Transmission line modeling co-simulation with distributed delay-size control using steady-state identification

Combining performance and numerical stability is a key issue in co-simulation. The Transmission Line Modeling method uses physically motivated communication delays to ensure numerical stability for stiff connections. However, using a fixed communication delay may limit performance for some models. This paper proposes Steady-State Identification for enabling variable communication delays. Three algorithms for online Steady-State Identification are evaluated in three different co-simulation models. All algorithms are able to identify steady state and can thereby determine when communication delays can be allowed to increase without compromising accuracy and stability. The results show a reduction in number of the solver derivative evaluations by roughly 40–60% depending on the model. The proposed method additionally supports connections with asymmetric communication delays, which allows each sub-model to independently control the delay of its input variables. Models supporting delay-size control can thereby be connected to those that do not, so that the step length of each individual sub-model is maximized. Controlling the delay-size in sub-models also makes the method independent of the master co-simulation algorithm.