UNIT-IV

STABILITY ANALYSIS IN S- DOMAIN

90
 Routh’s Stability Criterion
How do we determine stability without finding all poles?
Actual poles provide more info than is needed.
All we need to know if any poles are in LHP.
Routh’s stability criterion (Section 5-7).

q(s)  s 4  2s3  3s2 4s  5

q(s)  s3  2s 2  s  2
q(s)  s5  2s 4  24s3  48s2  25s  50
What values of K produce a stable system?

K G(s)
G(s)  , T(s) 
s(s  s 1)(s  2)
2
1 G(s) 91
 The Stability of Linear Feedback Systems

The issue of ensuring the stability of a closed-loop feedback system is central to

control system design. Knowing that an unstable closed-loop system is generally
of no practical value, we seek methods to help us analyze and design stable
systems. A stable system should exhibit a bounded output if the corresponding
input is bounded. This is known as bounded-input, bounded-output stability
and is one of the main topics of this chapter.

The stability of a feedback system is directly related to the location of the roots
of the characteristic equation of the system transfer function. The Routh–
Hurwitz method is introduced as a useful tool for assessing system stability. The
technique allows us to compute the number of roots of the characteristic
equation in the right half-plane without actually computing the values of the
roots. Thus we can determine stability without the added computational burden
of determining characteristic root locations. This gives us a design method for
determining values of certain system parameters that will lead to closed-loop
stability. For stable systems we will introduce the notion of relative stability,
which allows us to characterize the degree of stability.

92
The Concept of Stability

A stable system is a dynamic system with a bounded

response to a bounded input.

Absolute stability is a stable/not stable characterization for a

closed-loop feedback system. Given that a system is stable
we can further characterize the degree of stability, or the
relative stability.

93
 The Concept of Stability
The concept of stability can be
illustrated by a cone placed on
a plane horizontal surface.

A necessary and
sufficient condition for a
feedback system to be
stable is that all the
poles of the system
transfer function have
negative real parts.

A system is considered marginally stable if only certain bounded

inputs will result in a bounded output.
94
 The Routh-Hurwitz Stability Criterion

It was discovered that all coefficients of the characteristic polynomial must

have the same sign and non-zero if all the roots are in the left-hand plane.

These requirements are necessary but not sufficient. If the above

requirements are not met, it is known that the system is unstable. But, if the
requirements are met, we still must investigate the system further to
determine the stability of the system.

The Routh-Hurwitz criterion is a necessary and sufficient criterion for the

stability of linear systems.

95
 The Routh-Hurwitz Stability Criterion
Characteristic equation, q(s) ans n  a n1 sn1  a n2 s n2  a1 s a0  0

Routh array sn an an2 an4

s n1 an1 an3 an5
s n2 bn1 bn3 bn5
s n3 cn1 cn3 cn5
   
The Routh-Hurwitz criterion    
states that the number of    
roots of q(s) with positive real s0 hn1
parts is equal to the number
of changes in sign of the first
column of the Routh array. bn1 
an1 an2  an an3   1 an a n2
an1 an1 an1 an3
1 a n2 a n4
bn3 
an1 an1 an3
1 an1 a n3
cn1 
bn1 bn1 bn3 96
The Routh-Hurwitz Stability Criterion
Case One: No element in the first column is zero.

Example 6.1 Second-order system

The Characteristic polynomial of a second-order system is:

q(s) a 2 s 2  a 1 s  a 0

2
The Routh array is written as:
s a2 a0
1
s a.1 0
0
w here: s b.1 0
a 1 a 0  (0)a 2
b1 a0
a1

Theref ore the requirement for a stable second-order system is

simply that al coeff icients be positive or all the coefficients be
negative.
97
The Routh-Hurwitz Stability Criterion
Case Two: Zeros in the first column while some elements of the row containing a
zero in the first column are nonzero.

