6.

3 Circuit Analysis Theorems

Discipline Course-I
Semester-II
Paper No: Electricity and Magnetism
Lesson: Lesson 6.3 Circuit Analysis Theorems
Lesson Developer: Dr. Narmata Soni
College/ Department: Hans Raj College, University of Delhi

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 Circuit Analysis Theorems

Lesson 6.3: Circuit Analysis Theorems

LEARNING OBJECTIIVES
Going through this chapter, the reader would know

1. About the various theorems other than Kirchhoff’s law to simply a given complex
circuit
2. Thevenin Theorem.
3. Norton’s Theorem
4. When the maximum power can be transmitted through a given network with
minimal power loss and heat dissipation?
5. Superposition Theorem

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Contents

 Introduction.
 Thevenins theorem
 Norton’s theorem
 Maximum Power Transfer Theorem
 Superposition theorem.

Introduction
In the previous chapter we have learnt that most of the electrical phenomenon can be
represented by the electric circuits. We have found that many times, these electric circuits
are complicated and to solve these complex ac and dc electrical circuits, we make use of
Kirchhoff's Circuit Laws. But there exist many more "Circuit Analysis Theorems" to
reduce or simplify these complicated circuits to understand their performance. This
reduction can be accomplished through the use of certain types of simple networks that are
equivalent in performance. One network is said to be equivalent to a second network, if the
second can be substituted for the first without change in currents and voltages appearing at
the terminals of the network. The equivalent network may not be identical internally, but
the terminal values of current and voltages are same in both the networks.

In this chapter we will study most of the circuit analysis theorems to reduce a
complicated network in a simple one. We will begin with one of the more common circuit
analysis theorems (next to Kirchhoff´s) that has been developed, Thevenins Theorem.

Thevenins Theorem states that “Any two terminal linear network containing energy
sources (current source or voltage source or more precisely generators) and impedances
can be replaced with an equivalent circuit consisting of a single voltage source E th in series
with impedance Zth”. In other words, it is always possible to substitute for any linear circuit
(no matter how complex it may be), an equivalent thevenins circuit with a single voltage
source Eth in series with impedance Zth. Note that here we will restrict ourselves to the
circuits containing pure resistances. So, here impedance is purely resistive.

Figure 1 below shows that the any linear network in the box is equivalent to the thevenin
circuit on the right hand side. Here Zth is the source impedance value looking back into the
terminal AB and Eth is the open circuit voltage at the terminals AB.

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Figure 1: An active network connected to a load RL is equivalent to thevenized circuit.

For example, let us construct thevenin equivalent of the following circuit.

That is we have to find the value of Eth and Rth to construct the equivalent circuit.

The first step would be to remove the center 10  resistor (i.e. load resistor) and replace
all the voltage and current sources by their internal resistance. Since here we have only
voltage sources and since their internal resistance is not specified, so we consider them to
be ideal one, and replace them by a short (not physically as this would be dangerous). Note
that, if we have ideal current source connected in the circuit, then it has to be replaced by
open (as ideal current source has infinite internal resistance), to calculate the thevenin
equivalent resistance of the circuit.

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The value of Rth can be found by calculating the total resistance at the terminals A and B
with all the generators removed.

Thevenins Resistance:
20  resistor in parallel with the 20  resistor

and the value of equivalent thevenin voltage Vth required is the total voltage across
terminals A and B with an open circuit and without load resistor R L connected. Then we get
the following circuit.

Equivalent Thevenin Voltage (Vth)

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We have to connect the voltage sources back into the circuit, as V th = VAB, the current
flowing around the loop is calculated as:

So the voltage that appears across AB will be:

Therefore, the thevenin equivalent circuit of the given circuit with 10  resistor connected is
shown below.

Therefore, the total current that flows through the load resistor is

The same value of 0.75 A (current flowing through load resistor) is obtained, if use
Kirchhoff’s circuit law discussed in the previous chapter.

Advantages of thevenin theorem

1. It is one of the circuit analysis methods and is particularly useful if the load is to take
a series of different values.

