Ablation failures of buffer layer in HV XLPE cables occur frequently. It is hard to evaluate the condition of cable’s buffer layer in operation due to multiple influence factors. For solving this problem

a fuzzy comprehensive condition assessment method of buffer layer in HV XLPE cables is proposed. According to the ablation mechanism of buffer layer and its strip material characteristics

condition assessment factors and grading standards are set up. The weight of assessment factors is decided by using improved analytic hierarchy process. The membership vector of buffer layer condition grades is calculated by the use of fuzzy comprehensive evaluation.The final evaluation result is decided by maximum membership principle. The example calculation proves that the evaluation method can accurately evaluate the buffer layer state

effectively reduce the influence of human subjective factors

and provide a scientific basis for formulating the operation and maintenance control measures for the buffer layer state of HV XLPE cables in operation.