Electrical Power and Energy Systems 24 (2002) 827±836

www.elsevier.com/locate/ijepes

Radial distribution system power ¯ow using interval arithmetic

Biswarup Das*
Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee 247 667, Uttaranchal, India
Received 10 October 2000; revised 5 July 2001; accepted 13 November 2001

Abstract
This paper reports on the application of interval arithmetic technique for balanced radial distribution system power ¯ow analysis. Interval
arithmetic takes care of the uncertainty in the input parameters and provides strict bounds for the solution of the problem. In this paper,
uncertainties only in the input load parameters are considered. The results are compared with the results obtained from repeated load-¯ow
simulations. q 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Interval arithmetic; Radial distribution system; Power ¯ow

1. Introduction system changes over time. In any particular period, the

One of the most fundamental and widely used analysis
tool to study radial distribution system is power ¯ow analy-
sis. Power ¯ow analysis essentially gives the steady-state
operating point of a distribution system corresponding to a
speci®ed, ®xed loading condition. As the distribution
network is known to be an ill-conditioned power system
due to their radial structure and wide ranging resistance
and reactance values, popularly used Newton±Raphson
and Fast Decoupled load ¯ow algorithms cannot be used
to analyse the distribution system [1]. Consequently, many
load ¯ow algorithms specially suited for distribution system
analysis have been proposed in Refs. [1±7]. In all the above
algorithms, the input parameters (loads at different buses
and feeder resistance and reactance) are assumed to be
known, ®xed quantities.
However, in reality, the situation is quite different. The
input parameters for the load ¯ow study are quite uncertain.
These uncertainties stem from two facts [8],
² Error in the calculation or measurement of the feeder
parameters (resistance and reactance) and
² Errors in the assumed load demand at different buses.
Even if, for the time being, it is assumed that there is no
error in the input parameters, the load ¯ow study essentially
gives a `snapshot' of the state of the distribution system at a
particular time instant. In practice, the load demand in a
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: biswafee@rurkiu.ernet.in (B. Das),
bisdas1@rediffmail.com (B. Das), biswafee@yahoo.com (B. Das).
0142-0615/02/$ - see front matter q 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0142-061 5(01)00092-8
load demand varies over a certain range or an `interval'.
Hence, instead of having the `snapshot' of the system at a
particular instant, it would be more appropriate to ®nd out
the system conditions, when the load demand is varying
over an interval.
Load ¯ow analysis of a distribution system, when the load
demand is varying over an interval, can be performed by
repeated simulations or by the use of interval arithmetic. In
Ref. [8], Wang and Alvarado ®rst proposed the application
of interval arithmetic method for power ¯ow analysis of
transmission networks. They also compared their results
with the results obtained from Monte-Carlo Simulation
method and Stochastic load ¯ow study. In their study,
they have taken a small 5-bus system for illustration.
This paper proposes to apply the interval arithmetic
method for power ¯ow solution of a balanced radial distri-
bution system. In this study, the load demands in the system
at different buses are assumed to vary over intervals. The
load ¯ow algorithm chosen is essentially a backward sweep/
forward sweep algorithm. However, the real arithmetic
calculations in the algorithm have been replaced by
complex interval arithmetic calculations.
The paper is organised as follows. In Section 2, basic
concepts of interval arithmetic method are presented.
Fundamental relations of complex interval arithmetic calcu-
lations are also presented in this section. Section 3 gives the
detail algorithm for power ¯ow analysis of radial distribu-
tion system using interval arithmetic. Numerical results
obtained for two different balanced power distribution
systems are given in Section 4. Lastly, Section 5 concludes
the paper.
828 B. Das / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 24 (2002) 827±836
Fig. 1. A sample radial distribution system.
2. Interval arithmetic
In this section, the basic concepts of interval arithmetic
used in this paper are described.
An interval number X ˆ ‰x1 ; x2 Š is the set of real numbers
x such that x1 # x # x2 : x1 and x2 are known as the lower
limit and upper limit of the interval number, respectively. A
rational number k is represented as an interval number K ˆ
‰k; kŠ:
Let X ˆ ‰x1 ; x2 Š and Y ˆ ‰y1 ; y2 Š be the two interval
numbers. Then addition, subtraction, multiplication and
division of these two interval numbers are de®ned as
below [9]:
X 1 Y ˆ ‰x1 1 y1 ; x2 1 y2 Š …
X 2 Y ˆ ‰x1 2 y2 ; x2 2 y1 Š …
X p Y ˆ ‰min…x1 p y1 ; x1 p y2 ; x2 p y1 ; x2 p y2 †;
…
max…x1 p y1 ; x1 p y2 ; x2 p y1 ; x2 p y2 †Š
X 4 Y ˆ X p Y 21 …
where,
Y 21 ˆ ‰1=y2 ; 1=y1 Š if 0 Ó ‰y1 ; y2 Š …
Also, the distance between these two interval numbers is
de®ned as [9]:
q…X; Y† ˆ max‰ux1 2 y1 u; ux2 2 y2 uŠ …
However, for the purpose of power ¯ow analysis, calcula-
tions involving complex numbers, rather than real numbers
are needed. Hence, in the next sub-section, basic relations
involving complex interval numbers are described.
2.1. Complex interval number
Any complex number Z ˆ X 1 iY; where i is the
complex operator, is said to be a complex interval number
if both its real part (X) and the imaginary part (Y) are interval
numbers. Hence, X can be represented as X ˆ ‰x1 ; x2 Š and Y
can be represented as Y ˆ ‰y1 ; y2 Š, where, x1 ; y1 are the
lower limits and x2 ; y2 are the upper limits, respectively.
The conjugate of a complex interval number is given by
Z p ˆ X 2 iY: Let Z1 ˆ A1 1 iB1 and Z2 ˆ A2 1 iB2 be
two complex interval numbers. Then the addition, subtrac-
tion, multiplication and division of these two complex inter-
val numbers are de®ned as [9];
Z1 1 Z2 ˆ …A1 1 A2 † 1 i…B1 1 B2 † …7†
1†
Z1 2 Z2 ˆ …A1 2 A2 † 1 i…B1 2 B2 † …8†
2† Z1 p Z2 ˆ …A1 p A2 2 B1 p B2 † 1 i…A1 p B2 1 A2 p B1 † …9†
Z1 4 Z2 ˆ C 1 iD …10†
where C ˆ …A1 p A2 1 B1 p B2 † 4 …A22
1 B22 †
and D ˆ …A2 p
3† B1 2 A1 p B2 † 4 …A22 1 B22 †
It is to be noted that, Eqs. (7)±(10) can be evaluated by
applying the fundamental operations as de®ned in Eqs. (1)±
4† (4). The detail expressions corresponding to the operations
de®ned in Eqs. (7)±(10) are given in Appendix A.
5† 3. Interval power ¯ow analysis
The basic power ¯ow analysis method used in this work is
essentially the backward/forward sweep power ¯ow algo-
6† rithm of Ref. [2]. However, to account for the uncertainty of
the load demands, the real and reactive power loads have
been treated as interval numbers rather than ®xed numbers
and consequently, the complex arithmetic in Ref. [2] has
been replaced by complex interval arithmetic in this
paper. For illustration of this method, consider Fig. 1,
 B. Das / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 24 (2002) 827±836 829