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2. Thevenins equivalent circuits of Transistors, Voltage Sources such as batteries

etc, are very useful in circuit design.

Summary

Therefore, the basic steps to be followed to solve a circuit using Thevenin theorem are as
follows:

1. Remove the load resistor RL and marked the open points in the circuit as A and B.
2. Find the value of thevenin impedance or resistance Z th across AB, by replacing all
the energy sources with their internal impedance. For ideal voltage and current
source, place a short across the voltage sources and open circuit all the current
sources.
3. Now connect back the energy sources (voltage and current source) and find the
value of thevenin voltage source by the usual circuit analysis methods.
4. Thevenin equivalent circuit can be made by placing E th and Zth (calculated above), in
series.
5. Connect back the RL in the thevenized circuit.

In the next section we will study how Nortons Theorem can be used to reduce a complicated
network to an equivalent circuit with a single current source in parallel with a single source
resistance.

Nortons Theorem states that “Any two terminal linear network containing energy sources
(current source or voltage source or more precisely generators) and impedances can be
replaced with an equivalent circuit consisting of a single current source I N in parallel with
impedance ZN”. In other words, it is always possible to substitute for any linear circuit (no
matter how complex it may be), an equivalent Nortons circuit with a single current source IN
in parallel with impedance ZN.

Where ZN is the Value of impedance looking back into the network (the same as Thevenin)
with all the energy sources replaced by their internal impedances respectively and I N is the
short circuit current at the output terminals as shown below.

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Figure 2: An active network connected to a load RL is equivalent to nortonized circuit.

For example, let us construct Norton equivalent of the same circuit in the previous section.

To find the value of Norton’s current (IN) in the above circuit, we need to remove the center
load resistor RL and place a short across the terminals A and B. The given circuit, then, will
take the form as shown below.

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With A and B terminals shorted, the total current flowing through it can be calculated as
follows.

The value of ZN can be found by calculating the total resistance at the terminals A and B
with all the generators removed.

Nortons Resistance:
20  resistor in parallel with the 20  resistor

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Now we know the value of both short circuit current (IN) and equivalent internal impedance
(ZN), so the Norton’s equivalent of the given circuit is

Nortons equivalent circuit.

Now again we can find the value of current flowing through the load resistor R L using
current divider formula as

This is same as we obtained from thevenin theorem and Kirchhoff’s law.

Summary

Therefore, the basic steps to be followed to solve a circuit using Norton’s theorem are as
follows:

1. Remove the load resistor RL and marked the open points in the circuit as A and B.
2. Find the value of thevenin impedance or resistance ZN across AB, by replacing all
the energy sources with their internal impedance. For ideal voltage and current
source, place a short across the voltage sources and open circuit all the current
sources.
3. Now connect back the energy sources (voltage and current source) and place a
short across AB and find the value of short circuit current by the usual circuit
analysis methods.
4. Norton’s equivalent circuit can be made by placing IN and ZN (calculated above), in
parallel.

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5. Connect back the RL in the nortonized circuit.

In the next section we will look at Maximum Power Transfer Theorem. We will see how this
theorem can be applied to either simple and complicated linear circuits having a variable
load to find the load resistance that leads to transfer of maximum power to the load?

Maximum Power Transfer Theorem

It states that maximum power will be delivered by a network to a load impedance ZR if the
impedance of the ZR is the conjugate of the impedance Z’ of the network, measured looking
back into the terminals of the network.

Since here we have restricted ourselves to the real part of impedance i.e. resistance,
therefore, the Maximum Power Transfer Theorem for a circuit containing pure resistances
states that the maximum power will be transferred to the load resistance, when the value of
load resistance is equal to the resistance of the network. The latter is measured by looking
back into the terminals of the network or more precisely we can say it is the thevenized

resistance of the network.

Now let us consider a complex linear network whose thevenin equivalent is shown in figure
above.

Then for the circuit, the maximum power theorem states that the amount of power
delivered across the load resistance ZR will be supreme when the value of load resistance is
equal to the thevenin resistance Zth of the circuit.

