PRINCIPLE OF DUALITY

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 CONCEPT OF DUALITY
There are Electric circuits where the Voltage is taken as an independent variable and current as the
variable dependent on voltage. There is no reason why we cannot take the current as independent
and voltage as dependant variables. This property leads to the concept of duality and the circuits are
called dual circuits. e.g., current and voltage are duals. Similarly circuit elements exhibit the property
of Duality. Networks also follow this principle. The equations representing the relationship between
the currents and the voltages in such networks are of identical mathematical form.

Table of Dual Elements

Element Dual Element

Electrical Resistance; V=IR Conductance; I=G V

Inductance; v=L di/dt Capacitance; i=C dv/dt

Switch Closed Switch Open

Mesh Node
What is a Dual Network?
Two electrical networks are said to be dual networks if the mesh equations of one network is equal to
the node equation of other.
The dual network are based on Kirchhoff Current Law and Kirchhoff Voltage Law.

Applying Kirchhoff Voltage Law in the network A, above we get,

 Applying Kirchhoff Current Law in the network B, above we get,

Here we have found that equation (i) and (ii) are similar in their mathematical form. Equation (i) is in mesh
form and equation (ii) is in nodal form. Here, left side variable of equation (i) is voltage and left side variable
of equation (ii) is current. Similarly, right side of equation (i) is product of current and total impedance of the
circuit and right side of equation (ii) is the product of voltage and admittance of the circuit. So, these two
networks are dual network. From, the examples it is also clear that dual networks may not be equivalent
networks. The circuit equation of two dual networks are similar in form but the variables are interchanged.
Examples of Dual Network
Let us consider series RLC circuit as shown below.

Applying Kirchhoff Voltage Law in this circuit, we get,

Let us replace all the variables and constants by their dual in the equation. By doing that,
we get,
The electrical network drawn by the circuit equation (iv), would be

This is nothing but Kirchhoff Current Law. As per definition of dual network, the
network C and network D are dual to each other.
1/ Y1= (1/ YA x 1/ YB)/ (1/ YA+1/ YB+1/ YC)
Y1= (1/ YA+1/ YB+1/ YC) / (1/ YA x 1/ YB)

Y1= (YB YC+ YA YC+ YA YB)/ YC

Y2= (YB YC+ YA YC+ YA YB)/ YA
Y3= (YB YC+ YA YC+ YA YB)/ YB

The Equations given above prove that T& 𝜋 are dual networks