IJSRD - International Journal for Scientific Research & Development| Vol.

2, Issue 01, 2014 | ISSN (online): 2321-0613

Backward / Forward Sweep Load Flow Algorithm for Radial Distribution

System
A. D. Rana 1 J. B. Darji 2 Mosam Pandya3
1, 2, 3
P. G. Student
1, 2, 3
,Eletrical Engg. Department
1, 2, 3
L.D.C.E., Abad
Abstract---This paper presents Backward / Forward
(BW/FW) Sweep algorithm for load flow analysis of radial
distribution network. In backward sweep, Kirchhoffs
Current Law and Kirchhoffs Voltage Law are used to
compute the bus voltage from farthest node. In forward
sweep, downstream bus voltage is updated starting from
source node. The procedure stops after the mismatch of the
calculated and the specified voltages at the substation is less
than a convergence tolerance. Line losses are calculated
afterwards using updated bus voltage. Using this method,
load flow solution for a distribution network can be obtained
without solving any set of simultaneous equations. The
proposed algorithm is tested with 15 bus and IEEE 33 bus
radial distribution system. Test results are obtained by
programming using MATLAB.
Keywords: radial distribution system, load flow analysis,
backward/forward sweep
I. INTRODUCTION
Power flow or load flow studies are performed for the
determination of the steady state operating condition of a
power system. This is the most frequently carried out study
by power utilities and are required to be performed for
power system planning, operation, optimization and control.
At the design stage, load flow analysis is used to check
whether the voltage profiles are expected to be within limits
throughout network. At the operation stage, it is run to
explore different arrangements to maintain the required
voltage profile and to minimize system losses.
In addition to the direct use of load flow, in many
other problems it is used as a sub problem, for instance in
the contingency analysis of a system. The main objective of
loaf flow studies is to determine the bus voltage magnitude
with its phase angle, real and reactive power flow in
different lines and the transmission power losses.
Some of the basic power flow algorithms were
developed and applied such as Newton Raphson (NR),
Gauss Seidel (GS) to the transmission network. These
methods may become inefficient for the distribution network
because of its special features like radial structure, high R/X
ratio, unbalanced load etc. These features make the
distribution systems power flow computation different and
somewhat difficult to analyze as compared to the
transmission systems.
In the past, many approaches for distribution
system load-flow analyses have been developed. Among
these approaches, the ladder network theory and the
backward/forward sweep methods are commonly used due
to their computational efficiencies and solution accuracies.
In this paper, standard backward/forward sweep method is
used for radial distribution system load flow analysis.

II. BACKWARD/FORWARD SWEEP ALGORITHM

This method includes two steps: the backward sweep and
the forward sweep. In backward sweep, voltage and currents
are computed using KVL and KCL from the farthest node
from the source node. In forward sweep, the downstream
voltage is calculated starting from source node. The input
data of this algorithm is given by node-branch oriented data.
Basic data required are, active and reactive powers,
nomenclature for sending and receiving nodes, and positive
sequence impedance model for all branches.
Listed below summarize major steps of the
proposed solution algorithm with appropriate equations.
1) Assume rated voltages at end nodes only for 1 st iteration
and equals the value computed in the forward sweep in
the subsequent iteration.
2) Start with end node and compute the node current using
equation (1). Apply the KCL to determine the current
flowing from node i towards node i+1 using equation
(2), start from end nodes.
(1)

(2)
th

3) Compute with this current the voltage at i node using

equation (3). Continue this step till the junction node is
reached. At junction node the voltage computed is
stored.
(3)
4) Start with another end node of the system and compute
voltage and current as in step 2 and 3.
5) Compute with the most recent voltage at junction node,
the current using equation (1).
6) Similarly compute till the reference node.
7) Compare the calculated magnitude of the rated voltage
at reference node with specified source voltage.
Stop if the voltage difference is less than specified criteria,
otherwise forward sweep begins.
Forward Sweep:
1) Start with reference node at rated voltage.
2) Compute the node voltage in forward direction from
reference node to end nodes using equation (4).
(4)
3) Again start backward sweep with updated bus voltage
calculated in forward sweep.
After calculating node voltages and line currents using
standard BW/FW sweep algorithm, the line losses are
calculated. The complex power, Sij from bus i to bus j and
Sji from bus j to bus i, as are calculated using equation (5)
and (6).
Sij = ViIij*
(5)

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Backward / Forward Sweep Load Flow Algorithm for Radial Distribution System
(IJSRD/Vol. 2/Issue 01/2014/102)

Sji = VjIji*

(6)
III. SIMULATION RESULTS

The proposed algorithm has been tested on 15 bus and IEEE

33 bus radial distribution system, using MATLAB. 15 bus
system is shown in Figure 1. This system is consisting of 15
nodes and 14 branches, where node 1 is the reference node
or substation.

Fig. 1: 15 bus Radial Distribution System

The base voltage is 11 kV and base KVA

is 100. The tolerance is 0.00001 p.u. and number
of iteration required is 5. Results are shown in
Table 1 and Table 2. Bus voltage magnitude in
p.u. and phase angle in degree at each bus are
shown in Table 1 and real and reactive line losses
in each branch in kW and kVAR respectively, are
shown in Table 2. Voltage profile of the system is
shown in Figure 2.
Bus
Voltage Magnitude
Phase Angle
Number
(pu)
(degree)
1
1.0000
0
2
0.9714
0.0131
3
0.9569
0.0659
4
0.9511
0.0693
5
0.9501
0.0840
6
0.9585
0.1729
7
0.9563
0.2007
8
0.9573
0.1869
9
0.9681
0.0571
10
0.9671
0.0714
11
0.9502
0.1508
12
0.9461
0.1974
13
0.9447
0.2153
14
0.9488
0.0976
15
0.9485
0.0978
Table. 1: Voltage magnitude and Phase angle

