Dr.-Ing.

Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany

Chapter 2
Nodal analysis & Mesh
analysis
Nodal Analysis: The Concept.

• Every circuit has n nodes with one of the nodes being designated as a
reference node.

• We designate the remaining n – 1 nodes as voltage nodes and give each

node a unique name, vi.

• At each node we write Kirchhoff’s current law in terms of the node

voltages.
Dr.-Ing. Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany

• We form n-1 linear equations at the n-1 nodes in terms of the node
voltages.

•We solve the n-1 equations for the n-1 node voltages.

From the node voltages we can calculate any branch current or any
voltage across any element.
Dr.-Ing. Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany

Concept Illustration:
v 1
v 2 v 3
 
R 2 R 4

R 1
R 3
I

r e fe r e n c e n o d e

V1  V2 V1 V1 V1  V3
   I
R2 R1 R3 R4
Dr.-Ing. Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany

Clearing the previous equation gives,

 1 1 1 1   1   1 
    V1   V2   V3  I
 R1 R2 R3 R4   R2   R4 

We would need two additional equations, from the remaining

circuit, in order to solve for V1, V2, and V3
Dr.-Ing. Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany
Ex. 1
Given the following circuit. Set-up the equations to solve for V1 and

V2. Also solve for the voltage V6.

R 2 v1 R 3
v2 R 5
 

+
R 1 I1 R 4 v6 R 6
_

Solution
Dr.-Ing. Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany

R2 v1 R3 v2 R5
V1 V1  V2  
  I1
R1  R2 R3 +
R1 I1 R4 v6 R6
_
V2  V1 V2 V2
   0
R3 R4 R5  R6

 1 1   1 

R R  R V1  
R V2  I 1
 1 2 3   3

 1   1 1 1 

R V1  
R  R  R R  V2  0
 3  3 4 5 6 
Dr.-Ing. Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany

Ex. 2 Find V1 and V2.

2 A
Solution v1  v2

5 
At v1:
10 
V1 V1  V2 20  4 A
 2
10 5
At v2:
V2  V1 V2
  6
5 20

V1 + 2V1 – 2V2 = 20 4V2 – 4V1 + V2 = -120

3V1 – 2V2 = 20 -4V1 + 5V2 = -120

Solution: V1 = -20 V, V2 = -40 V

Dr.-Ing. Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany

Ex. 3 Given the following circuit. Set-up the equations to solve for
V1 and V2. I
Solution
R
At V1: 1 v1 v2
V1  E V1 V1  V2 R 3
  I
R1 R2 R3 +
E _ R 2 R 4
At V2:
V2 V2  V
 1  I
R R
4 3

 1 1 1   1  E
   V1   V2  I 
 R1 R2 R3   R3  R1

 1   1 1 
  V1    V2   I
 R2   R3 R4 
Dr.-Ing. Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany

Ex. 4 Find V1 and V2.

Solution 4  10 V v1
At v1: v2
_
 + 
V1 V1  10  V2
  5
10 4 6  10  5 A
At v2:
V2 V2  10  V1
 0
6 4

4V1 + 10V1 + 100 – 10V2 = -200 4V2 + 6V2 – 60 – 6V1 = 0

14V1 – 10V2 = -300 -6V1 + 10V2 = 60

V1 = -30 V, V2 = -12 V
Dr.-Ing. Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany

Ex. 5 Given the following circuit. Solve for the indicated nodal voltages.

2  super node
x
v 2 v
v 1 x _
+ 3
5  10 V
x x
6 A 4  10 

Solution
Dr.-Ing. Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany

2 

v1
v2
_
+
v3 Constraint Equation
5  10 V

6 A 4  10 
V3 – V2 = 10

V1  V2 V1  V3
At V1  6
5 2

At super V2  V1 V2 V3 V3  V1
   0
node 5 4 10 2
Dr.-Ing. Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany

7V1 – 2V2 – 5V3 = 60

-14V1 + 9V2 + 12V3 = 0

V3 – V2 = 10

Solving gives:

V1 = 30 V, V2 = 14.29 V, V3 = 24.29 V
Dr.-Ing. Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany

Ex. 6
Consider the circuit below. We desire to solve for the node voltages V 1 and V2.

