Critical Coupling and Synchronized Clusters in Arbitrary Networks of Kuramoto Oscillators

abstract: The Kuramoto model is an archetypal model for studying synchronization in groups of nonidentical oscillators where oscillators are imbued with their own frequency and coupled with other oscillators though a network of interactions. As the coupling strength increases, there is a bifurcation to complete synchronization where all oscillators move with the same frequency and show a collective rhythm. Kuramoto-like dynamics are considered a relevant model for instabilities of the AC-power grid which operates in synchrony under standard conditions but exhibits, in a state of failure, segmentation of the grid into desynchronized clusters. In this dissertation the minimum coupling strength required to ensure total frequency synchronization in a Kuramoto system, called the critical coupling, is investigated. For coupling strength below the critical coupling, clusters of oscillators form where oscillators within a cluster are on average oscillating with the same long-term frequency. A unified order parameter based approach is developed to create approximations of the critical coupling. Some of the new approximations provide strict lower bounds for the critical coupling. In addition, these approximations allow for predictions of the partially synchronized clusters that emerge in the bifurcation from the synchronized state. Merging the order parameter approach with graph theoretical concepts leads to a characterization of this bifurcation as a weighted graph partitioning problem on an arbitrary networks which then leads to an optimization problem that can efficiently estimate the partially synchronized clusters. Numerical experiments on random Kuramoto systems show the high accuracy of these methods. An interpretation of the methods in the context of power systems is provided.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Applied Mathematics 201