What is network analysis?
Generally speaking, network analysis is any structured technique used to mathematically analyze a circuit (a "network" of interconnected components). Quite often the technician or engineer will encounter circuits containing multiple sources of power or component configurations which defy simplification by series/parallel analysis techniques. In those cases, he or she will be forced to use other means. This chapter presents a few techniques useful in analyzing such complex circuits.To illustrate how even a simple circuit can defy analysis by breakdown into series and parallel portions, take start with this series-parallel circuit:
To analyze the above circuit, one would first find the equivalent of R2 and R3 in parallel, then add R1 in series to arrive at a total resistance. Then, taking the voltage of battery B1 with that total circuit resistance, the total current could be calculated through the use of Ohm's Law (I=E/R), then that current figure used to calculate voltage drops in the circuit. All in all, a fairly simple procedure.
However, the addition of just one more battery could change all of that:
Resistors R2 and R3 are no longer in parallel with each other, because B2 has been inserted into R3's branch of the circuit. Upon closer inspection, it appears there are no two resistors in this circuit directly in series or parallel with each other. This is the crux of our problem: in series-parallel analysis, we started off by identifying sets of resistors that were directly in series or parallel with each other, and then reduce them to single, equivalent resistances. If there are no resistors in a simple series or parallel configuration with each other, then what can we do?................................
