Evaluation of the Forward-Backward Sweep Load Flow Method using the Contraction Mapping Principle

Diego Issicaba (Department of Electrical Engineering (DAELT) Federal University of Technology - Parana (UTFPR))
Jorge Coelho (Department of Electrical Engineering, Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC))

International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Vol 6, No 6: December 2016

This paper presents an assessment of the forward-backward sweep load flow method to distribution system analysis. The method is formally assessed using fixed-point concepts and the contraction mapping theorem. The existence and uniqueness of the load flow feasible solution is supported by an alternative argument from those obtained in the literature. Also, the closed-form of the convergence rate of the method is deduced and the convergence dependence of loading is assessed. Finally, boundaries for error values per iteration between iterates and feasible solution are obtained. Theoretical results have been tested in several numerical simulations, some of them presented in this paper, thus fostering discussions about applications and future works.