A High-Impedance Fault Location Method for Distribution Networks Using VPD Oscillator Response and Multidimensional Feature Fusion

High-impedance faults (HIFs) in distribution networks are challenging to locate due to the weak amplitude and indistinct phase characteristics of zero-sequence currents, which limit the effectiveness of conventional methods. To address this issue, this paper proposes a section localization method based on a dual-driven Van der Pol-Duffing (VPD) oscillator combined with adaptive multidimensional feature fusion. Envelope (energy) and phase (direction) features are extracted from zero-sequence currents and employed as dual external excitations for the VPD oscillator, which nonlinearly amplifies subtle feature differences into distinguishable dynamical responses. An adaptive weighting scheme, based on the statistical discriminability of each feature, is applied to fuse the oscillator response, envelope mean, and phase features, producing a robust decision metric. The proposed method is validated through PSCAD/EMTDC simulations on a 10 kV resonant-grounded, multi-section distribution network, demonstrating accurate and reliable fault section localization under varying grounding resistances, fault phases, and line types.