Efficient load flow method for distribution systems
with radial or mesh configuration
M.H.Haque
Indexing terms: Loud flow, Distributionsystems, Radial or mesh network
~~
Abstract: The paper proposes a new and efficient
method of solving the load flow problem of a
distribution system. The method can be applied
to both radial and mesh networks. A mesh
network is converted to a radial network by
breaking the loops through adding some dummy
buses. The power injections at the loop break
points (LBP) in the equivalent radial network are
computed through a reduced order node
impedance matrix. Unlike other methods, the
shunt admittances are considered in the proposed
load flow algorithm and the effect of load
admittances is also incorporated in the
calculation of power injections at the LBPs.
Because of the inclusion of shunt admittances, the
method can also be used to solve the load flow
problem of some special transmission networks.
Two different networks with various
configurations were used to demonstrate the
efficiency and convergence pattern of the method.
The results obtained by the proposed method
were also compared with some other methods.
1 Introduction
The operation and planning studies of a distribution
system require a steady-state condition of the system
for various load demands. The steady-state operating
condition of a system can be obtained from the load
flow solution. If some of the state variables in the load
flow solution exceed their limits, certain corrective
actions such as shunt capacitors, transformer (between
the primary and secondary distribution systems) tap
settings etc. must be taken to stir the state variables
within an acceptable and secured operating zone. For
some severe violations, the corrective actions may not
be adequate and certain drastic action such as load
shedding must be exercised. For a secured system,
sometimes, it may be necessary to reconfigure the sys-
tem to reduce the losses. The above process requires
several load flow solutions with various network con-
figurations, control variables and load demands. The
efficiency of the entire process depends heavily on the
efficiency and capability of the load flow program used
for this purpose.
0IEE, 1996
IEE Proceedings online no. 19960045
Paper first received 6th February 1995 and in final revised form 23rd
August 1995
The author i s with the School of Electrical Engineering, University of
South Australia, The Levels, SA 5095, Auatralia
IEE Proc-Germ Transm. Distrib.. Vol. 143, No. 1, January 1996
Several efficient algorithms have been developed to
solve the load flow problem of a high voltage transmis-
sion network [14]. However, these algorithms may not
maintain their efficiency and reliability when applied to
a low voltage distribution network. Only a few algo-
rithms have been developed for the load flow solution
of a distribution network.
In general, a distribution system is fed at one point
and the branches of the system have a wide range of R
and X values. Also the RIX ratios of branches in a dis-
tribution system are relatively high compared to a
transmission system. This makes a distribution system
ill-conditioned. That is why the conventional Newton-
Raphson (NR) method [5], the fast decoupled load
flow (FDLF) method [l] and their modifications [ 2 4 ]
are not suitable for solving the load flow problem of
such an ill-conditioned system. For most of the cases,
the NR and FDLF methods failed to converge in solv-
ing the load flow problem of distribution systems [6-81.
Some efficient algorithms for solving the load flow
problem of a radial distribution network have been
reported in the literature [8-10]. These algorithms are
not suitable for a mesh network (which has some
loops). Mesh networks are not uncommon in distribu-
tion systems. However, a loop in a mesh network can
be opened by adding a dummy or fictitious bus. The
breaking point of a loop is called the loop break point
(LBP) [Ill. The power flow through the branch that
makes a loop can be simulated by injecting the same
power at the LBPs. By adding some dummy buses, it is
possible to convert a mesh network into a radial net-
work. In this case, the number of dummy buses should
be the same as the number of loops in the original
mesh network. Thus the load flow problem of a mesh
network can be solved by using the techniques of a
radial network, but a proper calculation of power injec-
tions at the LBPs is required.
In [ l l ] the loop impedance matrix was used to find
the power injections at the LBPs. In the loop imped-
ance matrix, the effects of load and shunt admittances
are ignored. Also, the shunt admittances are not con-
sidered in the main load flow algorithm. However,
these admittances for underground cables, especially in
primary distribution systems, may not be negligible.
The shunt admittances also appear in the equivalent
circuit of a transformer (between the primary and sec-
ondary distribution systems) with an off-nominal tap
