Editing Lumped-element model (section)

{{short description|Simplification of a physical system into a network of discrete components}}
{{Technical|date=August 2019}}
{{Refimprove|date=August 2023}}
[[File:Ohm's Law with Voltage source TeX.svg|thumb|Representation of a lumped model consisting of a voltage source and a resistor.]]

The '''lumped-element model''' (also called '''lumped-parameter model''', or '''lumped-component model''') is a [[idealization (philosophy of science)|simplified]] representation of a physical system or circuit that assumes all components are concentrated at a single point and their behavior can be described by idealized mathematical models. The lumped-element model simplifies the system or circuit behavior description into a [[Topology (electrical circuits)|topology]]. It is useful in [[electrical network|electrical systems]] (including [[electronics]]), mechanical [[multibody system]]s, [[heat transfer]], [[acoustics]], etc. This is in contrast to [[distributed parameter system]]s or models in which the behaviour is distributed spatially and cannot be considered as localized into discrete entities.

The simplification reduces the [[State space (controls)|state space]] of the system to a [[counting number|finite]] [[dimension]], and the [[partial differential equation]]s (PDEs) of the continuous (infinite-dimensional) time and space model of the physical system into [[ordinary differential equation]]s (ODEs) with a finite number of parameters.