Question 1

Reasons why Y-bus is used for power or load flow analysis

 It is easy to directly consider mutual impedances using Singular Transformation Method
of Y-bus
 It is easy to modify Y-bus incase of any changes in the power system such as addition or
removal of a transmission line
 Y-bus can be easily be formed using inspection Method while Z-bus building algorithm
is completed and complex
 Load flow studies involve Nodal Analysis and the main concern is to find the node or bus
voltage thus, while forming Kirchhoff’s Current Law (KCL) equation admittance is a
natural choice as compared to impedance.
 Y-bus is a sparse Matrix or symmetrical that is most of elements are zero and hence less
memory is required for storage since load flow analysis are done in computers as
compared to Z-base which is a full matrix and all elements are non-zero so more memory
is required
 Y-bus values are smaller compared to Z-bus values, hence calculation becomes simpler.
 Y-matrix is symmetrical and there are many zeroes therein, hence it requires less memory
 It is easy to incorporate the effect of mutual coupling in Y-bus.
Question 2
Reasons why Z-bus is used for fault analysis
 The diagonal elements in Z-bus represent Thevenin Impedances while diagonal elements
of Y-bus do not represent Thevenin Admittances
 Z-bus quantities characterize conditions when all current injections are zero except one,
corresponding to faulted bus. So, we can use some creative thinking to express that one
current injection (the fault current) and once we have that one current injection, it is very
easy to evaluate and to obtain all bus voltages in the network, and hence getting all
current all currents. These currents found are the currents under fault conditions and are
used to design protection systems.
 Z-bus is not sparse that is no zeros, but fortunately, fault analysis does not require
iterative solutions, and so computational benefit of sparsity is not significant in fault
analysis.
