Design and analysis of electric circuits using Java

This paper introduces an application of electrical engineering principles and object-oriented approach in the design of a Java-based circuit design and analysis system. The system is called JavaCirc, which is an analog circuit simulator that analyzes the steady-state values of electrical circuits. Wire, resistors, capacitors, inductors, independent as well as dependent sources, and grounds make up basic building blocks in using JavaCirc to design circuits. Nodal analysis, Ohm's law, Kirchoff's laws and Cramer's Rule underlie the design of circuit analysis features of the new system. In addition, JavaCirc includes a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that allows the user to draw analog circuits on a computerized "drawing board". This GUI makes it possible to graph the steady-state solutions and witness the transient progression towards these values. The entire JavaCirc system is written in Java. For this paper, the circuit equivalent for the Tacoma Narrows Bridge is created and used to explore JavaCirc's capabilities.