Process Control : Analysis, Design and Assessment

Lecture 16: Stability analysis of closed loop systems

Dr. Raghunathan Rengaswamy

Dept. of Chemical Engineering
IIT Madras

Lecture 16: Process Control : Analysis, Design and Assessment

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Stability analysis of the system

𝑁(𝑠) 𝐶1(𝑠)
If the open loop transfer function is 𝐺 𝑠 = , and controller is, 𝐶 𝑠 = ,
𝐷(𝑠) 𝐶2(𝑠)

The closed loop transfer function

𝑁(𝑠) 𝐶1(𝑠)
𝐷(𝑠) 𝐶2(𝑠) 𝑁 𝑠 𝐶1(𝑠)
𝐺𝑐𝑙 𝑠 = =
𝑁(𝑠) 𝐶1(𝑠) 𝐷 𝑠 𝐶2 𝑠 + 𝑁 𝑠 𝐶1(𝑠)
1+
𝐷(𝑠) 𝐶2(𝑠)

If the poles of the denominator of this transfer function

are in the LHP, then the closed loop system will be stable.

• Write the denominator in root resolved form

• Coefficients become functions of parameters Routh stability test

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 Routh test
Consider a polynomial of the form

𝑎0 𝑠 𝑛 + 𝑎1 𝑠 𝑛−1 + 𝑎2 𝑠 𝑛−2 + 𝑎3 𝑠 𝑛−3 + 𝑎4 𝑠 𝑛−4 + ⋯ . 𝑎𝑛 = 0

Routh table is constructed to test if the above polynomial has roots in

the RHP.
Procedure for analyzing the stability of closed loop system

Step 1: Check if a0 is positive. If not, then all the coefficients can be multiplied by -1 to make a0 positive

Step 2: If any of the coefficients of the polynomial is negative then there is at least one root in the
RHP and the system is unstable

Step 3: For an nth order polynomial, construct a table as shown below,

sn a0 a2 a4.....
sn-1 a1 a3 a5.....
sn-2 b1 b2 b3..... 𝑎1 𝑎2 − 𝑎0 𝑎3 𝑎1 𝑎4 − 𝑎0 𝑎5
where 𝑏1 = 𝑏2 =
sn-3 c1 c2 c3..... 𝑎1 𝑎1
. 𝑏1 𝑎5 − 𝑎1 𝑏3
𝑏1 𝑎3 − 𝑎1 𝑏2 𝑐2 =
. 𝑐1 = 𝑏1
𝑏1
.
For an nth order polynomial there are (n+1) rows
s0 r1
3 Lecture 16: Process Control : Analysis, Design and Assessment
 Routh test

• Routh stability criterion states that the number of sign changes in the first
column of the table corresponds to the number of roots in the RHP

• If there are no sign changes, then the system is stable

• If one of the elements in the first column becomes zero then we

replace it with a very small positive number, say ε.
If there is a sign change about ε then the system becomes unstable

• If a row is completely zero, then that row is filled with the derivative
of the auxiliary polynomial constructed using the row previous to
the row having all zero elements

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Examples

1) Stable systems without oscillations, 𝑠 5 + 8𝑠 4 + 24𝑠 3 + 34𝑠 2 + 23𝑠1 + 6

Routh Analysis

s5 1 24 23

s4 8 34 6

s3 19.75 22.25 0

s2 24.98 6 0

s1 17.51 0 0

s0 6 0 0

Number of sign changes = 0

Number of RHP Poles = 0
Hence the system is stable

Poles = -1, -1, -3, -1, -2.

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2) Stable system with oscillations, 𝑠 5 + 4𝑠 4 + 6𝑠 3 + 6𝑠 2 + 5𝑠1 + 2

Routh Analysis

s5 1 6 5

s4 4 6 2

s3 4.5 4.5 0

s2 2 2 0

s1 ε 0 0

s0 2 0 0

Number of sign changes = 0

ε is a very small positive number

Because a row with only one element vanished to zero, there exists a pair of
purely imaginary poles.
Poles: 1i, -1i, -2, -1, -1.

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 Oscillatory system : 𝑠 6 +14𝑠 4 + 49𝑠 2 + 36

Routh Analysis

s6 1 14 49 36

s5 6 56 98 0

s4 4.67 32.67 36 0

s3 14 51.7 0 0

s2 15.43 36 0 0

s1 19 0 0 0

s1 36 0 0 0

Since the elements in the row corresponding to s5 are all

zero, an auxiliary polynomial A(s) is derived based on the s6 Number of sign changes is 0.
row.
Number of RHP poles = 0.
A(s) = s6+14s4+ 49s2+36
Poles: 2i, -2i, -1i, 1i, 3i, -3i
s5 row is filled with numbers using the derivative of A(s)
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 Unstable system: 𝑠 5 + 2𝑠 4 + 2𝑠 3 + 12𝑠 2 + 21𝑠1 + 10

Routh Analysis

s5 1 2 21

s4 2 12 10

s3 -4 16 0

s2 20 10 0

s1 18 0 0

s0 10 0 0

Number of sign changes=2.

So there are two RHP poles.

Poles: -1, -2, 1+2i, 1-2i, -1.

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