Resistance or conductance of resistor networks

Question

I am trying to figure out if the equivalent resistance (or similarly conductance) of a resistor network can be calculated using Qucs (as opposed to solving the Kirchhoff equations directly, or doing the numerical Star-Mesh transform on the network).

For instance if we know the graph/network characteristics, that is, the vertex set (i.e. how many nodes), the edge (bond) set and the resistance values corresponding to each bond (so between a chosen pair of vertices),

• How can we input the resistor network as such into Qucs? (can netlists be used for this purpose?)
• Assuming the above point is possible, can we then use Qucs to estimate the equivalent resistance of the network? That is, can we set up a Qucs simulation for this type of calculation? (e.g., using a fixed voltage generator in an AC simulation?)

Being a complete novice to Qucs, any hints at any level, be they basic or advanced, would be extremely valuable to me. Unfortunately, in the existing Qucs tutorials I haven't found any examples pertaining to the above type of calculations.

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In case you prefer to answer with a working (dummy) example, here's a network we can work with:

Example network for testing purposes: 4 nodes only, labelled from one to four. The only bonds in the network are: {1,2} with resistance 5 ohms, bond {1,3} with resistance 10 ohms and bond {2,4} with resistance 5 ohms. And we're trying to find out the resistance between the input and output.

^{simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab}

Answer 1

You certainly can use any simulator to determine transfer function or impedance.

For DC, put a current source and a voltmeter between the two nodes "in,out" at any value such as 1mA or 1A ( won't burn up a simulator, lol)

By the way, this is how DMM's work in the resistance scale, and some change current scales e.g. from 100uA to 10mA for different R ranges. Some precision RLC meters use Sine wave current sources, and others use pulse decay time constant method.

Req=V/I

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