I have a basic question about the utility of a power-flow study versus a phasor simulation of a network.
Here is a description of phasor simulation from the Matlab Simpowersystems manual
"If, in a linear circuit, you are interested only in the changes in magnitude and phase of all voltages and currents when switches are closed or opened, you do not need to solve all differential equations (state-space model) resulting from the interaction of R, L, and C elements. You can instead solve a much simpler set of algebraic equations relating the voltage and current phasors. This is what the phasor solution method does. As its name implies, this method computes voltages and currents as phasors. Phasors are complex numbers representing sinusoidal voltages and currents at a particular frequency. They can be expressed either in Cartesian coordinates (real and imaginary) or in polar coordinates (amplitude and phase). As the electrical states are ignored, the phasor solution method does not require a particular solver to solve the electrical part of your system. The simulation is therefore much faster to execute. You must keep in mind, however, that this faster solution technique gives the solution only at one particular frequency. "
and the wikipedia definition of a power-flow study
"In power engineering, the power-flow study, or load-flow study, is a numerical analysis of the flow of electric power in an interconnected system. A power-flow study usually uses simplified notation such as a one-line diagram and per-unit system, and focuses on various aspects of AC power parameters, such as voltages, voltage angles, real power and reactive power. It analyzes the power systems in normal steady-state operation. "
To do a phasor simulation, I imagine that any load injections can be modeled as current injections at constant voltage or voltage sources at constant current. (?)
My confusion is the following. Why would one do a power-flow study if all the information of the voltages, currents and phase angles can be obtained from a phasor simulation (considering that we don't need to assume steady-state)? Wouldn't one get a more realistic description of the dynamics of the system (and all the corresponding information that power-flow study will provide) with a phasor simulation?
I am obviously confused about what each method is supposed to accomplish or may have made incorrect assumptions. I would be grateful if someone pointed out what that may be.