Application of Numerical Methods for the Analysis of Damped Parallel RLC Circuit

Abstract

A sudden application of sources results in time-varying currents and voltages in the circuit known as transients. This phenomenon occurs frequently during switching. A simple circuit constituting a resistor, an inductor, and a capacitor is termed an RLC circuit. It may be in parallel or series configuration or both. Different values of damping factors determine the different nature of the transient response. We applied different numerical solution methods such as explicit (forward) Euler method, third-order Runge-Kutta (RK3) method, and Butcher's fifth-order Runge-Kutta (BRK5) method to approximate the solution of second-order differential equation with initial value problem (IVP). We thoroughly compared the numerical solutions obtained by these methods with the necessary visualization and analysis of error. We also examined the superiority of these methods over one another and the appropriateness of numerical methods for different damping conditions is explored. With high accuracy of the approximation and thorough analysis of the observation, we found Butcher's fifth-order Runge-Kutta (BRK5) method to be the best numerical technique. Regarding the different values of damping factors, we considered the further possibility of discussion and analysis of this iterative method.