Table 1
System bus voltages for 30-bus system

Bus no. Interval computation Repeated load ¯ow

Vrll Vrul Vill Viul Vrll Vrul Vill Viul

1 22.305115 22.329100 0.103207 0.123398 22.310659 22.323751 0.108425 0.118029

2 22.131584 22.161894 0.150731 0.175947 22.138678 22.155048 0.157312 0.169162
3 21.778206 21.825098 20.019731 0.022043 21.789221 21.814493 20.008457 0.010571
4 21.371508 21.442585 20.183956 20.118453 21.388634 21.426138 20.165569 20.137050
5 21.014359 21.108255 20.327610 20.239724 21.037325 21.086231 20.302431 20.265123
6 20.495497 20.620613 20.425005 20.308215 20.526560 20.590841 20.391089 20.342452
7 20.125292 20.273968 20.493815 20.355334 20.162920 20.237925 20.452843 20.396706
8 19.755087 19.927322 20.562624 20.402454 19.799280 19.885008 20.514597 20.450961
9 19.513853 19.702114 20.607179 20.432308 19.562712 19.655346 20.554158 20.485863
10 19.289263 19.491880 20.648312 20.460339 19.342524 19.440905 20.590575 20.518655
11 19.064672 19.281647 20.689445 20.488370 19.122335 19.226463 20.626992 20.551448
12 18.870001 19.099005 20.724842 20.512839 18.931520 19.040131 20.658254 20.580087
13 18.733940 18.971340 20.749505 20.529886 18.798197 18.909847 20.679983 20.600092
14 18.668184 18.909714 20.761430 20.538063 18.733778 18.846941 20.690476 20.609713
15 19.666334 19.844080 20.598372 20.432793 19.711897 19.800455 20.548744 20.482905
16 19.578152 19.761032 20.614919 20.444582 19.625029 19.716148 20.563863 20.496138
17 19.537064 19.722424 20.622656 20.450015 19.584558 19.676949 20.570929 20.502251
18 20.405186 20.534874 20.461704 20.340416 20.437229 20.504158 20.426629 20.375816
19 20.339262 20.472155 20.488423 20.363986 20.372026 20.440744 20.452494 20.400242
20 20.298429 20.433352 20.496206 20.369865 20.331625 20.401525 20.459802 20.406601
21 20.483656 20.609833 20.429990 20.312148 20.514843 20.579943 20.395930 20.346531
22 21.640835 21.691202 20.086912 20.041668 21.652473 21.679989 20.074874 20.053903
23 21.517975 21.571283 20.146858 20.098678 21.530180 21.559515 20.134124 20.111607
24 21.386509 21.443562 20.200793 20.148918 21.399355 21.431168 20.187282 20.162624
25 21.255043 21.315840 20.254727 20.199159 21.268530 21.302820 20.240440 20.213642
26 21.182953 21.246099 20.284326 20.226437 21.196802 21.232727 20.269601 20.241359
27 21.120855 21.185707 20.296192 20.236688 21.135002 21.172043 20.281127 20.251952
28 22.270918 22.295435 0.112121 0.132791 22.276516 22.290035 0.117390 0.127371
29 22.139614 22.166658 0.085169 0.108283 22.145464 22.161011 0.090719 0.102583
30 22.073858 22.102175 0.071689 0.096032 22.079838 22.096401 0.077384 0.090188

which shows a typical radial distribution system network with
n buses and b…ˆ n 2 1† branches. The root node or the sub-
station node is supplied with a sinusoidal voltage source. For
the purpose of power ¯ow analysis, the branch and node
numbering scheme of Ref. [2] has been adopted in this
work. In this scheme, the branches in the network have been
divided into several layers. Starting from the layer closest to
the root node, the branches in the layers are numbered away
sequentially [2]. The node of a branch L closest to the root
node is denoted by L1 and the other node is denoted by L2
(refer Fig. 1).
For the power ¯ow solution of the network, the voltage at
the root node is assumed to be known and a ¯at voltage
pro®le, equal to the voltage of the root node, has been
assumed for the initial voltages at the other nodes. Hence,
in per unit system, the voltage at the root node and the initial
voltages at the other nodes is assumed to be ‰1:0; 1:0Š 1
i‰0:0; 0:0Š p.u. With these initial voltages, the following
steps are followed for the iterative solution of the system:
Step 1: At iteration k, the nodal current injection at
node i is calculated as,
 p
Iik ˆ Si =Vi…k21† …11†
where, Vi…k21† is the calculated voltage at node i during
iteration …k 2 1† and Si is the speci®ed power at node i
expressed as an interval number Si ˆ ‰Pil ; Pih Š 1
i‰Qil ; Qih Š where Pil ; Pih are the lower and higher limits
of the real power and Qil ; Qih are the lower and higher
limits of the reactive power, respectively. As Si and
Vi…k21† are both interval quantities, Eq. (11) is evaluated
using Eq. (10) and consequently, the quantity Iik is also a
complex interval quantity.
Step 2: This step is known as the backward sweep. At
iteration k, starting with the branches in the last layer
and moving towards the branches connected directly
to the root node the current in branch L, JL is given
as,
JL…k† ˆ
X
…k†
2IL2 1 …currents in the branches emanating from node L2†
…12†
Iik
As the currents at the right hand side of Eq. (12) are
all interval quantities, Eq. (12) is evaluated with the
help of Eq. (7).
830 B. Das / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 24 (2002) 827±836

