Dire Dawa University Institute of Technology

College of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Fundamental of Electrical Engineering

ECEg-2052

Chapter Five
Transient Circuit Analysis

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 Outline
− First order transient circuits;
− RL & RC Transient characteristics & solutions;
− Second order transient circuits;
− RLC-transient circuits;
− Higher-order circuits & approximations;

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 Introduction
▪ Transient Circuit Analysis is a fundamental concept in electrical
engineering that deals with understanding the behavior of
electrical circuits when they undergo changes in their operating
conditions.
▪ These changes, often referred to as transients, occur when a
circuit is switched on, switched off, or experiences sudden
changes in its inputs or configuration.
▪ Unlike steady-state analysis, where circuit variables settle to
constant values over time, transient analysis focuses on the
time-varying behavior of voltages and currents immediately
following a disturbance.

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 Importance of Transient Analysis
▪ Transient analysis is critical for the following reasons:
1.System Stability: Helps ensure the system can recover and
settle to a desired operating point after a disturbance.
2.Component Protection: Identifies voltage and current surges
that could damage components such as capacitors, inductors, or
semiconductors.
3.Design Optimization: Aids in designing circuits that perform
reliably during startup, shutdown, or other transient conditions.
4.Control Systems: Provides insights into how circuits respond to
control inputs, essential for feedback system design.

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 Causes of Transients
▪ Switching Operations: Turning circuit components on or off
(e.g., closing or opening a switch).
▪ Fault Conditions: Short circuits or sudden disconnections in the
system.
▪ Source Changes: Variations in voltage or current sources, such
as sudden load changes.
▪ Initial Conditions: Stored energy in inductors or capacitors that
affects the circuit when external conditions change.

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 First Order Transient Circuits
▪ A first-order Transient circuit only contain one energy storage
element (a capacitor or an inductor).
▪ The circuit will also contain resistance.
▪ Characterized by a first-order differential equation.
▪ There are two types of first- order circuits:
• RC circuit
• RL circuit
▪ There are two ways to excite the circuits.
▪ The first way is by initial conditions of the storage elements in
the circuits. In these so-called source-free circuits.
▪ The second way of exciting first-order circuits is by independent
sources.

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 Source-Free Circuits
▪ A source-free circuit is one where all independent sources have been
disconnected from the circuit after some switch action.
▪ The voltages & currents in the circuit typically will have some
transient response due to initial conditions (initial capacitor voltages
and initial inductor currents).
▪ We will begin by analyzing source-free circuits as they are the
simplest type.
▪ Later we will analyze circuits that also contain sources after the initial
switch action.
▪ The natural response of a circuit
refers to the behavior (in terms of
voltages and currents) of the circuit
itself, with no external sources of
excitation.

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 Source-Free RC Circuits
▪ Consider the RC circuit shown below, that it is source-free
because no sources are connected to the circuit for t > 0.
▪ Use KCL to find the differential equation.

 = RC
(for an RC circuit)

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 Con’t

▪ The time constant of a circuit is the time required for the response to
decay to a factor of 1e or 36.8% of its initial value.

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 Con’t
▪ Example-1

Solution

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 Example-2
▪ The switch in the circuit below has been closed for a long time,
and it is opened at t=0. Find v(t) for t≥ 𝟎. Calculate the initial
energy stored in the capacitor.

Solution
▪ For t<0, the switch is closed; the capacitor is an open circuit to
dc. Using voltage division

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 Con’t
▪ Since, voltage across a capacitor can’t change instantaneously, the
voltage across a capacitor at t=𝟎− is the same at t=0,Vc(0) = V0 =15V.

▪ For t>0, the switch is opened, & we have

the RC circuit shown in Fig. below.

▪ The initial energy stored in the capacitor is

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 The Source-Free RL Circuit
▪ A circuit with series connection of a resistor
and inductor. Current i(t) through the inductor
is considered as response of this system.
▪ At t = 0, assume that the inductor has an
initial current Io, or i(0)=I 0 𝟏
▪ Initial energy stored in the inductor 𝐖(𝟎) = 𝑳𝑰𝟐
𝟐

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 Con’t
▪ Response of the circuit

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 Con’t
• Current through inductor decays exponentially
i(t ) = Ioe − Rt / L
• Time constant for the RL circuit is

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 Power Dissipation
▪ Voltage across the resistor is
▪ The power dissipated in the resistor is
▪ The energy absorbed by the resistor is

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 Example-1
▪ Assuming that i(0) = 10A, calculate i(t) and ix(t) in the circuit
below.

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 Solution
▪ Applying KVL to the circuit For loop 1,

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 Con’t
▪ The voltage across the inductor is;

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 Example-2
▪ The switch in the circuit below is closed for a long time. At t = 0,
the switch is opened. Calculate i(t) for t > 0.

