In this article, direct characterization of the wide-band input impedance of grounding system buried in multilayer soil is presented. The problem is formulated by mixed-potential integral equations solved by the method of moments (MoM). The method accommodates both delta-gap voltage and impressed-current excitations. The input impedance is then directly obtained from the MoM matrix. The proposed method does not rely on the integration of the electric field on the ground surface. Hence, the calculated input impedance is unique and path-independent. The accuracy of the proposed method is evaluated for the case of vertical ground electrodes buried in homogeneous soil. The cases of vertical grounding electrode buried in multilayer soil as well as square and circle-plates buried in homogeneous soil are studied. It is shown that for plate-shape grounding systems, the total surface area determines the grounding system input impedance and the effect of plate geometry is negligible.