Table 2
Real and reactive power ¯ow in the feeders in 30-bus system

Bus i Bus j Interval computation Repeated load ¯ow

Pll Pul Qll Qul Pll Pul Qll Qul

1 2 13.088741 13.611905 4.587038 4.992582 13.227993 13.467769 4.675687 4.898856

2 3 12.459777 12.971487 4.411862 4.807722 12.600798 12.825659 4.500760 4.713668
3 4 7.373977 7.777717 2.586568 2.895242 7.490865 7.656181 2.661838 2.815496
4 5 6.329439 6.714860 2.177592 2.474601 6.445140 6.594089 2.255109 2.393237
5 6 6.236387 6.627478 2.095233 2.399785 6.357395 6.501154 2.178840 2.312458
6 7 4.322068 4.621774 1.440043 1.671480 4.422153 4.517091 1.510043 1.598551
7 8 4.247806 4.550611 1.396891 1.632538 4.351414 4.442243 1.470194 1.556388
8 9 2.708405 2.916010 0.884157 1.045023 2.782419 2.838460 0.936902 0.990302
9 10 2.497466 2.687126 0.811144 0.957082 2.568497 2.612805 0.862044 0.904470
10 11 2.470173 2.660957 0.795265 0.942779 2.542410 2.585377 0.847347 0.889019
11 12 2.121172 2.284012 0.679171 0.804407 2.185350 2.216955 0.725664 0.756572
12 13 1.467833 1.582311 0.467222 0.555275 1.513720 1.534370 0.500603 0.520973
0 1 16.252314 16.812000 5.551222 5.985817 16.383783 16.675392 5.637630 5.894689
13 14 0.703654 0.759873 0.222791 0.266203 0.726171 0.736331 0.239223 0.249316
8 15 1.465139 1.563438 0.469580 0.548573 1.498255 1.528934 0.493438 0.523922
15 16 0.997815 1.065186 0.318052 0.372141 1.020850 1.041188 0.334731 0.354924
16 17 0.461965 0.494269 0.146579 0.172679 0.472843 0.482920 0.154474 0.164519
6 18 1.568929 1.649700 0.508495 0.574707 1.593617 1.624171 0.526110 0.556564
18 19 1.142559 1.200074 0.368980 0.415829 1.160896 1.181133 0.382132 0.402314
19 20 0.482938 0.509121 0.154773 0.176403 0.490856 0.500921 0.160481 0.170519
6 21 0.198955 0.215412 0.061814 0.076491 0.202085 0.212101 0.064075 0.074088
3 22 4.918716 5.030059 1.659303 1.750906 4.947990 5.000340 1.678804 1.730940
22 23 4.378473 4.474676 1.466276 1.544703 4.405524 4.447158 1.484617 1.526052
23 24 2.456736 2.520961 0.819219 0.872808 2.473139 2.504231 0.830442 0.861355
24 25 2.443696 2.508287 0.807815 0.861852 2.460488 2.491159 0.819443 0.849993
25 26 1.327271 1.366892 0.434741 0.468498 1.336856 1.357093 0.441454 0.461634
26 27 0.783317 0.805064 0.256113 0.274369 0.789091 0.799172 0.260178 0.270224
1 28 2.640093 2.685106 0.869127 0.909114 2.647303 2.677787 0.873973 0.904176
28 29 1.760975 1.791370 0.581410 0.608330 1.765957 1.786312 0.584741 0.604937
29 30 0.876776 0.892123 0.288599 0.302175 0.879394 0.889467 0.290350 0.300390

Step 3: This step is the forward sweep. In this step,
starting from the root node and moving towards the
nodes of the branches connected in the last layer, the
node voltages are updated from the latest updated
voltages of the respective previous nodes. For exam-
ple, voltage at node L2 of branch L is updated from
the knowledge of updated voltage of node L1 as
follows:
4. Numerical results
To illustrate the application of interval arithmetic in
distribution system power ¯ow analysis, two different
systems have been chosen:
(i) 30-bus balanced radial distribution system,
(ii) 68-bus balanced radial distribution system.

…k† …k†
VL2 ˆ VL1 2 ZL JL…k† …13† 4.1. 30-Bus radial distribution system [1]

where, ZL is the impedance of branch L. The multiplica-
tion and subtraction of the complex interval numbers are
carried out with the help of Eqs. (9) and (8), respectively.
Step 4: At any node m, the distance between Vm…k† and
Vm…k21† , henceforth denoted by dm ; is calculated at iteration
k. As Vm…k† and Vm…k21† are both complex interval numbers,
they can be expressed as Vm…k† ˆ A1 1 jA2 and Vm…k21† ˆ
B1 1 jB2 ; where A1 ; A2 ; B1 ; B2 are all interval numbers
and dm is calculated as dm ˆ max‰q…A1 ; B1 †; q…A2 ; B2 †Š;
where, q…A1 ; B1 † and q…A2 ; B2 † are evaluated using Eq.
(6). If max…dm †; for m ˆ 1; 2; ¼; n; is less than speci®ed
tolerance limit, the load-¯ow is converged, otherwise the
algorithm goes back to Step 1.
The data for this test system are given in Table B1 in
Appendix B. The loading pattern given in Table B1 is termed
as `base operating condition'. As already discussed in Section
1, the uncertainties in load demand have been taken into
account by assuming that the load demands vary over a
certain range. In this work, the load demand at any bus k is
assumed to vary over a range ‰Lbk 2 5; Lbk 1 5Š; where Lbk is
the base load demand at that node as given in Table B1. For
example, the base real and reactive power load demand at bus
2 is 522 kW and 174 kVAR, respectively (refer Table B1).
Consequently, the real power load demand at that bus is
assumed to vary over an interval [517,527] kW and the reac-
tive power load demand is assumed to vary over an interval
 B. Das / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 24 (2002) 827±836 831

