PROJECT REPORT

ON EM
OSCILLATIONS IN A
LCR CIRCUIT

With C++ programming

SUBMITTED BY

VAISHALI D/o RK
M.Sc 1st year (2nd sem)
SECTION A

INTRODUCTION

An RLC circuit (also known as a resonant circuit, tuned circuit, or LCR circuit) is an electrical
circuit consisting of a resistor (R), an inductor (L), and a capacitor (C), connected in series or in
parallel. This configuration forms a harmonic oscillator.
An RLC circuit is called a second-order circuit as any voltage or current in the circuit can be
described by a second-order differential equation for circuit analysis.

UNDAMPED AND DAMPED OSCILLATIONS :

In oscillators, it was assumed that no dissipation of energy

takes place. If such oscillator exists, then the amplitude of its oscillations remain constant.
There will be continuous conversion of potential energy into kinetic energy (electric energy
into magnetic energy) and vice versa but the total energy of the system remain constant at
all instants. Such an oscillator is said to be UNDAMPED. In an undamped mechanical
oscillator, the system moves purely due to the interplay of inertia and elasticity. No external
resistive force acts on the system. In the undamped electrical oscillator, the inductor, the
capacitor as well as the other parts of the circuit should be resistanceless. Such an ideal
oscillator cannot be realized in practice. All the practical oscillators operate under the
influence of resistance, however small, it may be. For example ,when a simple pendulum is
set into oscillations, the friction as well as viscosity of the air resist the motion of the
pendulum, the energy is continuously dissipated against the resistive forces and the
oscillations of the pendulum, ultimately cease. Similarly, when the LC circuit is set into
oscillations, the energy is continuously dissipated in the resistance that is invariable present
in the circuit and ultimately the oscillations came to an end. Such an oscillator is said to be
DAMPED.
DAMPING
The mechanism that results in dissipation of the energy of an oscillator is called
DAMPING. The damping, in general is a very complex phenomenon and may involve
many factors having different magnitude of complexities. For example, in mechanical
oscillators, the damping may be due to : (i) viscous drag (ii)friction(iii)structure. Since it is
generally very difficult to predict the nature of damping, therefore, we mostly rely on
experience.
In the electrical oscillator, the energy may be dissipated due to the presence of resistance in
the circuit. Also the energy is dissipated due to the emission of the electromagnetic waves.
The damping in the electric oscillator depends on the oscillating variable . Thus if the
oscillating variable be x, then the damping factor or the resistive factor of oscillator is
proportional to dx/dt. That is:
Fd = r
Here r is the damping constant.
ELECTRICAL OSCILLATOR
In the electric oscillator Fd represent resistive force and dx/dt is the velocity. Therefore, r
has the dimensions of voltagecurrent. It is equivalent to resistance. Thus the damping

constant may be defined as the resistive voltage per unit current in the system. It is equal to
the resistance of the circuit and had the units volt/ampere or ohm.
1 Physics
1.1 Review of Kirchhoffs Law : Kirchhoffs Law states that in any closed loop of
a circuit the algebraic sum of the voltages of the elements in that loop will be zero.

1.2

Algebraic simply means signed. Elements in the circuit may either increase
(add) voltage or drop (subtract) voltage.
Voltage Drops Over Various Circuit Elements
Resistors, capacitors and inductors have well known voltage drops at direct current
(DC) flows through those elements. Ohms Law describes that the voltage drop
across a resistor is proportional to the current and the resistance:
(1)
The voltage drop across a capacitor is proportional to the charge held on either side
of the capacitor. The charge is not always useful in equations mainly in terms of
current, but luckily the charge on a capacitor is the integrated current over time:
(2)
An inductor is a tightly wound series of coils through which the current flows. A
fairly uniform magnetic field is created on the interior of these coils. If the current
changes so does the magnetic field and an induced current is produced. The
previous statement is a result of the well-known physical law known as Faradays
Law. The voltage drop is proportional to the change in the magnetic field and
therefore the change in the current:
(3)

1.3

Also, the coils in inductors often have non-negligible resistance.