setting. Inclusion of the effects of load and shunt
admittances will obviously provide better results and a
convergence pattern of the load flow algorithm.
This paper proposes a method of solving the load
flow problem of a distribution system supplied by a
single source. The method can be applied to both
33
radial and mesh networks. The power injections at the
LBPs of a mesh network are determined through a
reduced order bus impedance matrix that allows the
inclusion of the effects of both the load and shunt
admittances. The shunt admittances are also considered
in the main load flow algorithm. This will provide bet-
ter results and allow the method to solve the load flow
problem of some special high voltage transmission net-
works as well. The proposed method was tested on a
9-bus, 230kV transmission network and a 33-bus,
12.66kV distribution network. The results obtained by
the proposed method were then compared with some
other methods.
istribution systems
In general, a distribution system is fed at only one
point and the configuration of the system is usually
radial. For a radial distribution system, the number of
branches nb and the number of buses n are related
through
n=nb+l (1)
A mesh network is not uncommon in a distribution
system. Sometimes a mesh configuration is used to
increase the efficiency, balance the load and maintain a
proper voltage profile in the system [12]. It is also u-ed
to improve the supply reliability. For a mesh network n
5 nb. The number of loops nLp of a mesh network is
given by
nLp = n b - n 1 + (2)
A mesh network having nLp loops can be reconfigured
to an equivalent radial network by adding nLp dummy
buses. Fig. 1 shows a network in which the branch
between buses f and g makes a loop. The loop of the
network can be opened by adding a dummy bus g' as
shown in Fig. 2. The behaviour or characteristics of the
original network (Fig. 1) can be preserved by injecting
complex power at buses g and g' in the equivalent
radial network (Fig. 2). Note that the power injections
at the LBPs (buses g and g') are equal but opposite in
sign.
Fig. 1 Conversion of mesh network to radial network
Fi .2 Conversion of mesh network to radial network with dummy bus g'
aJed
34
3 Network configuration
To derive the proposed load flow algorithm in a sys-
tematic way, it is required to number the branches and
order the buses of the network in a particular fashion.
The procedure of numbering the branches and ordering
the buses is described in the following sections. Note
that the dummy buses added in the mesh-radial conver-
sion process are identified by adding a prime (') sign.
For example, g' is a dummy bus added in the equiva-
lent radial network (Fig. 2).
3. 'I Branch numbering
The branch numbering process of a network requires
the construction of a tree of the network. The tree is
constructed in several layers and it starts at the root
bus where the source is connected [7].The root bus is
the swing or slack bus of the network. The first layer
consists of all branches that are connected to the root
bus. The next (second) layer consists of all branches
that are connected to the receiving end bus of the
branches in the previous (first) layer and so on. All
branches of the network should be considered in the
tree and they should appear only once. During the tree
construction process, if it is found that the receiving
end bus of a newly added branch has already been con-
sidered in the tree, it should be numbered by adding a
prime sign. This implies that the newly added branch
makes a loop in the network and it is opened by add-
ing a dummy bus. The branch numbering process starts
at the first layer. The numbering of branches in any
layer starts only after numbering all the branches in the
previous layer. The above tree construction and branch
numbering processes are further described via the fol-
lowing example.
fi
tt
9
Fig.3
?Yo
Single line diagram of 9 bus network
Consider a single line diagram of a 9-bus system as
shown in Fig. 3. The source is connected to bus o and
it is considered as the root bus. The tree o f the system
is shown in Fig. 4. The first layer of the tree consists of
branch 0-a. This is the only branch connected to the
root bus. The second layer consists of branches a-b, a-
c, a-f and a-h. All of these branches are connected to
bus a. The third layer consists of branches that are con-
nected to bus b, c, f or h but not included yet in the
tree. This layer starts with branch b-e. Since the receiv-
ing end bus (bus e) of this branch has already been
considered in the tree, it is numbered by adding a
prime sign (c'). This branch makes a loop in the system
IEE Proc -Gener Transm Distrib , Vol 143, No 1, January 1996
and it is opened by adding a dummy bus e’. The corre-
sponding LBP is e-c’. The other branches in this layer
are e-d, e-e, f-h‘, f-e’ and f-g. Similarly, the fourth and
last layer of the tree consists of branch d-g’. The