Table 3
System bus voltages for 68-bus system

Bus no. Interval computation Repeated load ¯ow

Vrll Vrul Vill Viul Vrll Vrul Vill Viul

1 12.659546 12.659623 20.000320 20.000242 12.659552 12.659619 20.000313 20.000248

2 12.659092 12.659246 20.000640 20.000484 12.659103 12.659239 20.000627 20.000497
3 12.657854 12.658188 20.001516 20.001178 12.657880 12.658166 20.001483 20.001210
4 12.646845 12.648970 20.005563 20.003429 12.647026 12.648808 20.005323 20.003662
5 12.525622 12.546036 20.004348 0.015862 12.527369 12.544473 20.002054 0.013565
6 12.400088 12.439082 20.003003 0.035568 12.403462 12.436062 0.001428 0.031122
7 12.370180 12.413553 20.002700 0.040197 12.373946 12.410182 0.002245 0.035234
8 12.354973 12.400496 20.002548 0.042472 12.358944 12.396941 0.002667 0.037239
9 12.284821 12.348619 20.004621 0.058496 12.289701 12.344340 0.001801 0.052015
10 12.271653 12.338438 0.000647 0.066692 12.276680 12.334049 0.007262 0.059997
11 12.223799 12.302988 0.006821 0.085142 12.229448 12.298116 0.014268 0.077585
12 12.177392 12.270651 0.011255 0.103502 12.183729 12.265262 0.019606 0.095004
13 12.132079 12.238426 0.015756 0.120946 12.139093 12.232521 0.025002 0.111519
14 12.087928 12.206336 0.020343 0.137448 12.095606 12.199919 0.030469 0.127106
15 12.079722 12.200373 0.021194 0.140513 12.087524 12.193860 0.031484 0.130002
16 12.066035 12.190477 0.022594 0.145660 12.074045 12.183805 0.033159 0.134863
17 12.065893 12.190377 0.022608 0.145715 12.073906 12.183703 0.033176 0.134915
18 12.058233 12.185162 0.023467 0.148998 12.066365 12.178400 0.034193 0.138033
19 12.053309 12.181808 0.024020 0.151108 12.061518 12.174991 0.034847 0.140038
20 12.045899 12.176553 0.024927 0.154148 12.054223 12.169648 0.035908 0.142918
21 12.045771 12.176490 0.024926 0.154213 12.054096 12.169584 0.035910 0.142980
22 12.044570 12.175857 0.024921 0.154772 12.052915 12.168940 0.035927 0.143514
23 12.041957 12.174478 0.024908 0.155987 12.050343 12.167536 0.035964 0.144677
24 12.038919 12.173190 0.024688 0.157509 12.047354 12.166223 0.035798 0.146140
25 12.037666 12.172659 0.024597 0.158138 12.046121 12.165681 0.035729 0.146744
26 12.037315 12.172510 0.024572 0.158314 12.045775 12.165529 0.035710 0.146913
27 12.658967 12.659182 20.000727 20.000511 12.658978 12.659174 20.000714 20.000524
28 12.657607 12.658522 20.001675 20.000759 12.657619 12.658513 20.001660 20.000773
29 12.655238 12.657413 20.001694 0.000483 12.655253 12.657404 20.001675 0.000466
30 12.654820 12.657218 20.001697 0.000702 12.654836 12.657208 20.001678 0.000684
31 12.652730 12.656240 20.001713 0.001798 12.652748 12.656230 20.001692 0.001777
32 12.647717 12.653897 20.001772 0.004408 12.647740 12.653884 20.001744 0.004380
33 12.640784 12.650577 20.001676 0.008115 12.640816 12.650558 20.001638 0.008076
34 12.638453 12.649803 20.001675 0.009674 12.638488 12.649783 20.001633 0.009630
35 12.657205 12.657568 20.001931 20.001565 12.657231 12.657545 20.001897 20.001596
36 12.641055 12.642133 20.012184 20.011102 12.641088 12.642104 20.012140 20.011144
37 12.591424 12.594140 20.043542 20.040820 12.591475 12.594093 20.043466 20.040894
38 12.584383 12.587332 20.047989 20.045033 12.584436 12.587282 20.047907 20.045113
39 12.658852 12.659102 20.000807 20.000555 12.658863 12.659095 20.000794 20.000568
40 12.369543 12.413150 20.002724 0.040406 12.373312 12.409776 0.002226 0.035440
41 12.367785 12.412575 20.003949 0.040365 12.371564 12.409194 0.001014 0.035389
42 12.318077 12.366575 0.000715 0.048639 12.322548 12.362551 0.006582 0.042752
43 12.275404 12.327120 0.004563 0.055623 12.280456 12.322549 0.011188 0.048975
44 12.216676 12.272532 0.010010 0.065097 12.222533 12.267200 0.017687 0.057392
45 12.159471 12.219067 0.015462 0.074176 12.166121 12.212986 0.024173 0.065433
46 11.864918 11.943364 0.087797 0.164501 11.875523 11.933553 0.101643 0.150567
47 11.719741 11.807478 0.123459 0.209029 11.732295 11.795828 0.139835 0.192537
48 11.663544 11.754875 0.137525 0.226523 11.676852 11.742514 0.154879 0.209041
49 11.597630 11.692880 0.155914 0.248624 11.611823 11.679681 0.174418 0.229979
50 11.500791 11.601943 0.165351 0.263770 11.516333 11.587465 0.185619 0.243354
51 11.496853 11.598524 0.165576 0.264506 11.512453 11.583995 0.185917 0.244017
52 11.491649 11.593881 0.165943 0.265423 11.507325 11.579282 0.186381 0.244836
53 11.466144 11.571124 0.167735 0.269912 11.482194 11.556185 0.188650 0.248846
54 11.458018 11.564651 0.167859 0.271672 11.474194 11.549606 0.188926 0.250453
55 12.270711 12.337938 0.000671 0.067158 12.275745 12.333546 0.007295 0.060454
56 12.270700 12.337933 0.000672 0.067163 12.275735 12.333540 0.007295 0.060459
57 12.218751 12.299657 0.007249 0.087277 12.224448 12.294750 0.014757 0.079657
58 12.218735 12.299646 0.007250 0.087284 12.224432 12.294740 0.014758 0.079663
59 12.655820 12.657297 20.002916 20.001436 12.655834 12.657288 20.002898 20.001453
60 12.653028 12.655594 20.003997 20.001428 12.653045 12.655582 20.003976 20.001449
832 B. Das / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 24 (2002) 827±836