2 
_ +
V x
v1 v2
 
10 
2 A
4 

10 V + 5 
_
5V x

In this case we have a dependent source, 5Vx, that must be reckoned with.
Actually, there is a constraint equation of
V2  Vx  V1
Dr.-Ing. Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany
2 
_ +
V x
v1 v2
 
10 
2 A
4 

10 V + 5 
_
5V x

V1  10 V1 V1  V2 V2  V1 V2  5V x
At node V1   2 At node V2   2
10 5 2 2 4

The constraint equation: Vx  V2  V1

Dr.-Ing. Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany

8V1  5V2  30

3V1  2V2   8

which yields,

V1  100V , V2  154V
Dr.-Ing. Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany

Mesh Analysis: Basic Concepts:

 In formulating mesh analysis we assign a mesh

current to each mesh.

 Mesh currents are sort of fictitious in that a particular

mesh current does not define the current in each branch
of the mesh to which it is assigned.

I1 I2 I3
Dr.-Ing. Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany

R 1 R 2
_ + _
+ V 1 V 2
+
+ +
V A V R V B
_ I1 _
L 1 x I2 _

Around mesh 1:

I1 R1   I1  I 2  RX  VA

so, ( R1  RX ) I1  RX I 2  VA
Dr.-Ing. Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany

R 1 R 2
_ + _
+ V 1 V 2
+
+ +
V A V R V B
_ I1 _
L 1 x I2 _

Around mesh 2 we have

( I 2  I1 ) R X  I 2 R2  VB

or  RX I1  ( R X  R2 ) I 2   VB
Dr.-Ing. Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany

( R1  RX ) I1  RX I 2  V A Eq 7.5

 RX I1  ( RX  R2 ) I 2   VB Eq 7.6

We can easily solve these equations for I1 and I2.

Dr.-Ing. Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany

Ex. 7 Write the mesh equations and solve for the currents I1, and I2.
4  2 

Solution 7 
6 
10V + I1 I2
_
2V + _
_ 20V
+

Mesh 1 4I1 + 6(I1 – I2) = 10 - 2 10I1 – 6I2 = 8

Mesh 2 6(I2 – I1) + 2I2 + 7I2 = 2 + 20 -6I1 + 15I2 = 22

I1 = 2.2105 A I2 = 2.3509 A
Dr.-Ing. Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany
Ex. 8 Solve for the mesh currents in the circuit below.
12V
9 
_
_ +

+
I3 8V
10  11 
+ _

6  4 
3 
I1 _ I2
20V + 10V
__ +

Solution 6I1 + 10(I1 – I3) + 4(I1 – I2) = 20 + 10

4(I2 – I1) + 11(I2 – I3) + 3I2 = - 10 - 8
9I3 + 11(I3 – I2) + 10(I3 – I1) = 12 + 8
Dr.-Ing. Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany

20I1 – 4I2 – 10I3 = 30

-4I1 + 18I2 – 11I3 = -18
-10I1 – 11I2 + 30I3 = 20
Dr.-Ing. Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany
Ex. 9 Solve for the mesh currents in the circuit below.
20  30  12 

_ 8 
10 
+ I1 I2 + 15V I3
20V _
+ _
_ 10V 30V
10  +

Solution

20  10  20 I1  10( I1  I 2 )
10  15  10( I 2  I1 )  30 I 2  10( I 2  I 3 )
30  15  20 I 3  10( I 3  I 2 )
Dr.-Ing. Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany
Ex. 9 Find the three mesh currents in the circuit below.
20V
2 
_ +

10  I3
20 

10V + I1 5  I2
_ 4A

15 

Solution

When a current source is present, it will be directly related to one

or more of the mesh current. In this case I2 = -4A.
Dr.-Ing. Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany

An easy way to handle this case is to remove the current source as

shown below. Next, write the mesh equations for the remaining
meshes. 20V
2 
_ +
10I1 + (I1-I2)5 = 10
10  I3
or 20 

15I1 – 5I2 = 10 +
10V _ I1 5  I2

15 

2I3 + (I3-I2)20 = 20
or
12I3 – 10I2 = 10 I2 = - 4A
Dr.-Ing. Ahmed Said, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Germany

I1 = -0.667 A

I2 = - 4 A

I3 = - 2.5 A