Or more precisely, the power across the load resistance is maximum when the load
resistance is equal to the thevenin resistance i.e. ZR= Zth. Now, if we increase or decrease the value of
load resistance, then power dissipated across it will be lower in value. Let us consider an example ( circuit
considered is shown in figure below) in which we are varying the value of load resistance

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and see what is the value of power dissipated across it for different value of load resistance?
happen to the plotting the graph between the power delivered to the load against the value
of varying load resistance.

Using Ohm's Law, the value of current in the circuit can be calculated as:

And therefore power dissipated across ZR will be

Therefore, for different values of ZR (varying from 25 W to 200 W), we can calculate the
value of current and power dissipated across Z R using formulas mentioned above. The said
values of I and PR for different ZR are summarized in the table below.

S. NO ZR (Ohms) I (A) PR (Watts)

1 20 0.83 13.89
2 40 0.71 20.41
3 60 0.63 23.44
4 80 0.56 24.69
5 100 0.5 25
6 120 0.45 24.79
7 140 0.42 24.31
8 160 0.38 23.67
9 180 0.36 22.96

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10 200 0.33 22.22

Now we have the data summarized above and using this we can plot the graph showing the
variation of power (PR) dissipated across the load as a function of the load resistance (Z R).
This graph is shown above. We can infer from the graph as well as from the table, that with
the increase in the value of load resistance, the power dissipated across the load also
increases. It becomes maximum when the load resistance becomes equal to thevenin
resistance (Zth = ZR = 100 ), and thereafter it starts decreasing with increasing values of
the load resistance. Hence Maximum Power transfer theorem is verified.

One good example of practical application of Maximum power transfer theorem is

impedance matching between a loudspeaker and an audio amplifier in public address
system. Here the output of the audio amplifier is attached to the input of the loud speaker.
Thus loudspeaker attached to the output of the amplifier appears as a load to the amplifier
and excessive power loss and heat dissipation can be minimized if the output impedance of
the amplifier is equal to the input impedance of the loud speaker.

In the next and the last section of this chapter, we will study how Superposition theorem
simplifies a complex circuit?

Superposition theorem

Like thevenin and Norton’s theorem, Superposition theorem also simplifies a complex but
bilateral linear network (a network having more than one independent energy source and

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components of the network here resistances behave the same irrespective to the direction
of flow of electrons through them). The approach used in the Superposition Theorem is
demonstrated below:

1. The first step is, at a time, keep one energy source within a network and remove the
others. i.e. Retain one energy source and replace the other voltage or current
sources by their internal resistances.
2. In second step we will calculate the response (voltage or current) in any branch of
the considered network because of the present source.
3. Now remove this source and replace it by its internal resistance and connect back
the other energy source back at its original position in the network.
4. Again see the response in any branch of the network, now due to other source.
5. The total response in the considered branch of the bilateral network will be the
algebraic sum of the response obtained for individual networks.

Thus, superposition theorem states that we can find the response in any branch of the
linear bilateral network, by adding the responses obtained in that branch because of the
each energy source acting alone, and replacing other energy source by their internal
resistances.

The theorem will become clearer to you with the following example:

Consider the following circuit having two voltage sources of 10V and 5V. Our aim is to find
the value of current through 2  resistance using superposition theorem.

To calculate the current through 2  resistance using superposition theorem, the first step is
to replace the one of the voltage source by its internal resistance (i.e. by short here) and
calculate the value of current through the 2  resistance. Let us first remove 5V supply
here.

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The circuit will take the form shown in figure above.

The current through 2  resistor because of 10 V voltage source is therefore can be found
as;

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Now analyzing the circuit with only 5V source and 10 V source removed and replaced by
short. The circuit will have the form shown below

The current through 2  resistor because of 5 V voltage source is therefore can be found
as;

Thus the value of current (I) through 2  resistance in the original circuit having both the
sources present is the algebraic sum of and .

i.e.

This value will be the same as if obtained by mesh or nodal analysis.