Table 3 (continued)

Bus no. Interval computation Repeated load ¯ow

Vrll Vrul Vill Viul Vrll Vrul Vill Viul

61 12.652222 12.655102 20.004309 20.001426 12.652240 12.655090 20.004287 20.001447

62 12.652182 12.655077 20.004324 20.001426 12.652200 12.655066 20.004302 20.001447
63 12.639166 12.647095 20.009284 20.001352 12.639199 12.647071 20.009240 20.001396
64 12.634423 12.643962 20.011088 20.001546 12.634462 12.643933 20.011036 20.001600
65 12.633797 12.643548 20.011326 20.001572 12.633837 12.643518 20.011272 20.001626
66 12.633676 12.643460 20.011376 20.001589 12.633716 12.643431 20.011322 20.001643
67 12.632241 12.642420 20.011972 20.001790 12.632283 12.642388 20.011915 20.001848
68 12.632236 12.642415 20.011975 20.001791 12.632277 12.642384 20.011918 20.001849

[169,179] kVAR. The intervals of variation of load demands
at other buses have been decided similarly.
When the load demands in a system vary within some
intervals, the bus voltages and other quantities (e.g. feeder
power ¯ow etc.) in that system also vary within certain
intervals. The intervals of variation of bus voltages in the
sample 30-bus system have been calculated using the load
¯ow algorithm described in Section 3. In this work, the
voltage error tolerance limit has been kept at 0.0001 p.u.
and the algorithm took eight iterations to converge. The
results are shown in Table 1 and Table 2. In Table 1, the
intervals of variation of both real and imaginary parts of
the complex bus voltages (in kV) are given. In this table,
the symbols Vrll, Vrul, Vill and Viul denote the lower limit of the
real part, upper limit of the real part, lower limit of the
imaginary part and upper limit of the imaginary part, respec-
tively. In Table 2, the intervals of variation of both real
power ¯ow (in MW) and reactive power ¯ow (in MVAR)
in the feeders are given. In this table, the symbols Pll, Pul, Qll
and Qul denote the lower limit of the real power, upper limit
of the real power, lower limit of the reactive power and
upper limit of the reactive power ¯ow, respectively.
The intervals of variation of the bus voltages and the real
and reactive power ¯ow in the feeders of the sample system
have also been calculated by repeated load ¯ow simulations.
In this method, the load demands at any bus have been ®xed
at any arbitrary value within the pre-decided, corresponding
interval. For example, the real power load demand at bus 2
may be ®xed at 520 kW. Similarly, all the real and reactive
load demand at all the other buses have been arbitrarily ®xed
at any value within their corresponding, pre-decided inter-
vals. Thus, an operating point other than the `base operating
point' is obtained and the system bus voltages are calculated
using the load ¯ow algorithm given in Ref. [2]. Similarly, by
®xing the bus load demands at other values within their pre-
decided, corresponding intervals, a large number of different
operating points of the system can be obtained and the corre-
sponding system bus voltages can be calculated. Theoreti-
cally, by this method, in®nite number of operating points
can be generated. As it is not possible to perform load ¯ow
simulations for in®nite number of operating points, in this
work a very large number of operating points, 5 millions to
be exact, have been generated and the corresponding bus
voltages have been calculated. The minimum and maximum
values of the real and imaginary parts of the complex bus
voltages have been determined from the results of these 5
million load ¯ow simulations and these constitute the inter-
vals of the variations of the bus voltages obtained from
repeated load ¯ow simulations. These results are also
shown in Table 1. Similarly, the minimum and maximum
values of the real and reactive power ¯ow in the feeders
have been determined from the results of these 5 million
load ¯ow simulations. These constitute the intervals of the
variations of the real and reactive power ¯ow in the feeders
obtained from repeated load ¯ow simulations. These results
are shown in Table 2. It has also been found that, even by
further increasing the number of operating points, the inter-
vals of variations of the bus voltages and the power ¯ow (real
and reactive) in the feeders do not change.
From the entries in Tables 1 and 2, an interesting obser-
vation can be made. The intervals depicted by the repeated
load-¯ow method are always contained within the intervals
depicted by the interval arithmetic method. In other words,
the solutions given by the interval arithmetic method
contain all the solutions obtained by the repeated load-
¯ow method. In fact, the interval arithmetic method
suggests a slightly wider range of intervals than the repeated
load-¯ow method. It can also be observed from the above
two tables that the intervals obtained from these two
methods are also quite close to each other. In all of the
cases, the difference in the values suggested by these two
methods starts after the decimal point.
4.2. 68-Bus radial distribution system [10]
The data for this test system are given in Table B2 in
Appendix B. As before, the loading pattern given in Table
B2 is termed as `base operating condition'. Similarly, the
load demand at any bus k is assumed to vary over a range
‰Lbk 2 5; Lbk 1 5Š; where Lbk is the base load demand at that
node as given in Table B2. For this system also, the voltage
error tolerance limit has been kept at 0.0001 p.u. and the
algorithm took seven iterations to converge. The results are
shown in Tables 3 and 4. In Table 3, the intervals of
 B. Das / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 24 (2002) 827±836 833

