KNR3513 Power System Analysis

Chapter 4 (A)
Gauss-Seidel Power Flow Solution
 Solution of Nonlinear Algebraic Equations
Suppose we have a number of observations that gives us the
following set of equations,

= ,X ,….,X ,
: Degree higher than
: 1 (nonlinear)

= ,X ,….,X ,
The above is a set of nonlinear equations that need to be solved in
order to determine all unknown components.
The most common techniques used for the iterative solution of nonlinear algebraic equations are
Gauss-Seidel, Newton-Raphson and Quasi-Newton methods. The Gauss-Seidel and Newton-Raphson
are discussed further for one-dimensional and then extended to n-dimensional equations.
 Gauss-Seidel Power Flow Solution
The Gauss-Seidel method is also known as successive displacement
approach. To illustrate the technique of this method, consider the solution of
the nonlinear equation given by,

The above equation can be rearranged and expressed as,

If ( ) is an initial estimate of the variable , the following iterative

sequence is formed as,

The solution is obtained when the difference between the absolute value
of the successive iteration is less than a specified accuracy ( ), i.e.,
 Example (1)
Find the root of the following equation using Gauss-Seidel method.
Assume an initial estimate of ( ) = 2 . To validate the analytical
solution, run the program with the plot command (GSA, figGSA) using
the MATLAB environment.

Solving for the above equation, the above expression can be written as,
 Continue
Apply the Gauss-Seidel algorithm, and use an initial estimate of ( ) = 2.
From the previous equation of iterative sequence ( ) = ( ( ) ),
Graphical illustration of and over a range 0 to 4.5

The subsequent iterations result in

2.8966, 3.3376, 3.7398, 3.9568, 3.9988
and 4.0000. The process is repeated until
the change in variables is within the
desired accuracy. It is seen that this
method needs many iterations to achieve Graphical illustration of
the desired accuracy. and over a range 0 to 4.5
 Gauss-Seidel for n-dimensional equations
Consider a system of equations in variables as written below,

Solving for one variable from each equation, the above functions are
rearranged as given below,
The iteration procedure is initiated by
assuming an approximate solution for
( )
each of the independent variables ( ,
( ) ( )
….., ).
 Continue
( )
The previous set of equations result in new approximate solution ( ,
( ) ( )
….., ). When using Gauss-Seidel approach, the updated values of
the variables calculated in the processing equations are immediately
used in the solution of the subsequent equations. At the end of each
iteration, the calculated values are tested against the previous values. If
all changes in the variables are within the specified accuracy, a solution
has converged, otherwise, another iteration must be performed. The rate
of convergence can often be increased by using a suitable acceleration
factor ∝ , and the iterative sequence becomes as,
 Example (2)
Use the Gauss-Seidel method with an acceleration factor of ∝= 1.25 to
find the root of the following equation. Assume an initial estimate of
( ) = 2. To validate the analytical solution, run the program with the
plot command (GSAAF, figGSAAF) using the MATLAB environment
(Note that the command has been modified before the end statement
by adding = 1.25 ∗ to reflect effect of acceleration factor.

Solving with an initial estimate of ( ) = 2 using the equation of

acceleration factor ∝ for the first iteration as,
 Continue
The second iteration is,

The subsequent iterations result in

3.0801, 3.1831, 3.7238, 4.0084, 3.9978
and 4.0005. The effect of acceleration
can be seen graphically in the Figure. A
very large acceleration causes an
overshoot, which may lead to an
Graphical illustration using the
increase in the number of iterations or acceleration factor
even result in divergence.
 Power Flow Solution using Gauss-Seidel
In the Gauss-Seidel method, the equation (4-ch3) (refer to chapter 3) is
solved for and the iterative sequence becomes,

(1)

Where is the actual admittance in per unit. and are the net real
and reactive powers expressed in per unit. In writing the KCL, current
entering bus was assumed positive. Thus, for buses where real and
reactive power are injected into bus, such as generator buses and
have positive values. For load buses where the real and reactive powers are
flowing away from the bus, and have negative values. If (4)-ch3 is
solved for and the following can be obtained,
 Continue
(2)

(3)
The power flow equation is usually expressed in terms of the elements of the
bus admittance matrix. Since the off-diagonal elements of the bus admittance
matrix are = − , and the diagonal elements are = ∑ , equation
(1) can be modified as,
(4)
and includes the admittance
to ground of line charging
(5) susceptance and any other
fixed admittance.

(6)
 Continue
For the Gauss-Seidel method, an initial voltage estimate of 1.0 + 0.0 for
unknown voltage is satisfactory, and the converged solution correlates with the
actual operating states. For P-Q buses and are known. Starting with
the initial estimate, equation (4) is solved for the real and imaginary
components of voltage.
For the voltage-controlled buses (P-V buses) where and are specified,
( ) ( )
first equation (6) is solved for and then is used in (4) to solve for .
( )
However, since is specified, only the imaginary part is retained and
its real part is selected in order to satisfy (7).
( ) ( )
Here, and are the real and imaginary components of the voltage
( )
in the iterative sequence.

(7)
 Continue
The rate of convergence is increased by applying an acceleration factor
to the approximate solution obtained from each iteration using (8). The
updated voltages immediately replace the previous values in the
solution of the subsequent equations. The process is continued until
reaching specific accuracy as in (9).

(8) For the power mismatch to be

reasonably small and acceptable, a very
tight tolerance must be specified on both
components of the voltage. A voltage
accuracy in the range of 0.00001 to
(9) 0.00005 pu is satisfactory. A typical
power mismatch accuracy is 0.001 pu.

Once the solution is converged, the net real and reactive powers at the
slack bus are computed from equations (5) and (6).
 Example (3)
The magnitude of the voltage in Figure (a) at bus 1 is adjusted to 1.05 pu,
the scheduled loads at uses 2 and 3 are marked in pu on a 100 MVA base
and the line charging susceptances are neglected. Using the Gauss-
Seidel method, determine the phasor values of the voltage at the load
buses 2 and 3 (P-Q buses) accurate to four decimal places.

(a)
 Solution (3)

(b)
Continue

(b)
Continue
Continue
Continue