Electric Circuit Analysis

EE1206
 Lecture -2

Nodal and Mesh Analysis

 Introduction

• The KVL, KCL and Ohm’s law are the primary

tools to analyze DC electric circuits.

• The term nodal analysis is generally used when

analyzing an electric circuit with KCL whereas
loop or mesh analysis is designated for problem
solving using KVL.

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Cont’d…

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 Nodal Analysis

• Nodal analysis provides a general procedure for

analyzing circuits using node voltages instead of
element voltages as the circuit variables.

• It is a technique used to determine the voltage

in a circuit elements by solving set of equations
that are formulated by applying KCL at the
nodes of a circuit variables.
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 Cont’d…
• Node voltages are calculated with respect to a
common point also called Reference node.

• Gaussian elimination or Cramer’s rule or any

method can be used to solve the simultaneous
equations.

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 Cont’d…
● Nodal Analysis without Voltage Source
Steps to determine nodal voltages:
1. Select a node as the reference node. Assign
voltages v1, v2, . . . , vn−1 to the remaining n − 1
nodes. The voltages are referenced with respect to
the reference node.

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 Cont’d…
2. Apply KCL to each of the n − 1 nonreference
nodes. Use Ohm’s law to express the branch
currents in terms of node voltages.
3. Solve the resulting simultaneous equations to
obtain the unknown node voltages.

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 Cont’d…

Ex1: Calculate the node voltages in the circuit

shown

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• Solution:

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Cont’d…

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Solve equation (1) and (2) above using any method

Method 1: using elimination technique

Add eqs.1 and 2

Substituting v2 = 20 in Eq. (1) gives

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 Cont’d…

• Method 2: using Cramer’s rule

• To use Cramer’s rule, we need to put Eqs. (1) and
(2) in matrix form as

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 Cont’d…
• The determinant of the matrix is

• Therefore

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 Cont’d…
• The currents can be calculated from the values of
the nodal voltages.

• The fact that 𝑖2 is negative shows that the current

flows in the direction opposite to the one
assumed.
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 Cont’d…
• Ex2: Find the voltages at the three non-
reference nodes in the circuit of
figure below.

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 Cont’d…

• Solution:

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 Cont’d

• At node 1
10𝐴 = 𝐼1 + 𝐼3

𝑉1 − 𝑉2 𝑉1 − 𝑉3
10𝐴 = +
3Ω 2Ω
60 = 2𝑉1 − 2𝑉2 + 3𝑉1 − 3𝑉3
60 = 5𝑉1 − 2𝑉2 − 3𝑉3 … . . eq1

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Cont’d…

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 Cont’d…

• Now we can find I1=6A , I2=0.325A , I3=4A and

Ix=-2A

• Negative polarity tells, the assumed current

direction was wrong.

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 Cont’d…

• Nodal Analysis with Voltage Source

• There is no way of knowing the current through
a voltage source in advance. However, KCL
must be satisfied at a supernode like any other
node.

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 Cont’d…
Case1: If a voltage source is connected between the
reference node and a nonreference node, we simply set the
voltage at the nonreference node equal to the voltage of the
voltage source.

Case 2: If the voltage source (dependent or independent) is

connected between two nonreference nodes, the two
nonreference nodes form a generalized node or supernode;
we apply both KCL and KVL to determine the node
voltages. 23
 Cont’d…
• A supernode is formed by enclosing a
(dependent or independent) voltage source
connected between two nonreference nodes
and any elements connected in parallel with it.

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 Cont’d…
• Ex1: Find the node voltages

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Cont’d…

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 Cont’d…
• Ex2: Find the node voltages in the circuit of
figure below.

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 Cont’d…
Solution: Nodes 1 and 2 form a supernode; so do
nodes 3 and 4. We apply KCL to the two
supernodes as in figure below:

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Cont’d…

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Cont’d…

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 Cont’d…

• The simultaneous equations can be written in

matrix form as

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Cont’d…

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 Mesh Analysis
• A mesh is a loop which does not contain any
other loops within it.

