ABSTRACT
This chapter integrates the transfer function approach with the linear graphs approach for the modeling and analysis of systems in various physical domains and of multi-physics systems in general. Thevenin’s theorem provides a powerful approach to reduce a complex circuit segment into a simpler equivalent representation. Two types of equivalent circuits are generated by this theorem: Thevenin Equivalent Circuit and Norton Equivalent Circuit. In view of the fact that current is a through-variable and voltage is an across-variable, the Thevenin and Norton equivalent circuits may be extended to any linear dynamic system in terms of the corresponding through-variable and the corresponding across-variable. The equivalent-circuit analysis can be extended to mechanical systems as well, by using the force-current analogy. It studies multi-domain TFLGs. Their analysis is done by first converting the TFLG of the multi-domain system into an equivalent single-domain TFLG.
