The rupture of energized conductors in the distribution system, when in contact with a
high impedance surface, such as the soil, represents a great risk to human life, and can even
cause major fires. Conventional overcurrent protection equipment has a great limitation for
detecting this type of fault, and despite the progress in the study of the problem and the
probability of detecting these faults, these methods still do not have high reliability and safety
in terms of detection. In addition, in these methods, there is no way to locate the fault by the
protection system alone. However, some recent studies propose a detection of the rupture of
conductors due to voltage imbalance. Then, this work offers a method of detecting conductor
breakage and distinguishing from other disturbances, using the positive sequence voltage as a
monitoring parameter. Simulations were performed in the Alternative Transients Program,
using the IEEE 34 bus system as a test system. These simulations involved the modeling of
the distribution system itself as well as the disorders studied here which are: sag, swell, as
well as the switching of capacitor banks, switching of concentrated loads, switching of
distributed loads, switching of side branches, switching of loads non-linear and conductor
disruption that can cause disturbances in the electrical system. Subsequently, by means of
mathematical software, analyzes were carried out in order to locate and distinguish the
disturbances of the driver's disruption. After analyzing the results, the method presented
satisfactory results, and can be a useful tool for the operator of the electrical system.
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