branch numbering process starts at the first layer of the
tree and it continues successively until the last layer.
The branches in sequence are 0-a, a-b, a-e, a-f, a-h,
b-c’, e-d, c-e, f-h’, f-e’, f-g and d-g’. The above
branch numbering is also shown in Fig. 4. It should be
mentioned here that the system of Fig. 3 consists of
nine buses and 12 branches. Thus according to eqn. 2,
there are four loops in the system. The LBPs identified
in the tree construction process are c-e’, h-h‘, e-e’ and
g-g’.
-
f Q:= Qk + Qg - QA - V A Y ~ / ~
0 It’’I layer 1
Yayer
g’
Fig.4 Tree of 9-bus system
3.2 Bus ordering
The number of buses in a tree is higher than that in the
original network because of the addition of some
dummy buses. The buses in the tree are divided into
three sets. This will allow the calculation of power
injections at the LBPs in a simple and efficient way as
described in Section 5.
Set a: The first set consists of the original buses where
the LBPs are found in the tree construction process.
The number of buses in this set is the same as the
number of loops (aLp) in the original system. Buses c,
h, e and g , in Fig. 4, belong to this set. The order or
sequence of these buses in the set is not important.
Set b: The second set consists of all dummy buses
added in the tree to break the loops. Buses c’, h’, e’ and
g’ belong to this set. The sequence of these buses
should be the same as used in the first set.
Set e: The third set consists of the rest of the buses in
the tree except the root bus. The sequence of these
buses in the set is not important.
It is considered that the network is so meshed that
there is no more than one LBP at a particular bus.
Note that the above bus ordering process is required to
compute the power injections at the LBPs in a simple
and systematic way. In the absence of an LBP (for a
radial network), set a and set b become null and all the
buses are in set e. In this case the calculation of power
injections at the LBPs is not required and the bus
ordering process can be dropped completely.
IEE Proc.-Gener. Transm. Distrib., Vol. 143, No. I , Januavy 1996
4 Load flow equations
The load flow problem of a single source network can
be solved iteratively from two sets of recursive equa-
tions. The recursive equations in backward and for-
ward directions are derived as follows.
Consider that the branch i in a tree is connected
between buses k and m. Bus k is closer to the root bus.
The series impedance and shunt admittance of the
branch are (R,+jXJ and y,, respectively. The 7 ~ :circuit
model of the branch is shown in Fig. 5. The active (P;)
and reactive ((3;) power flow through the series imped-
ance of the branch (as shown in Fig. 5) can be written
as:
+ P,“ - P A
P; = P; (3)
(4)
Here, the superscripts L, F and I in P and Q represent
the load, flow and injection, respectively. The flow
Pi (QL)is the sum of the active (reactive) power flow
through all the downstream branches that are con-
nected to bus m. The procedure of finding the power
injections (PA and QA) at the LBPs is described in the
next Section. The active (P,) and reactive (Q,) power
flow through branch i near bus k can be written as:
‘ m
Eqns. 5 and 6 can be used recursively in a backward
direction to find the power flow through each branch
in the tree. The backward direction means the equa-
tions are first applied to the last branch of the tree and
proceed in reverse direction until the first branch is
reached. By knowing the power flow through each
branch, the voltage magnitude and angle at each bus
can be obtained from another set of recursive equations
in a forward direction.
- -
- -
Fig.5 n circuit model of branch
Consider that the angle of voltage at bus k is zero.
The complex voltage at bus m, in Fig. 5, can be written
as
s;*
v, = VI, - IiZi = VI, - -(Rz +j&)
vi
= (.- +
PL”Rz Q:’x,)- (P,”X, -
) (7)
Q;Rz
VI, vk
where S,” = P,“ + jQ,”, P,“ = P,, Q,“ = Q,+Vk2y,/2and
I, is the current through the series impedance (R,+jX,).
From eqn. 7, the voltage magnitude and angle at bus rn
can be written as:
V, = V: - 2(P,”Rz+QYXz)+ (P;’ + Q ~ ’ ) ( R
+Xp)/V,”
~
(8)
35
6, = - tan-'(al/uz) (9)
where
a1 = (P,"X, - QYR,)/Vj
+
a2 = V k - (pi'Rz QYX,)/Vi
If the angle of voltage at bus k is 6k (instead of zero),
the angle 6, becomes
S, = - tan-l(al/az) (10)
Eqns. 8 and 10 can be used recursively in a forward
direction to find the voltage and angle, respectively, of
all buses in the tree.
5 Power injections a t the LBPs
In the proposed method of load flow calculation, the
voltage differences at the LBPs are calculated in each
iteration. Based on the voltage differences, the currents
and hence the power injections at the LBPs are found
through a reduced order bus impedance matrix Zred.
The order of Z r e d is the same as the number of loops in
the original mesh network. It is considered that the
source at the root bus is ideal. It has constant terminal
voltage with negligible internal impedance and is capa-