If only one element in the a r r a y is ze r o , it may be replaced w ith a smal positiv e

number  that is allow e d to a ppr o a c h ze r o a f t e r completing the a r r a y.

q ( s ) s 5  2s 4  2s 3  4s 2  11s  1 0

The Routh a r r a y is then:

s5 1 2 11
s4 2 4 10
s3 b1 6 0
s2 c1 10 0
s1 d1 0 0
s 0 10 0 0
w here:
22  14 4  2 6 1 2 6c 1  10
b1 0  c1 d1 6
2   c1
There are t w o sign c ha nge s in the f irst column d u e to the large negativ e number
calculated f o r c1. Thus , the s y s t e m is unstable be c a us e t w o roots lie in the
right half of the plane. 98
The Routh-Hurwitz Stability Criterion
Case Three: Zeros in the first column, and the other elements of the row containing
the zero are also zero.

This case occurs when the polynomial q(s) has zeros located sy metrically about the
origin of the s-plane, such as (s+)(s -) or (s+j)(s-j). This case is solved using
the auxiliary polynomial, U(s), w hich is located in the row above the row containing
the zero entry in the Routh array.

q(s) s3  2s2  4s  K

Routh array: s3 1 4
s2 2 K
s1 8 K
0
2
s0 K 0
For a stable system we require that 0s8

For the marginally stable case, K=8, the s^1 row of the Routh array contains all zeros. The
auxiliary plynomial comes f rom the s^2 row.
U(s) 2s 2  Ks 0 2s 2  8 
2 s2  4  2(s  j2)(s  j2)

It can be proven that U(s) is a factor of the characteristic polynomial:

q(s) s2
U(s) 2 Thus, w hen K=8, the factors of the characteristic polynomial are:

q(s) (s  2)(s  j2)(s  j2) 99

The Routh-Hurwitz Stability Criterion
Case Four: Repeated roots of the characteristic equation on the jw-axis.

With simple roots on the jw-axis, the system will

have a marginally stable behavior. This is not the
case if the roots are repeated. Repeated roots
on the jw-axis will cause the system to be
unstable. Unfortunately, the routh-array will fail
to reveal this instability.

100
Example 6.4

101
Example 6.5 Welding control

Using block diagram reduction we find that:

The Routh array is then: s4 1 11 Ka
s3 6 (K  6)
s2 b3 Ka
s1 c3
s0 Ka
60  K b3(K  6)  6Ka
where: b 3 and c3
6 b3

For the system to be stable both b3 and c3 must be positive.

Using these equations a relationship can be determined forK and a .
102
The Relative Stability of Feedback Control Systems

It is often necessary to know the

relative damping of each root to
the characteristic equation.
Relative system stability can be
measured by observing the
relative real part of each root. In
this diagram r2 is relatively more
stable than the pair of roots
labeled r1.

One method of determining the relative stability of

each root is to use an axis shift in the s-domain and
then use the Routh array as shown in Example 6.6
of the text.

103
Design Example: Tracked Vehicle Turning Control

Problem statement: Design the turning control for a tracked vehicle. Select K
and a so that the system is stable. The system is modeled below.

104
Design Example: Tracked Vehicle Turning Control

The characteristic equation of this system is:

1  GcG(s) 0

or
K(s  a)
1 0
s(s  1)(s  2)(s  5)

Thus,
s(s  1)(s  2)(s  5)  K(s  a) 0

or
s 4  8s3  17s2  (K  10)s  Ka 0
To determine a stable region for the system, we establish the Routh array as:
s4 1 17 Ka
s3 8 (K 10) 0
s2 b3 Ka
s1 c3
s0 Ka
where
126  K b 3 (K  10)  8Ka
b3 and c3
8 b3
105
Design Example: Tracked Vehicle Turning Control

s4 1 17 Ka
s3 8 (K 10) 0
s2 b3 Ka
s1 c3
s0 Ka

where
126  K b3(K  10)  8Ka
b3 and c3
8 b3

Therefore,
K  126

Ka  0

(K  10)(126  K)  64Ka  0

106
System Stability Using MATLAB

107
System Stability Using MATLAB

108
System Stability Using MATLAB

109
System Stability Using MATLAB

110