Modeling of electrical machines for power system’s electromagnetic transient programs (EMTP) has been an active area of research since the late 1970s. Most machine models are based on the qd reference frame. The phase-domain (PD) model was also proposed wherein the direct interface with the external network is achieved at a price of increased the computational cost.

This thesis focuses on improving the numerical efficiency and accuracy of machine models for power systems transient simulation. The modeling approach developed in this thesis is based on the so-called voltage-behind-reactance (VBR) formulation. The new VBR models of synchronous and induction machines are proposed for EMTP-type solution. It is shown that the proposed VBR models significantly improve the overall numerical accuracy and efficiency, compared with the traditional qd and PD models, due to the direct machine-network interface and better-scaled eigenvalues. The proposed model implementations require as little as 240 flops for synchronous and 108 flops for induction machines, per time-step, respectively. This amounts to 3.75 μs and 1.6 μs (per time-step) of the CPU time on a modest personal computer and represents a significant improvement over existing EMTP machine models. Magnetic saturation has been incorporated into the VBR models for EMTP-type solution. Computer studies demonstrate that the proposed saturable VBR model in addition of being very efficient also preserves good numerical accuracy and stability even at very large time step. A new full-order VBR induction machine model is also proposed for state-variable simulation languages. Computer studies demonstrate that the proposed models achieve a 740% improvement in computational efficiency as compared with the coupled-circuit models used in state-variable simulation languages. Finally, an approximate VBR induction machine model is proposed for the discretized EMTP solution wherein a constant equivalent conductance matrix is achieved. This further improves the efficiency of the machine-network solution since it avoids the re-factorization of the network conductance matrix at every time step. It is envisioned by the author that due to structural and numerical advantages, the proposed VBR models will find wide application in simulation packages and tools widely used in the power industry.