ble of supplying all the loads and losses in the system.
The node equation of the tree can be written as
Note that the buses in the tree are divided into three
sets as described in Section 3.2. The root bus is not
included in eqn. 11 because it is connected to the refer-
ence bus through a negligible (or zero) impedance. The
loads in the system are replaced by constant shunt
admittances at a nominal voltage of l.Opu,
In eqn. 11, the current injections to the third set (set c)
of buses are zero because the effect of loads is consid-
ered in the Y matrix and there is no LBP at these
buses. Thus the third set of buses in eqn. 11 can be
eliminated by Kron reduction [13]. The reduced system
consists of the first two sets of buses (set a and set 6)
and the corresponding node equation is
or
[:I] [:,: 21I,:[
=
From eqn. 14, the voltage difference [vab] at the LBPs
can be written as
[V,,] = [Vu - V,] = [Zl - Z,][I,] + [Z, - Z,l[Ib] (15)
Note that the current or power injections at the LBPs
(set a and set 6) are equal but opposite in sign. Thus,
Using eqn. 16, the voltage difference of eqn. 15 can be
written as
[vab] = [zl - 2 3 - z2 + z4][Ia]
= [Zreci][Ia] (17)
Since the network is linear, eqn. 17 is also valid for the
incremental quantities
[AV,,] = [Zredl [aLI (18)
The order of [Z,,,] is the same as the number of loops
in the mesh network. The incremental voltage differ-
ence [AV,,] is the difference between the specified and
36
calculated values. The specified voltage difference [V,,]
at the LBPs is zero. By knowing the value of [AVab],
during the iteration process, [AIa] can be obtained from
eqn. 18. Once [AI,] is known, the incremental change in
complex power injection at the first set of buses (set a)
can be written as
[As,] = [Vu][nIa]* (19)
Here [V,] is a diagonal matrix. At the end of each iter-
ation, the active and reactive power injections at the
LBPs can be updated as:
Here '3 and 3 are the real and imaginary parts, respec-
tively, and p is the iteration count. Note that the power
injections at the second set of buses (set 6) are the same
as the first set of buses but with opposite sign.
6 Algorithm of proposed method
The computational steps involved in solving the load
flow problem of a single source network, by the pro-
posed method, are given in the following:
(i) Read the system data. Construct the tree and
number the branches. Assume the initial voltage of all
buses except the root bus.
(ii) Order the buses and compute the reduced bus
impedance matrix [Z,,,] of eqn. 17. Assume the initial
value of power injection at the LBPs.
(iii) Compute the active and reactive power flow
through each branch of the tree from eqns. 5 and 6,
respectively. The power flow should be calculated in a
backward direction (starting at the last branch of the
tree and stopping at the first branch).
(iv) Compute the voltage magnitude at the receiving
end bus of each branch using eqn. 8. The voltage
should be calculated in a forward direction.
(v) Compute the angle of the voltage at the end of each
branch in a forward direction using eqn. 10. Find the
voltage differences at the LBPs. Update the active and
reactive power injections at the LBPs using eqns. 20
and 21, respectively.
(vi) Repeat steps (iii) to (v) until the algorithm con-
verges with an acceptable tolerance.
The algorithm described above is for a mesh network.
For a radial network, steps (ii) and (v) can be dropped
because of the absence of LBPs and the algorithm then
becomes very simple.
7 Simulation results
The proposed method of solving the load flow problem
was tested on the following two networks for various
configurations:
(i) the 9-bus network
(ii) the 33-bus network.
To start the iteration process, it was considered that
the initial voltage at all the buses was the same as spec-
ified at the root bus. The initial power injections at the
LBPs were assumed to be zero. A tolerance of 0.0001
pu on the voltage magnitude was used for both the net-
works. The results obtained for these networks are
summarised in the following Sections.
IEE Proc -Gener Transm Dutrib , Vol 143, N o 1, January 1996
 7. I 9-bus network pattern of the proposed method for case b and case c is
The single line diagram of the 9-bus network is shown shown in Fig. 6. It can be observed in the Figure that
in Fig. 3 . It is a modified high voltage transmission net- the method has excellent convergence behaviour and in
work. The original network was obtained from [I41 and fact it converged in eight and seven iterations for case b
it consists of nine buses, nine branches and three gener- and case c, respectively.
ators. Three new branches were added to the network
' 3
to form extra loops or LBPs. The generator at buses d 3
and g (in the original network) was replaced by a load $
a
with an appropriate sign. This is required because the "
-c 0.1,
proposed method is applicable to a single source net- c
.O
work. Even though it is most uncommon to have a 5
.-

