Application of clustering and factorisation tree techniques for parallel solution of sparse network equations

Abstract

Through the use of diakoptical techniques it is possible to solve the network equations for a power system using a parallel computer architecture. Traditional parallel solution techniques give an unimpressive return on investment as more processors are applied to the problem owing to unacceptably large sequential sections of the algorithm and ill-balanced computational loads. The paper analyses the diakoptical method using the factorisation tree as a tool. New algorithms are proposed for network splitting, node ordering and load balancing between processors. This, in connection with a novel recursively parallel solution algorithm, gives improved speedup over the conventional parallel solution method. Simulation results are presented which confirm the usefulness of the method.