The identification of single-phase earth fault in non-solidly earthed network is of great significance for improving the safety and reliability of distribution network operation. Firstly

based on the steady and transient characteristics of recorded fault data

a multilevel hierarchical classification is made of single-phase earth fault and the definitions of different faults are made. Secondly

the electrical characteristics of different types of fault are extracted and a single-phase earth fault type recognition model is established. Finally

the proposed fault type recognition model is verified by the recorded data on the scene. The test results show that the proposed method can effectively identify earth fault type

which is beneficial to improve the pertinence of fault handling in non-solidly earthed network.