high voltage transmission network with only one

source, the above network was considered for the pur-
," 0.01:

pose of checking the convergence pattern and results of -s

c

0
the proposed method in the presence of shunt admit- ' 0.001:
tances. The proposed method was applied to solve the
load flow problem of the network for the following 2
.-
three cases. 2 0.0001
Case a This is the original transmission network with
nine buses and nine branches. The network has only
one loop. 0.00001 I I I , I , , , , , * , , , , , , , , I , , , , , , ~, , , q
I I I , , , I , , ,,, I I I , I , ,

0 2 6 4a 10
Case b The network of case a is modified by adding iteration number
three new branches (a-c, a-f and d-g). The series Fig.6 Convergencepattern of proposed method for 9-bus network
Case b
impedance and shunt admittance of each new branch
~

~ _ _ Case
_ c
are considered as (0.05+jO.l5)pu and O.Opu, respec-
tively. The modified network is shown in Fig. 3 and it

f
has four loops.
25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32
Case c The resistance and reactance values of all the
branches in the network of case b are swapped to cre-
ate a high RIX ratio. It is very unusual to have a net- 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1112 13 1 4 1 5 1 6 17
work with such extremely high RIX ratio branches. I I I I I I I I I I I I I
However, this case was considered for the sake of com-
parison and to check the convergence pattern of the
proposed method for extremely high RIX ratio 18 19 20 21
branches. Fig.7 Single line diagram of 33-bus network

Table 1: Results of the proposed load flow method for

the 9-bus network
3
0.
Voltage magnitude (pu) =' 0.1 :
U
c

Bus Case a Case b Case c

.-E 0.01 :
a 1.0258 1.031 1 0.9770
b 1.0127 1.0200 0.9256 %
C 1.0324 1.0399 0.9991 - c

9 0.001
d
e
1.0250
1.0159
1.0312
1.0269
1.0562
0.9550 E
.-
s
f 1.0258 1.0386 1.0005 2 0.0001 1
g 1.0250 1.0395 1.0839
h 0.9956 1.0065 0.9055 0 00001 ,, ,,I,,, 1 ~ ~ ' ~ " ~ ' ' i ~ ' ~ ~