The limitation of superposition theorem is that it is applicable to linear circuits only. The
requirement of linearity means that the theorem cannot be used to determine power
response (as it is nonlinear function as it proportional to square of I and thus do not add up
algebraically to give accurate total power as ) and can be used only to find the
values of current and voltages. Also, it cannot be used in the circuits having non- ohmic

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components as lamps or varistors, as for these circuits again the value of resistance
changes with voltage and current.

Summary
1. In this chapter, we learnt how a complex circuit can be simplified without using
Kirchhoff’s mesh analysis and nodal analysis as a whole.
2. Thevenin Theorem states that “Any two terminal linear network containing energy
sources (current source or voltage source or more precisely generators) and
impedances can be replaced with an equivalent circuit consisting of a single voltage
source Eth in series with impedance Zth”.
3. We learnt the steps to be followed to thevenized given complex circuit.
4. Norton theorem can also be used to simply a given complex network. , it is always
possible to substitute for any linear circuit (no matter how complex it may be), an
equivalent Nortons circuit with a single current source I N in parallel with impedance
ZN.
5. Maximum Power transfer theorem states that maximum power will be delivered by a
network to a load impedance ZR if the impedance of the ZR is the conjugate of the
impedance Z’ of the network, measured looking back into the terminals of the
network.
6. We have studied the use of maximum power transfer theorem in minimizing the
power losses.
7. Then Superposition theorem is introduced to solve a complex linear bilateral
network. This theorem states that we can find the response in any branch of the
linear bilateral network, by adding the responses obtained in that branch because of
the each energy source acting alone, and replacing other energy source by their
internal resistances.

Questions
Fill in the blanks:

(i) The equivalent network may not be identical internally, but the terminal
values of ________ and ___________ are same in both the networks.
(ii) ____________ states that “Any two terminal linear network containing
energy sources and impedances can be replaced with an equivalent circuit
consisting of a single voltage source Eth in series with impedance Zth”.
(iii) For any linear complex circuit, an equivalent Nortons circuit with a single
current source IN in ___________ with impedance ZN can be constructed.
(iv) The maximum power will be transferred to the load, when the load resistance
equals to _____________.
(v) _________________ cannot be applied to the network having nonlinear components.

Answers

(i) Current; voltages

(ii) Thevenin Theorem
(iii) parallel
(iv) Thevenin resistance.
(v) Superposition theorem

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True of False
State whether the following statements are ’true’ or ‘False’.
(i) For any linear complex circuit, an equivalent Nortons circuit with a single
current source IN in series with impedance ZN can be constructed.
(ii) Superposition theorem can be applied to find the response across the
component of the given network with two or more sources that are neither in
series nor in parallel.
(iii) The Thevenized circuit is equivalent to the given circuit at all points in the
circuit.
(iv) A linear bilateral network will deliver maximum power across its load when
when the total resistance of the network is equal to the Norton resistance of
the network as "seen" by the load.

Answers

(i) False (For any linear complex circuit, an equivalent Nortons circuit with a single
current source IN in parallel with impedance ZN can be constructed).
(ii) False (Superposition theorem can be applied to find the response across the
component of the given network with two or more sources that are either in
series or in parallel).
(iii) False (The Thevenized circuit is equivalent to the given circuit only at terminal
points of the circuit).
(iv) True (This is correct statement).

Multiple Choice Questions

Select the best alternative in each of the following:

1. Internal resistance of the dc voltage supply can be calculated using Maximum power
transfer theorem by directly connecting a load resistance across the dc voltage supply
and the power delivered to the load will be maximum when the ____________ is equal
to the load resistance.
(a) Internal resistance of the supply
(b) Thevenin resistance
(c) Norton’s resistance
(d) Load resistance
2 Thevenin's theorem states that, "Any two-terminal linear bilateral dc network can
be replaced by an equivalent circuit consisting of a ___________ source and a
_________ resistor."