Table 4
Real and reactive power ¯ow in the feeders in 68-bus system

Bus i Bus j Interval computation Repeated load ¯ow

Pll Pul Qll Qul Pll Pul Qll Qul

0 1 3.787781 4.373429 2.392369 2.962952 3.819400 4.337405 2.426763 2.925849

1 2 3.787691 4.373374 2.392173 2.962791 3.819336 4.337320 2.426610 2.925644
2 3 3.558674 4.013768 2.240983 2.681079 3.590153 3.977918 2.275318 2.644102
3 4 2.722543 3.146796 1.644112 2.053470 2.753698 3.111268 1.678320 2.016625
4 5 2.720468 3.145161 1.641675 2.051490 2.752069 3.109114 1.676411 2.014102
5 6 2.686417 3.104304 1.621269 2.024397 2.723313 3.062712 1.659313 1.983110
6 7 2.621622 3.032238 1.580637 1.976688 2.663684 2.985384 1.621768 1.931645
7 8 2.505691 2.884609 1.500914 1.865533 2.547884 2.837805 1.541810 1.820780
8 9 0.692719 0.905948 0.2668480 0.476070 0.704166 0.891744 0.278300 0.462320
9 10 0.665524 0.868771 0.345394 0.544746 0.678111 0.853335 0.357615 0.530026
10 11 0.501025 0.668912 0.326393 0.490956 0.511387 0.656083 0.336784 0.478324
11 12 0.315757 0.446938 0.199420 0.328053 0.323620 0.436942 0.207199 0.318288
12 13 0.309264 0.430336 0.193975 0.312511 0.317614 0.419930 0.201867 0.302624
13 14 0.302896 0.413726 0.188597 0.296903 0.311630 0.403046 0.196541 0.287002
14 15 0.301388 0.412570 0.188028 0.296693 0.310670 0.401289 0.196224 0.286421
15 16 0.262266 0.360985 0.163917 0.260433 0.270492 0.350963 0.171165 0.251314
16 17 0.208411 0.293894 0.135042 0.218856 0.215234 0.285487 0.141079 0.211158
17 18 0.154962 0.227113 0.106320 0.177334 0.160232 0.220485 0.111078 0.171157
18 19 0.154816 0.227008 0.106264 0.177320 0.160148 0.220310 0.111051 0.171099
19 20 0.150007 0.211440 0.101507 0.161808 0.155094 0.205198 0.106032 0.156063
20 21 0.044168 0.088791 0.028355 0.072597 0.046013 0.086044 0.030006 0.070013
21 22 0.039458 0.073279 0.023640 0.057085 0.041012 0.071044 0.025005 0.055013
22 23 0.039452 0.073276 0.023637 0.057085 0.041010 0.071035 0.025004 0.055010
23 24 0.017234 0.039241 0.009330 0.031146 0.018004 0.038016 0.010002 0.030005
24 25 0.017226 0.039237 0.009327 0.031148 0.018002 0.038004 0.010001 0.030001
25 26 0.008611 0.019618 0.004663 0.015575 0.009001 0.019000 0.005001 0.015000
2 27 0.070987 0.121161 0.046959 0.097119 0.071024 0.121099 0.047013 0.097045
27 28 0.049987 0.090159 0.032959 0.073116 0.050023 0.090099 0.033012 0.073043
28 29 0.028988 0.059153 0.018954 0.049105 0.029021 0.059094 0.019008 0.049031
29 30 0.028980 0.059148 0.018950 0.049105 0.029018 0.059079 0.019007 0.049026
30 31 0.028978 0.059147 0.018949 0.049105 0.029018 0.059076 0.019007 0.049025
31 32 0.028969 0.059142 0.018946 0.049106 0.029015 0.059064 0.019006 0.049021
32 33 0.019963 0.040106 0.013953 0.034086 0.020008 0.040033 0.014003 0.034010
33 34 0.004980 0.015041 0.004978 0.015040 0.005001 0.015004 0.005001 0.015001
3 35 0.835906 0.866822 0.596375 0.627189 0.836286 0.866437 0.596593 0.626965
35 36 0.835881 0.866800 0.596316 0.627133 0.836264 0.866413 0.596537 0.626905
36 37 0.761291 0.782223 0.543877 0.564712 0.761703 0.781805 0.544165 0.564418
37 38 0.379841 0.390396 0.270034 0.280539 0.380113 0.390119 0.270276 0.280292
7 40 0.039554 0.060595 0.027598 0.048553 0.040002 0.060003 0.028002 0.048004
40 41 0.004911 0.015161 0.004913 0.015163 0.005001 0.015000 0.005001 0.015003
8 42 1.784825 1.940249 1.215506 1.360713 1.815878 1.907401 1.245065 1.329597
42 43 1.773906 1.919417 1.207475 1.342796 1.805389 1.886243 1.237270 1.311462
43 44 1.746267 1.881551 1.190096 1.315285 1.778026 1.848189 1.220029 1.283869
44 45 1.718161 1.843318 1.173429 1.288605 1.750323 1.809646 1.203597 1.257010
45 46 1.709137 1.834760 1.168711 1.284398 1.741888 1.800505 1.199300 1.252354
46 47 1.658136 1.786389 1.150666 1.269243 1.694212 1.748833 1.183298 1.235010
47 48 1.632997 1.762547 1.141774 1.261775 1.670713 1.723365 1.175412 1.226463
48 49 1.530438 1.645921 1.073313 1.179782 1.566596 1.608486 1.105397 1.146198
49 50 1.519506 1.635512 1.069798 1.176846 1.556304 1.597442 1.102273 1.142846
50 51 0.295825 0.342693 0.205340 0.250333 0.303846 0.334015 0.212429 0.242512
51 52 0.269573 0.304538 0.188046 0.221317 0.276748 0.296893 0.194379 0.214451
52 53 0.269431 0.304410 0.187971 0.221255 0.276624 0.296746 0.194316 0.214376
53 54 0.052461 0.065821 0.035629 0.048633 0.054031 0.064045 0.037016 0.047022
10 55 0.025524 0.046703 0.015580 0.036647 0.026002 0.046003 0.016001 0.036000
55 56 0.012760 0.023350 0.007789 0.018323 0.013000 0.022999 0.008001 0.017999
11 57 0.045082 0.067235 0.029179 0.051114 0.046015 0.066032 0.030006 0.050010
57 58 0.022527 0.033608 0.014584 0.025556 0.023000 0.032999 0.015000 0.024999
2 39 0.157941 0.238391 0.104034 0.184434 0.158094 0.238217 0.104125 0.1842930
39 59 0.136940 0.207388 0.090030 0.160429 0.137093 0.207215 0.090122 0.160287
59 60 0.115922 0.176374 0.075982 0.136386 0.116081 0.176188 0.076095 0.136220
834 B. Das / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 24 (2002) 827±836