0 2 3 4 1 5
The voltage magnitude at the root bus was considered iteration number
to be 1 . 0 4 for
~ ~all the cases. The voltage magnitudes Fig.8 Convergencepattern of pi oposed methodfoi 33-bus network
~ Case a
at the rest of the buses obtained by the proposed Case h
~~~

method, for the above three cases, are given in Table 1.

The voltage magnitudes obtained by the proposed
method, in case a, were compared with those reported
in [14] and were found to be in excellent agreement.
The load flow problem of the network, in case 6, was
also solved by the NR method and results obtained
were found to be exactly the same as shown in the
Table. For case c, the NR method failed to converge in
30 iterations because of extremely high RIX ratio
branches. However, the proposed method converged
successfully without any difficulty. The convergence
IEE Proc -Gene! Tiumm Distrib Vol 143 No I January 1996
7.2 33-bus network
The data of the 33-bus (including the root bus) net-
work are obtained from [12]. It is a hypothetical
12.66kV distribution network. The single line diagram
of the network is shown in Fig. 7. The network has five
tie lines or loops. The proposed, FDLF and NR meth-
ods were tested on this network for the following two
cases.
Case a: The tie lines are ignored to create a radial con-
figuration of the network.
31
Case b: The tie lines are added to create some loops in
the network. To include the effect of shunt admit-
tances, it is assumed that the shunt admittance of a
branch having an impedance of ( R + j X ) !2 is 2 x
104 d[R2+ X2]S.This value is selected arbitrarily.
The voltage magnitude at the root bus was considered
to be 1 . 0 ~The
~ . voltage magnitudes at the rest of the
buses, for both cases, are given in Table 2. The results
obtained in case a were compared with those reported
in [12] and were found to be in exact agreement. It can
be observed in the Table that the voltage magnitudes
found in case b are higher than that of case a because
of the inclusion of tie lines and shunt admittances.
Fig. 8 shows the convergence pattern of the proposed
method for both cases. It can be seen in the Figure
that, for the radial network (case a), the method con-
verged very quickly (only in three iterations). However,
in the presence of five tie lines or loops (case b), the
method required five iterations to converge. The CPU
time required to solve the load flow problems by vari-
ous methods is given in Table 3. It can be noticed in
the Table that the proposed method requires much less
computational time than the conventional FDLF or
NR method.
Table 2: Results of the proposed load flow method for
the 33-bus network
converted to an equivalent radial configuration by
breaking the loops. The conversion process added some
dummy buses in the network. The power injections at
the loop break points are computed by using a reduced
order bus impedance matrix. The order of the matrix is
the same as the number of loops in the original net-
work. The effects of both the load and shunt admit-
tances are considered in the impedance matrix. Because
of the incorporation of shunt admittances, the pro-
posed method can also be used to solve the load flow
problem of a single source transmission system.
The proposed method has been tested on a modified
230kV transmission system and a 12.66kV distribution
system for various configurations. For some cases, the
results obtained by the proposed method were com-
pared with previously reported results and were found
to be in exact agreement. It was observed through sev-
eral simulations that the proposed method has an
excellent convergence pattern for a radial network. In
the presence of loops, the method possesses a very
good convergence behaviour. It converged in less than
ten iterations for all cases studied. It was also seen that,
for a network having extremely high RIX ratio
branches, the method converged successfully without
any significant change in the convergence pattern.
9 Acknowledgment

Voltage magnitude (pu) Voltage magnitude (pu) The author wishes to thank the King Fahd University
Bus Casea Case b Bus Casea Case b of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia for
the computational facilities provided in conducting this
1 0.9963 0.9968 17 0.8959 0.9496
research.
2 0.9785 0.9846 18 0.9958 0.9951
3 0.9682 0.9807 19 0.9922 0.981 1
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38 IEE Proc.-Gener. Tvansm. Distrib.,Vol. 143, No. I , January 1996