Fig. 2: Voltage profile of 15 bus system

Branch
Active Line
Reactive Line
Sending
Receiving
Losses (kW)
Losses (kVAR)
End
End
1
2
37.0603
37.0600
2
3
11.6679
10.5011
3
4
2.4601
2.4601
4
5
0.0572
0.0352
2
9
0.4826
0.3123
9
10
0.0594
0.0382
2
6
5.7275
3.8186
6
7
0.3936
0.2624
6
8
0.1091
0.0764
3
11
2.1985
1.4657
11
12
0.5943
0.4160
12
13
0.0756
0.0489
4
14
0.1999
0.1333
4
15
0.4445
0.3112
Table. 2: Active and Reactive line losses of 15 bus system
IEEE 33 bus system consists of 33 nodes and 32
branches is shown in Figure 3. The base voltage for this
system is 12.66 kV and base MVA is 10.
The tolerance is 0.00001 p.u. and number of
iteration required is 2. Bus voltage magnitude in p.u. and
phase angle in degree at each bus are shown in Table 3 and
real and reactive line losses in each branch in kW and kVAR
respectively, are shown in Table 4. Voltage profile of the
system is shown in Figure 4.

Fig. 3: IEEE 33 bus distribution system

Bus
Number
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

Voltage Magnitude
(pu)
1.0000
0.9972
0.9839
0.9770
0.9701
0.9531
0.9498
0.9373
0.9316
0.9262
0.9254
0.9241
0.9185
0.9164
0.9151
0.9139
0.9120
0.9115
0.9967
0.9931

Phase Angle
(degree)
0
0.0147
0.0904
0.1516
0.2138
0.1275
-0.0864
-0.2323
-0.3029
-0.3637
-0.3575
-0.3476
-0.4349
-0.5085
-0.5439
-0.5660
-0.6380
-0.6472
0.0039
-0.0629

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Backward / Forward Sweep Load Flow Algorithm for Radial Distribution System
(IJSRD/Vol. 2/Issue 01/2014/102)

21
0.9924
-0.0821
22
0.9918
-0.1024
23
0.9804
0.0606
24
0.9739
-0.0257
25
0.9707
-0.0681
26
0.9513
0.1644
27
0.9489
0.2169
28
0.9384
0.2978
29
0.9308
0.3731
30
0.9276
0.4713
31
0.9238
0.3959
32
0.9229
0.3752
33
0.9227
0.3683
Table. 3: Voltage magnitude and Phase angle of IEEE 33
bus system
Branch
Active Line
Reactive Line
Sending
Receiving
Losses (kW)
Losses (kVAR)
End
End
1
2
11.0729
5.5365
2
3
45.9580
23.4266
3
4
17.1532
8.7271
4
5
16.0729
8.1715
5
6
32.7726
28.2832
6
7
1.6564
5.4647
7
8
9.9722
7.1990
8
9
3.5476
2.5490
9
10
3.0097
2.1359
10
11
0.4685
0.1562
11
12
0.7434
0.2446
12
13
2.2398
1.7630
13
14
0.6118
0.8055
14
15
0.2989
0.2657
15
16
0.2353
0.1717
16
17
0.2098
0.2803
17
18
0.0443
0.0347
2
19
0.1583
0.1521
19
20
0.8197
0.7386
20
21
0.0989
0.1156
21
22
0.0429
0.0567
3
23
3.0101
2.0494
23
24
4.8474
3.8260
24
25
1.2097
0.9457
6
26
2.2211
1.1368
26
27
2.8235
1.4357
27
28
9.5845
8.4535
28
29
6.6364
5.7771
29
30
3.2984
1.6752
30
31
1.3406
1.3252
31
32
0.1795
0.2090
32
33
0.0111
0.0172
Table. 4: Active and Reactive line losses of IEEE 33 bus
system

Fig. 4: Voltage profile of IEEE 33 bus system

IV. CONCLUSION
A new method for solving the load flow problem for radial
distribution feeders without using conventional load flow
methods like Gauss Seidel, Newton Raphson, Fast
Decoupled methods is presented in this paper. This method
uses simple algebraic equations to calculate iteratively the
outgoing powers and voltage magnitudes of different nodes
and mismatches at the last nodes of main feeder and laterals
and depending upon mismatches the substation injection is
corrected judiciously and this process is repeated until
convergence. This makes the algorithm very robust and
numerically efficient for convergence for wide variation of
distribution network. Two different radial distribution
systems are used to validate the algorithm.
REFERENCES
[1] Chang, G.W.; Chu, S.Y.; Wang, H.L. An Improved
Backward/Forward Sweep Load Flow Algorithm for
Radial Distribution Systems IEEE Trans Power Sys.
vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 882-884, 2007.
[2] S. Ghosh and D. Das, Method for load-flow solution of
radial distribution network, IEE Proc.-Gener. Transm.
Distrib., vol. 146, no. 6, Nov. 1999.
[3] W. H. Kersting, Radial distribution test feeders IEEE
distribution planning working group report, IEEE
Trans. Power Syst., vol. 6, no.3, pp. 975985, Aug.
1991.
[4] PSR Murthy, C. Radhakrishana, H. S. Jain, TellegenKirchoff s based Power Flow Solution for Radial
Distribution Networks
[5] W. H. Kersting, Distribution System Modeling and
Analysis Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2002.
[6] D. Shirmohammadi, H. W. Hong, A. Semlyen, and G.
X. Luo, A compensation based power flow method for
weakly meshed distribution and transmission
networks, IEEE Trans. Power Syst., vol. 3, no. 2, pp.
753762, May 1988.

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