It has been 10 years since IEEE 1584 was published. This landmark document contains equations that are used for calculating the arcing short circuit current, incident energy and the arc flash boundary. These equations are an integral part of an arc flash hazard calculation study.

Many people that visit the Arc Flash Forum either perform arc flash studies or have the studies performed by others.
Here is this week's question:

How familiar are you with the IEEE 1584 equations.

• Very familiar
• Somewhat familiar
• Not at all familiar

It would be interesting to hear your experiences.

I would hope that all consultants performing arc flash studies understand the equations very well and do not just take the results from software at face value.

I have worked my way through this once, so to say I am "somewhat" familiar is a misnomer. But because of the expediency of modern analysis computer programs I am familiar with the effect of varying parameters, and that is my end goal.

This experience is not unlike the transparency that suddenly dawned on trigonometry when electronic calculators provided quick answers. I would rather be less familiar with the wooden process of doing things by hand if I can be more familiar with the results affected.