An equivalent circuit formulation for three-phase power flow analysis of distribution systems

In this paper, we describe a power flow formulation for 3-phase distribution systems that is based on an equivalent circuit model. It is shown that this physical model based solution is able to accommodate a wide range of complex and unbalanced loads without loss of generality. The approach is an extension of the single phase formulation in [1] that uses current and voltage as the state variables. This formulation is shown to provide excellent modeling efficiency for distribution system components, such as induction motors that can be modeled as linear circuit elements. The formulation is further capable of incorporating complex nonlinear models to capture more details or represent future bus models. A challenging IEEE 4-bus test case is used as a proof of concept to demonstrate the efficacy of this approach.