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EXPERIMENT : 11
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TITLE : Root Locus through MATLAB

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Experiment # 11 CONTROL SYSTEMS Page 1 of 6

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ROOT LOCUS INTRODUCTION:

Root locus is a graphical presentation of the closed loop poles as a s ystem parameter is
varied. The root locus can be used to describe qualitatively the performance of a system
as various parameters are changed. For example, the effect of varying gain upon
percent overshoot, settling time, and peak time can be vividly displayed.

In the lectures we learnt how to sketch a root locus and also how to find exact points of
interest e.g. the axis crossing, the breakaway/break in points, the centroids of
asymptotes. Plotting a rough sketch is considerably simple; however finding exact points
on the root locus requires mathematical calculation. MATLAB makes this task much
easier.

ROOT LOCUS IN MATLAB

In MATLAB, the root locus can be plotted with the command ‘ ’.

Consider the open loop system

The root locus of the above system can be plotted in MATLAB using the following code.

MATLAB CODE OUTPUT

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To find the exact points for example the axis crossing, the breakaway point, the
centroid of asymptotes, use the Data cursor tool highlighted in the figure below.

Select the data cursor tool and click on root locus to see the location of the closed loop
poles, the gain K required to have that closed loop poles, and the transient specification
for that particular pole(s).

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Once the Data cursor Is inserted, it can be moved by dragging it in the required
direction. If the Data cursor cant be moved in fine steps; right click on the Data cursor,
go to Interpolation and select Linear. If the right click menu is different, go to Selection
style and select Mouse Position.

A separate Data cursor can be inserted in eac branch of the root locus

As an exercise move the Data cursor to find

i. The gain for imaginary axis crossing

ii. The value of the pole and the gain at the breakaway point.

Now move the data cursor for the pair of complex poles that have an overshoot of 40%.
Find the value of K required to get that closed loop pole.

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Move rest of the data cursors such for the same value of gain K. this will give the
location of all closed loop poles of the system for a specific value of gain.

For the value of gain at which overshoot is 40%, is the second order approximation with
no zeros valid?

Once the value of gain K is obtained, the closed loop transfer function can be found
using following code.

Some other commands

 Points on root locus can be selected interactively using the ‘
’. MATLAB then yeilds the gain K at that point as well as all other
poles that have that gain.
 We can zoom in and zoom out of the root locus by changing the range of axis
values using command
 The root locus can be drawn over a grid that shows constant damping ratio (z)
and constant natural frequency wn curves using ‘ ’ command.
 To plot multiple and curves, use z=zmin:zstep:zmax and
wn=wnmin:wnstep:wnmax to specify ranges of values.
 Step response for the selected gin can also be simulated using ‘ ’
command. Where T is the closed loop transfer function for a particular value of
K.
 The command ‘ ’ allows to specify the range of K, for plotting the
root locus for a smoother root locus.

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TASKS
Question 1)
Consider the open loop system

Plot the root locus for this system in MATLAB. Find

i. The values of the gain K for which the closed loop system will be stable.
ii. Design a controller gain K such that the closed loop system is stable and the
dominant poles have an overshoot of 80%. Is the second order approximation
valid for this value of K. Find the closed loop transfer function.

Question 02)

Consider the model of DC motor derived in earlier labs. Using root locus, choose a value
of gain K such that the settling time is 1/20 secs. Find the transfer function of the closed
loop system.
Question 03)

Without using MATLAB, make a rough sketch of the root locus of the following transfer
functions

i.

ii.

Verify your sketches using MATLAB.

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