Energy Storage in Capacitors and Inductors
Where resistors simply give off energy by radiating heat, capacitors and inductors
store energy. The energy stored in each is listed below:
(4)
(5)

2 Mathematical Circuit Analysis:

2.1 The LRC Series Circuit
Using Kirchhoffs Law we have:
(6)

Figure 1 LRC circuit

Using Equations (1), (2) and (3) in Equation (6)results in:
(7)
Now let us assume that is constant in time. Here we consider a square wave
with a large period to produce constant voltage. Next let us differentiate equation
(7) with respect to time in order to eliminate the integral and the constant term
Equation (7) becomes:

Assuming a solution of the form

obtain

(8)
we substitute into equation (8) and
(9)

Solving using the quadratic formula we have:

(10)
When the resistor is absent and there is no resistance from any other source the
solution is:

where

(11)

Our goal in defining

, besides making broader connection to other physical circuits,

is to simplify . Other helpful term which will help us simplify is listed below with
the simplified version of :

(12)
(13)
This approach has given us a general solution to the differential equation (8), but
depending on the relation between

& , the solution can be very different. Let us

define a critical value of the time constant .

(14)
If
, there is no oscillation at all because the discriminant in Equation (13) is 0,
and the system is called critically damped.

For
the discriminant is positive and the system is called overdamped. In
either case, we say that the oscillator is aperiodic which means that there is no period.

The case that is of main interest to us is when

, called underdamped. The discriminant is

negative and this yields an imaginary part to . Figure 2 illustrates the behavior of each of the
three cases beginning at t = 0 from rest with an initial displacement of
quantity

for various values of the

Underdamped (

Critical (

Overdamped (

Figure 3 Three rgimes for damping behavior.

PROGRAMME
AIM: Write a program to study graphically the EM oscillations in a LCR circuit (use Runge-Kutta

Method). Show the variation of

i. Charge vs Time
ii. Current vs Time
THEORY:

Consider a series RLC circuit (one that has a resistor, an inductor and a capacitor) with
a constant driving electro-motive force (emf) E. The current equation for the circuit is

This is equivalent:
Differentiating, we have

(A)

(B)
This is a second order linear homogeneous equation.
Now if i=

, so by (A)

+R
This equation can be solved by many methods. One of this is RUNGE KUTTA method. To
solve this with RG method we convert this equation to the 1st order coupled differential
equation.

and
by defining 8 slopes 4 for each differential equation because

these equation is in the form.

and
(B): corresponding auxiliary equation is

=0
with roots:

Now

is called the damping coefficient of the circuit

is the resonant frequency of the circuit.

m1 and m2 are called the natural frequencies of the circuit.

The nature of the current will depend on the relationship between R, L and C.
There are three possibilities:

Case 1: R2 > 4L/C (Over-Damped)

Here both m1 and m2 are real, distinct and negative. The general solution is given by

i(t)=A
The motion (current) is not oscillatory, and the vibration returns to equilibrium.

Case 2: R2 = 4L/C (Critically Damped)

Here the roots are negative, real and equal,

i.e. m1=m2=
The general solution is given by

i(t)=(A+Bt)
The vibration (current) returns to equilibrium in the minimum time and there is just enough damping to
prevent oscillation.

Case 3: R2 < 4L/C (Under-Damped)

Here the roots are complex where

=+j, and

=j

The general solution is given by

i(t)= (A cos

+B sin

where

is called the damping coefficient, and

is given by:

In this case, the motion (current) is oscillatory and the amplitude decreases exponentially, bounded by

i=

as we can see in the diagram above.

When R = 0, the circuit displays its natural or resonant frequency,

ALGORITHM
1. Write the appropriate header files and define a class.
2. Declare the appropriate no. of variables with their respective
datatype.
3. Define a function as fnV(float vi,float w,float t)
{
float b=vi*sin(w*t) ;
return b;
} representing the driving signal.
4. Define a function as o=-(((Q/C)+(R*I)-fnV(t,vi,w))/L)
With proper initial value of
charge(Q),current(I),inductance(L),capacitance(C),
resistance(R).

5. Enter the value of initial time, final time and n such that the value
of step function h have proper value.
6. Calculate l1,l2,l3,l4 and k1,k2,k3,k4 using for loop to show
variation in charge and current resp. with time.
l1=h*I;
k1=h*f(Q,I,L,C,R,vi,w,t);
l2=h*(I+(k1/2));
k2=h*f(Q+(l1/2),I+(k1/2),L,C,R,vi,w,t);
l3=h*(I+(k2/2));
k3=h*f(Q+(l2/2),I+(k2/2),L,C,R,vi,w,t);
l4=h*(I+k3);
k4=h*f(Q+l3,I+k3,L,C,R,vi,w,t);
Q=Q+((l1+(2*l2)+(2*l3)+l4)/6);
I=I+((k1+(2*k2)+(2*k3)+k4)/6);
7. Store the output values of Q,I in output file and plot the graph b/w
current with time and charge with time.
8. Start the main function and declare an object to class to access the
member function to class.