AC Circuits

Abstract

This chapter, AC Circuits, deals with the analysis of AC circuits. The sinusoidal waveform and its equivalent complex representation are presented. The representation of circuit elements in the frequency-domain is described. The advantage of the frequency-domain analysis is pointed out through the analysis of resistor-inductor and resistor-capacitor circuits. The analysis of series, parallel, and series-parallel circuits is presented. Loop and nodal analysis of AC circuits are presented through proper steps with numerical examples. The differences and similarities between DC and AC circuit analysis are brought out. It is emphasized that, for the same structure, the analysis of DC and AC circuits are same except for the use of real or complex arithmetic. It is noted that AC circuit analysis at each frequency of interest has to be carried out separately.

A number of examples of AC circuit analysis are presented with clear explanation of all the steps involved from problem formulation to finding the solution. Thevenin’s and Norton’s theorems, maximum power transfer theorem and source transformation are the additional topics covered. Supplementary programs for verifying the analytically obtained results by coding and simulation are available.