the span
3. All will display both of the above options
Voltage minimum and maximum can both be set and the clearance line will not show for conductors that are outside of this range
Environment dictates which environment, established in the Environments tab, the clearance line applies to
Color sets the display colour of the line shown in the Profile view
Enabled allows the line to be toggled on and off easily

To delete a conductor clearance line, simply scroll to the end of the row and click the red cross icon.

Check conductor clearance to nearby objects

Since we are building in a suburban area we should check for clearances to nearby houses. Neara supports obstruction modelling with prisms, cylinders, and fences.

Create an obstruction

Select the Obstruction tool on the toolbar
Define the type of obstruction to place down in the properties tab: Prism, Cylinder or Fence
Left-click to place the obstruction on the map
To delete an obstruction, switch to the Select tool, select the obstruction, and press DEL / DELETE on your keyboard

You can modify an obstruction's shape after it is placed and selected:

Give it a more descriptive, meaningful name
Drag its vertices to fit a general shape
Define precise eastings and northings, and roof and floor heights in the Properties panel in the sidebar

Measure distances

To measure the distance between a conductor and any other object including Obstructions, Poles, Another Span, select the Clearance Measure tool on the toolbar. Sag and blowout outlines will appear:

Click the conductor outline to start the clearance distance measurement (the environment of the outline will be shown in the Properties panel) and then click the object to measure to.

By default, the shortest distance between the two objects will be displayed:

See Modelling obstructions such as buildings and fences