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 Solution
▪ For t < 0, the switch is closed, & inductor acts as a short circuit
in steady state. A 16-Ω resistor is short-circuited; the resulting
circuit is shown in Fig (a).

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 Con’t
▪ Since, current through an inductor can’t change instantaneously.

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 Exercise
▪ In the circuit shown below, find io, vo, & i for all t > 0, assuming
that the switch was open for a long time and closed at t = 0.

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 Transient Response of Second-Order Circuits
▪ Second-Order circuits contain two storage elements and their
responses are described by differential equations that contain
second derivatives.
▪ Typical examples of second-order circuits are RLC circuits, in which the
three kinds of passive elements are present. Examples of such circuits
are shown in Fig. 8.1(a) and (b).

Figure (8.1): (a) series RLC circuit, (b) parallel RLC circuit,

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 Source Free Series RLC Circuit
▪ The energy is represented by the initial capacitor voltage V0
and initial inductor current I0. Thus, at t = 0.

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 Con ‘t
▪ Our experience on first-order circuits suggests that the solution
is of exponential form. So, we let

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 Con’t
▪ The roots s1 and s2 are called natural frequencies, measured in
nepers per second (Np/s) because they are associated with the
natural response of the circuit;
▪ ω0 is known as the resonant frequency or strictly as the
undamped natural frequency, expressed in radians per second
(rad/s); and α is the neper frequency expressed in nepers per
second.
▪ Where; constants A1 & A2 are determined
from the initial values i(0) & di(0)∕dt, We
can infer that there are three types of
solutions:
1. If α > ω0, Overdamped case.
2. If α = ω0, Critically damped case.
3. If α < ω0, Underdamped case.
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 Overdamped Case (α > ω0)
𝑹 𝟏
▪ When ( )𝟐 > ( ), the circuit is said to be overdamped. Both
𝟐𝑳 𝑳𝑪
roots s1 and s2 are negative & real. Which decays & approaches
to zero as t increases.

Figure 8.9: Overdamped Response

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 Critically Damped Case (α = ω0)
𝑹 𝟐 𝟏
▪ When ( ) = ( ), the circuit is said to be critically damped
𝟐𝑳 𝑳𝑪
since the transient voltage decays in the minimum amount of
time without oscillations occurring.

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 Con’t

Figure: Critically Damped Response

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 Underdamped Case (α < ω0)
𝑹 𝟐 𝟏
▪ Two complex roots, when ( ) < ( ),
the circuit is said to be
𝟐𝑳 𝑳𝑪
underdamped since, the transient voltage oscillates about the
final steady state value, the oscillations eventually dying away
to give the steady state value.

Using Euler’s identities,

▪ The natural response is

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 Con’t
▪ We get;

▪ Replacing constants (A1+A2) & j(A1-A2) with constants B1 and B2, we

write:

Figure: Underdamped Response.

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 Example-1
▪ In Fig. 8.8, and Calculate the characteristic roots of the circuit. Is
the natural response overdamped, underdamped, or critically
damped?

Figure 8.8: A source-free series RLC circuit.

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 Solution
▪ We first calculate;

▪ Since α > ω0, we conclude that the response is overdamped.

This is also evident from the fact that the roots are real and
negative.

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 Example-2
▪ Find i(t) in the circuit of figure Fig. 8.10 below. Assume that the
circuit has reached steady state at t = 0-.

Figure 8.10

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 Solution
▪ For , the switch is closed. The capacitor acts like an open circuit
while the inductor acts like a shunted circuit. The equivalent circuit is
shown in Fig. 8.11(a). Thus, at 𝐭 = 𝟎,

Figure 8.11 The circuit in Fig. 8.10: (a) for t<0, (b) for t>0.
▪ Where i(0) is the initial current through the inductor and V(0) is the
initial voltage across the capacitor.

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 Con’t
▪ For t>0, the switch is opened and the voltage source is disconnected. The
equivalent circuit is shown in Fig. 8.11(b), which is a source free series RLC
circuit. The roots are calculated as follows:

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 Con’t
▪ From,

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 Exercise
▪ If 𝐑 = 𝟏𝟎 𝐨𝐡𝐦, 𝐋 = 𝟓 𝐇 and 𝐂 = 𝟐 𝐦𝐅 in Fig. 8.8. Find 𝛂, 𝛚𝐨,
𝐒𝟏 & 𝐒𝟐. What type of natural response will the circuit have?

Figure 8.8: A source-free series RLC circuit.

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 Reading Assignment!

✓ The Source-Free Parallel RLC Circuit

✓ Higher-order circuits & approximations

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