(a) Voltage; series

(b) Voltage; parallel
(c) Current; series
(d) Current ;parallel

3 The limitation of superposition theorem is that it is applicable to ____ circuits only

(a) Linear and bilateral
(b) Nonlinear and bilateral
(c) Linear
(d) Non Linear

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4. The maximum power theorem states that the amount of power delivered across
the load resistance ZR will be ______ when the value of load resistance is equal
to the thevenin resistance Zth of the circuit.
(a) Minimum
(b) Supreme
(c) Same
(d) None of the above
5. Thevenized circuit is one of the circuit analysis methods that is particularly useful
if the load is to take a series of ______ values
(a) Different
(b) Same
(c) Not so different
(d) None of the above

Answers

1. (a)
Justification/Feedback for the correct answer:
(a) Internal resistance of the dc voltage supply can be calculated using Maximum power
transfer theorem by directly connecting a load resistance across the dc voltage
supply and the power delivered to the load will be maximum when the internal
resistance of the supply is equal to the load resistance.
(b) Internal resistance of the dc voltage supply can be calculated using Maximum power
transfer theorem by directly connecting a load resistance across the dc voltage
supply and the power delivered to the load will be maximum when the internal
resistance of the supply is equal to the load resistance.
(c) Internal resistance of the dc voltage supply can be calculated using Maximum power
transfer theorem by directly connecting a load resistance across the dc voltage
supply and the power delivered to the load will be maximum when the internal
resistance of the supply is equal to the load resistance.
(d) Internal resistance of the dc voltage supply can be calculated using Maximum power
transfer theorem by directly connecting a load resistance across the dc voltage
supply and the power delivered to the load will be maximum when the internal
resistance of the supply is equal to the load resistance.

2. (a)
Justification/Feedback for the correct answer:
(a) Thevenin's theorem states that, "Any two-terminal linear bilateral dc network can
be replaced by an equivalent circuit consisting of a voltage source and a series
resistor.
(b) Thevenin's theorem states that, "Any two-terminal linear bilateral dc network can
be replaced by an equivalent circuit consisting of a voltage source and a series
resistor.
(c) Thevenin's theorem states that, "Any two-terminal linear bilateral dc network can
be replaced by an equivalent circuit consisting of a voltage source and a series
resistor..
(d) Thevenin's theorem states that, "Any two-terminal linear bilateral dc network can
be replaced by an equivalent circuit consisting of a voltage source and a series
resistor.
3. (a)

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Justification/Feedback for the correct answer:

(a) The limitation of superposition theorem is that it is applicable to linear and
bilateral circuits only.
(b) The limitation of superposition theorem is that it is applicable to linear and
bilateral circuits only.
(c) The limitation of superposition theorem is that it is applicable to linear and
bilateral circuits only.
(d) The limitation of superposition theorem is that it is applicable to linear and
bilateral circuits only.
4. (b)
Justification/Feedback for the correct answer:
(a) The maximum power theorem states that the amount of power delivered across
the load resistance ZR will be supreme when the value of load resistance is equal
to the thevenin resistance Zth of the circuit.
(b) The maximum power theorem states that the amount of power delivered across
the load resistance ZR will be supreme when the value of load resistance is equal
to the thevenin resistance Zth of the circuit.
(c) The maximum power theorem states that the amount of power delivered across
the load resistance ZR will be supreme when the value of load resistance is equal
to the thevenin resistance Zth of the circuit.
(d) The maximum power theorem states that the amount of power delivered across
the load resistance ZR will be supreme when the value of load resistance is equal
to the thevenin resistance Zth of the circuit.

5. (a)
Justification/Feedback for the correct answer:
(a) Thevenized circuit is one of the circuit analysis methods that is particularly useful
if the load is to take a series of different values.
(b) Thevenized circuit is one of the circuit analysis methods that is particularly useful
if the load is to take a series of different values.
(c) Thevenized circuit is one of the circuit analysis methods that is particularly useful
if the load is to take a series of different values.
(d) Thevenized circuit is one of the circuit analysis methods that is particularly useful
if the load is to take a series of different values.

Exercise
1. In the following circuit, use superposition theorem to find the current through
resistor R1.

2. Thevenize the following circuit:

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3. Do find the Norton’s equivalent of above circuit.

4. Find the thevenin as well as Norton’s equivalent of the following circuit

5. For the following circuit find for what value of load maximum power will be
delivered?

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