Table 4 (continued)

Bus i Bus j Interval computation Repeated load ¯ow

Pll Pul Qll Qul Pll Pul Qll Qul

60 61 0.115897 0.176362 0.075950 0.136368 0.116069 0.176155 0.076080 0.136182

61 62 0.096904 0.147339 0.063954 0.114345 0.097065 0.147146 0.064075 0.114172
62 63 0.077919 0.118320 0.051967 0.092327 0.078064 0.118146 0.052075 0.092171
63 64 0.072855 0.103252 0.046884 0.077239 0.073023 0.103044 0.047027 0.077052
64 65 0.072828 0.103237 0.046852 0.077219 0.073008 0.103012 0.047010 0.077015
65 66 0.067845 0.088199 0.041868 0.062181 0.068006 0.088008 0.042007 0.062010
66 67 0.067845 0.088199 0.041867 0.062180 0.068006 0.088007 0.042007 0.062009
67 68 0.033919 0.044097 0.020929 0.031087 0.034001 0.044000 0.021001 0.031000

variation of both real and imaginary parts of the complex of these two numbers is given as
bus voltages (in kV) are given (for both interval method and
Z1 1 Z2 ˆ ‰x11 1 x21 ; x12 1 x22 Š 1 i‰y11 1 y21 ; y12 1 y22 Š
repeated load ¯ow method). In this table, the symbols Vrll,
Vrul, Vill and Viul assume the same connotations as in Table 1. …A1†
In Table 4, the intervals of variation of both real power ¯ow The difference Z1 2 Z2 is de®ned as,
(in MW) and reactive power ¯ow (in MVAR) in the feeders
Z1 2 Z2 ˆ ‰x11 2 x22 ; x12 2 x21 Š 1 i‰y11 2 y22 ; y12 2 y21 Š
are given (again for both interval method and repeated load
¯ow method). In this table, the symbols Pll, Pul, Qll and Qul …A2†
denote the same quantities as in Table 2. Multiplication of these two numbers is de®ned as
The entries of Tables 3 and 4 also af®rm the observations
Z1 p Z2 ˆ ‰a 2 d; b 2 cŠ 1 i‰e 1 g; f 1 hŠ …A3†
of Tables 1 and 2, that is, the intervals depicted by the
repeated load-¯ow method are always contained within where,
the intervals depicted by the interval arithmetic method a ˆ min…x11 p x21 ; x11 p x22 ; x12 p x21 ; x12 p x22 †
and the intervals obtained from these two methods are
quite close to each other. b ˆ max…x11 p x21 ; x11 p x22 ; x12 p x21 ; x12 p x22 †
The above observation has a very important implication.
In the planning and design studies, where it is necessary to c ˆ min…y11 p y21 ; y11 p y22 ; y12 p y21 ; y12 p y22 †
consider a large number of operating conditions, interval
arithmetic can be quite useful. As the interval arithmetic d ˆ max…y11 p y21 ; y11 p y22 ; y12 p y21 ; y12 p y22 †
based method encompasses all the solutions obtainable by
repeated simulations, interval arithmetic can be used instead e ˆ min…y11 p x21 ; y11 p x22 ; y12 p x21 ; y12 p x22 †
of the repeated simulations, thereby saving a lot of time and
effort. Although in the ®nal stage, a number of repeated f ˆ max…y11 p x21 ; y11 p x22 ; y12 p x21 ; y12 p x22 †
simulations may still be necessary before reaching the ulti-
mate conclusion, in the initial stages, interval arithmetic can g ˆ min…x11 p y21 ; x11 p y22 ; x12 p y21 ; x12 p y22 †
be used fruitfully to save on the time and efforts required.
h ˆ max…x11 p y21 ; x11 p y22 ; x12 p y21 ; x12 p y22 †

5. Conclusion The division of these two numbers, Z1 4 Z2 ; is de®ned as

‰a 1 c; b 1 dŠ ‰e 2 h; f 2 gŠ
In this paper, a method for radial distribution system Z1 4 Z2 ˆ 1i …A4†
‰m; nŠ ‰m; nŠ
power ¯ow based on interval arithmetic has been proposed.
The solution obtained from interval arithmetic based where
method encompasses all the solutions obtained from m ˆ min…x21 p x21 ; x22 p x21 ; x22 p x22 † 1 min…y21 p y21 ; y21
repeated simulations. Consequently, it can be an useful
tool, at least in the initial stages of any planning and design p y22 ; y22 p y22 †
studies, to save on the time and efforts required.
n ˆ max…x21 p x21 ; x22 p x21 ; x22 p x22 † 1 max…y21 p y21 ; y21
Appendix A p y22 ; y22 p y22 †
Let Z1 ˆ ‰x11 ; x12 Š 1 i‰y11 ; y12 Š and Z2 ˆ ‰x21 ; x22 Š 1 and the variables a; b; c; d; e; f ; g; h have been already
i‰y21 ; y22 Š be two complex interval numbers. The addition de®ned.
 B. Das / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 24 (2002) 827±836 835

Appendix B Table B2 (continued)

