The adequate interfacial pressure of silicone rubber in cable intermediate joints is a basic condition to ensure the normal operation of cable joints, while high temperature and ageing in the operation of actual cables and accessories would affect the magnitude of interfacial pressure. The uniaxial tensile force of two different silicone rubbers for 10 kV cold-shrink joints at different temperatures and thermal ageing times was measured by experiment, and the Yeoh rubber intrinsic structure model was fitted according to the measured data. The material model was embedded into a two-dimensional axisymmetric finite element simulation model of the structure, and the relationship between the interference, temperature, thermal ageing time and interfacial pressure was investigated. The results show that the interfacial pressure increases linearly with the increase in interference. At the same interference, the interfacial pressure at the root of insulating silicone rubber and semiconducting silicone rubber increased by 9.1%, 12.3%, 6.4% and 9.2%, 16.3%, 5.6%, respectively, at 50, 75, and 100 °C compared with room temperature, and the largest interfacial pressure of cable joints was at 75 °C. Using the established ageing life prediction model based on the Arrhenius principle, the service life of the accessories was predicted to be 28.9 years at 90 °C of operating temperature and interfacial pressure greater than 55% of initial interfacial pressure.

With the increasing demand for power supply reliability, online monitoring techniques for cable health condition assessments are gaining more attention. Most prevailing techniques lack the sensitivity needed to detect minor insulation defects. A new monitoring technique based on the harmonic anomaly feature analysis of the shield-to-ground current is introduced in this paper. The sensor installation and data acquisition are convenient and intrinsically safe, which makes it a preferred online monitoring technique. This study focuses on the single-core 10 kV distribution cable type. The research work includes the theoretical analysis of the cable defect’s impact on the current harmonic features, which are then demonstrated by simulation and lab experiments. It has been found that cable insulation defects cause magnetic field distortion, which introduces various harmonic current components, principally, the third-, fifth-, and seventh-order harmonic. The harmonic anomaly features are load current-, defect type-, and aging time-dependent. The K-means algorithm was selected as the data analysis algorithm and was used to achieve insulation defect prediction. The research outcome establishes a solid basis for the field application of the shield-to-ground harmonic current monitoring technique.