Circuit analysis is the practice of solving for particular values (voltage, current, resistance, capacitance, impedance, etc.) within an analogue circuit. Solving linear circuits is powerful due to their properties of superposition and linearity.
Circuit simulation tools allow us to functionally do the same thing we do with analysis by hand on computers. Tools like this are usually based on SPICE, like LTspice.
Key concepts
Basic ideas
Techniques
- Nodal analysis
- Mesh analysis
- Superposition
- Thevenin’s theorem
- Norton’s theorem
- Phasor analysis
- Frequency domain
Important circuit types
Tips and tricks
When I was learning circuit analysis in high school, my physics teacher Mr Alphonso always said that it’s a good idea to redraw the circuit if necessary. Many problems come down to visual tricks that you have to be clever enough to spot.
Many basic mistakes in circuit analysis come down to misunderstanding or not actively applying important principles. The passive sign convention and what constitutes a node, in particular, are two big things that are easy to forget when starting out.
Resources
- The Analysis and Design of Linear Circuits by Roland E. Thomas, Albert J. Rosa, Gregory J. Toussaint
- Basic Engineering Circuit Analysis, by J. David Irwin and R. Mark Nelms