Determining the optimal radial network topology within the line flow constraints

This paper describes a linear programming based method by which the radial electric power distribution networks can be optimally reconfigured. The optimization problem is formulated as a linear network flow problem where the resulting network is required to remain radial. The radiality constraint is enforced implicitly by modifying the well known simplex method in order to avoid the creation of topologies that contain any loops during the simplex iterations. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the proposed method.