Bus i Bus j Branch impedance Maximum load at Bus j

Tables B1 and B2
rij (V) xij (V) P (kW) Q (kVAR)
Table B1
30-Bus system: network and load data (Bus `0' is the substation node, the 11 12 1.0300 0.3400 10 10
voltage of which is ®xed at 23/08 kV) 12 13 1.0440 0.3450 10 10
13 14 1.0580 0.3496 ± ±
Bus i Bus j Branch impedance Maximum load at Bus j 14 15 0.1966 0.0650 45 30
15 16 0.3744 0.1238 60 35
rij (V) xij (V) P (kW) Q (kVAR) 16 17 0.0047 0.0016 60 35
17 18 0.3276 0.1083 ± ±
0 1 0.896 0.155 ± ± 18 19 0.2106 0.0696 10 10
1 2 0.279 0.015 522 174 19 20 0.3416 0.1129 114 81
2 3 0.444 0.439 ± ± 20 21 0.0140 0.0046 10 10
3 4 0.864 0.751 936 312 21 22 0.1591 0.0526 ± ±
4 5 0.864 0.751 ± ± 22 23 0.3463 0.1145 28 20
5 6 1.374 0.774 ± ± 23 24 0.7488 0.2475 ± ±
6 7 1.374 0.774 ± ± 24 25 0.3089 0.1021 14 10
7 8 1.374 0.774 ± ± 25 26 0.1732 0.0572 14 10
8 9 1.374 0.774 189 63 2 27 0.0044 0.0108 26 19
9 10 1.374 0.774 ± ± 27 28 0.064 0.1565 26 19
10 11 1.374 0.774 336 112 28 29 0.3978 0.1315 ± ±
11 12 1.374 0.774 657 219 29 30 0.0702 0.0232 ± ±
12 13 1.374 0.774 783 261 30 31 0.3510 0.1160 ± ±
13 14 1.374 0.774 729 243 31 32 0.8390 0.2816 14 10
8 15 0.864 0.751 477 159 32 33 1.7080 0.5646 20 14
15 16 1.374 0.774 549 183 33 34 1.4740 0.4873 10 10
16 17 1.374 0.774 477 159 3 35 0.0034 0.0084 ± ±
6 18 0.864 0.751 432 144 35 36 0.0851 0.2083 79 56
18 19 0.864 0.751 672 224 36 37 0.2898 0.7091 385 275
19 20 1.374 0.774 495 165 37 38 0.0822 0.2011 385 275
6 21 0.864 0.751 207 69 7 40 0.0928 0.0473 40 28
3 22 0.444 0.439 522 174 40 41 0.3319 1.1114 10 10
22 23 0.444 0.439 1917 639 8 42 0.1740 0.0886 10 10
23 24 0.864 0.751 ± ± 42 43 0.203 0.1034 26 19
24 25 0.864 0.751 1116 372 43 44 0.2842 0.1447 24 17
25 26 0.864 0.751 549 183 44 45 0.2813 0.1433 ± ±
26 27 1.374 0.774 792 264 45 46 1.5900 0.5337 ± ±
1 28 0.279 0.015 882 294 46 47 0.7837 0.2630 ± ±
28 29 1.374 0.774 882 294 47 48 0.3042 0.1006 100 72
29 30 1.374 0.774 882 294 48 49 0.3861 0.1172 ± ±
V rated ˆ 23 kV 49 50 0.5075 0.2585 1244 888
50 51 0.0974 0.0496 32 23
51 52 0.1450 0.0738 ± ±
52 53 0.7105 0.3619 227 162
Table B2
53 54 1.0410 0.5302 59 42
68-Bus system: network and load data (Bus `0' is the substation node, the
10 55 0.2012 0.0611 18 13
voltage of which is ®xed at 12:66/08 kV)
55 56 0.0047 0.0014 18 13
Bus i Bus j Branch impedance Maximum load at Bus j 11 57 0.7394 0.2444 28 20
57 58 0.0047 0.0016 28 20
rij (V) xij (V) P (kW) Q (kVAR) 2 39 0.0044 0.0108 26 19
39 59 0.0640 0.1565 26 19
0 1 0.0005 0.0012 ± ± 59 60 0.1053 0.1230 ± ±
1 2 0.0005 0.0012 ± ± 60 61 0.0304 0.0355 24 17
2 3 0.0015 0.0036 ± ± 61 62 0.0018 0.0021 24 17
3 4 0.0251 0.0294 ± ± 62 63 0.7283 0.8509 10 10
4 5 0.3660 0.1864 10 10 63 64 0.3100 0.3623 ± ±
5 6 0.3811 0.1941 40 30 64 65 0.0410 0.0478 10 10
6 7 0.0922 0.0470 75 54 65 66 0.0092 0.0116 ± ±
7 8 0.0493 0.0251 30 22 66 67 0.1089 0.1373 39 26
8 9 0.8190 0.2707 28 19 67 68 0.0009 0.0012 39 26
9 10 0.1872 0.619 145 104 V rated ˆ
10 11 0.7114 0.2351 145 104 12:66 kV
836 B. Das / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 24 (2002) 827±836
References
[1] Goswami SK, Basu SK. Direct solution of distribution system. IEE
Proc C 1991;138(1):78±88.
[2] Shirmohammadi D, Long HW, Semlyen A, Luo GX. A compen-
sation based power ¯ow method for weakly meshed distribution
and transmission networks. IEEE Trans Power Syst
1988;3(2):753±62.
[3] Renato Cespedes G. New method for the analysis of distribution
networks. IEEE Trans Power Delivery 1990;5(1):391±6.
[4] Rajicic D, Ackovski R, Taleski R. Voltage correction power ¯ow.
IEEE Trans Power Delivery 1994;9(2):1056±61.
[5] Cheng CS, Shirmohammadi D. A three phase power ¯ow method for
real time distribution system analysis. IEEE Trans Power Syst
1995;10(2):671±9.
[6] Luo GX, Semlyen A. Ef®cient load ¯ow for large weakly meshed
networks. IEEE Trans Power Syst 1990;5(4):1309±16.
[7] Zimmerman RD, Chiag HD. Fast decoupled power ¯ow for unba-
lanced radial distribution systems. IEEE Trans Power Syst
1995;10(4):2045±52.
[8] Wang Z, Alvarado FL. Interval arithmetic in power ¯ow analysis.
IEEE Trans Power Syst 1992;7(3):1341±9.
[9] Alefeld G, Herzberger J. Introduction to interval computations. New
York: Academic Press, 1983.
[10] Baran ME, Wu FF. Optimal capacitor placement on radial distribution
systems. IEEE Trans Power Delivery 1989;4(1):725±34.