▪ It is a technique used to determine the current

and voltage in the circuit by solving set of
equations that are formulated by applying KVL
across a loop.

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 Cont’d…
• The variable in this technique are mesh currents
which are currents associated with each mesh
in assigned direction (usually clockwise
direction ).

• Note that: the direction of the mesh current is

arbitrary—(clockwise or counterclockwise)—
and does not affect the validity of the solution.

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• Mesh Analysis without Current Sources
• Steps to determine mesh currents
− 1. Assign mesh currents i1, i2, . . . , in to the n
meshes.
− 2. Apply KVL to each of the n meshes. Use
Ohm’s law to express the voltages in terms of the
mesh currents.
− 3. Solve the resulting n simultaneous equations
to get the mesh currents.

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 Cont’d…
• Ex1: : Find the branch current I1, I2, and I3 using
mesh analysis

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 Cont’d…

• Applying KVL for mesh 1,

− 15 + 5i1 + 10(i1 − i2 ) + 10 = 0
3i1 − 2i2 = 1

• Applying KVL for mesh 2

6i2 + 4i2 + 10(i2 − i1 ) − 10 = 0
i1 = 2i2 − 1

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 Cont’d…

i1 = 0.5, i2 = 0.75
• We can find i1 and i2 by substitution method or
Cramer’s rule. Then,

I1 = i1 = 0.5, I 2 = i2 = 0.75, I 3 = i1 − i2 = −0.25

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 Cont’d…
Ex2: find the current 𝐼0 in the circuit of Fig. below.

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Cont’d…

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Cont’d…

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Cont’d…

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 Cont’d…

• Mesh Analysis with Current source

• Case 1: When a current source exists only in
one mesh:
• Ex1:

• We set 𝑖2 = −5𝐴 and write a mesh equation for

the other mesh in the usual way; that is,
−10 + 4𝑖1 + 6 𝑖1 − 𝑖2 = 0 =⇒ 𝑖1 = −2𝐴
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 Cont’d…
• Case 2: When a current source exists between
two meshes ; We create a supermesh by
excluding the current source and any elements
connected in series with it.

• Supermesh results when two meshes have a

(dependent or independent) current source in
common.

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• Ex1:

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 Cont’d…
• Applying KVL to the supermesh in figure (b) above and
gives

−20 + 6𝑖1 + 10𝑖2 + 4𝑖2 = 0

6𝑖1 + 14𝑖2 = 20 … … … 𝑒𝑞 1

• We apply KCL to a node in the branch where the two

meshes intersect.

𝑖2 = 𝑖1 + 6 … … 𝑒𝑞 2

• Solving Eqs. (1) and (2), we get

𝒊𝟏 = −𝟑. 𝟐𝑨, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝟐 = 𝟐. 𝟖𝑨 46
 Cont’d…
• Ex2: Use mesh analysis to determine the mesh
currents in figure below:

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Cont’d…

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 Cont’d…

• Applying KVL to the supermesh

−6 + 2 𝑖1 − 𝑖3 + 4 𝑖2 − 𝑖3 + 8𝑖2 = 0
𝑖1 + 6𝑖2 − 3𝑖3 = 3 … … 𝑒𝑞1
• Apply KCL at current sources node bottom
3 + 𝑖2 = 𝑖1 … … 𝑒𝑞2
• Applying KVL in mesh 3
2 𝑖3 − 𝑖1 + 2𝑖3 + 4 𝑖3 − 𝑖2 = 0
−𝑖1 − 2𝑖2 + 4𝑖3 = 0 … … 𝑒𝑞3
• Solving eq 1 and eq 3 by substituting eq 2 into both
equations, yields:
𝑖1 ≅ 3.474𝐴, 𝑖2 ≅ 0.4737𝐴, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖3 ≅ 1.1052𝐴
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Cont’d…

End !

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