Stability Analysis for Control

Systems
Compiled By:
Waqar Ahmed
Assistant Professor Mechanical
UET, Taxila

Sources for this Presentation

1. Control Systems, Western Engineering, University
of Western Ontario, Control, Instrumentation &
electrical Systems
2. ROWAN UNIVERSITY, College of Engineering, Prof. John
Colton
What is stability and instability anyway?
Time Domain Response of Such Systems
Results of Instability
Characteristic Equation of a System

Y (s) G ( s)

R( s ) 1  G(s)H(s)
1  G(s)H(s)  0 Characteristic Equation
 Roots of Characteristics Equations
• Its very simple to find out roots of a characteristic equation
• Replace ‘s’ with a factor jω

1  G(s)H(s)  0 Characteristic Equation

• Substituting the s symbol we get
1  G(j)H(j)  0 Characteristic Equation
• Now solving this equation we get the roots
• The roots will have 2 parts, one imaginary and one real
• Real part is denoted with σ-axis and imaginary part with jw-
axis, as shown on next slide
Real and Imaginary Axis for Roots of a
Characteristic Equation
Now lets discuss why and how
can we say, right hand side of
this graph is unstable region
and left hand side is stable?

What is inverse Laplace

Transform of 1/(s-1)?
What is inverse Laplace
Transform of 1/(s+1)?
Answer to above 2 questions
will answer the query
Relation between Roots of Characteristic
Equation and Stability
 A Question Here
• Is it really possible and feasible for us to
calculate roots of every kind of higher order
characteristic equation?
• Definitely no!
• What is the solution then?
• Routh-Herwitz Criterion
 Routh-Hurwitz Criterion
• The Hurwitz criterion can be used to indicate that a
characteristic polynomial with negative or missing
coefficients is unstable.
• The Routh-Hurwitz Criterion is called a necessary
and sufficient test of stability because a polynomial
that satisfies the criterion is guaranteed to be stable.
The criterion can also tell us how many poles are in
the right-half plane or on the imaginary axis.
 Routh-Hurwitz Criterion

• The Routh-Hurwitz Criterion: The number of

roots of the characteristic polynomial that are
in the right-half plane is equal to the number
of sign changes in the first column of the
Routh Array.
• If there are no sign changes, the system is
stable.
Example: Test the stability of the closed-loop
system
Solution: Since all the coefficients of the closed-loop
characteristic equation s3 + 10s2 + 31s + 1030 are positive and
exist, the system passes the Hurwitz test. So we must construct
the Routh array in order to test the stability further.
 Solution (Contd)
• It is clear that column 1 of the Routh array is
 1 
 
 1 
  72 
 
 103 
 
• it has two sign changes (from 1 to -72 and from -72
to 103). Hence the system is unstable with two poles
in the right-half plane.
Example of Epsilon Technique: Consider the control
system with closed-loop transfer function:
10
Gc ( s )  5
s  2s 4  3s 3  6s 2  5s  3
 Considering just the sign changes in column 1:

• If is chosen positive there are two sign changes. If is chosen

negative there are also two sign changes. Hence the system has two
poles in the right-half plane and it doesn't matter whether we chose
to approach zero from the positive or the negative side.
 Example of Row of Zeroes
10
Gc ( s )  4 3
s  s  4s 2  s  3
s4 1 -4 3

s3 1 -1 0

s2 -3 3 0

s1 0 0 0

s0 - - -
Develop an auxillary equation, A(s)
2
A( s )   3s  3  0 dA( s )
  6s
ds
s4 1 -4 3

s3 1 -1 0

s2 -3 3 0

s1 -6 0 0

s0 3 - -
Steady State Error: Test Waveform for evaluating steady-state error
 Steady-state error analysis
R(s) E(s) C(s) Unity feedback
+
H(s)=1
G(s)
-
E ( s)  R( s)  C ( s)
System error

R(s) E(s) C(s) Non-unity feedback

+
G(s) H(s)≠1
-

E ( s)  R( s)  H ( s )C ( s)
Actuating error
H(s)
 Steady-state error analysis

Consider Unity Feedback System

(1)
E (s)  R( s)  C ( s)
G(s)
C ( s)  R( s) (2)
1  G(s)

Substitute (2) into (1)

G(s) 1
 E ( s)  R( s)  R(s)  R( s) (3)
1  G(s) 1  G(s)
 Steady-state error
sR( s ) Final value
ess ()  lim e(t )  lim sE ( s ) 
t  s 0 1  G ( s ) theorem
1 1
1. Step-input: R(s) = 1/s ess ()  estep ()  
1  lim G ( s) 1  K p
s 0

1 1
2. Ramp-input: R(s) = 1/s 2
ess ()  eramp ()  
lim sG ( s ) K v
s 0

1 1
3. Parabolic-input: R(s) = 1/s ess ()  e parabolic () 
3
2

lim s G ( s ) K a
s 0
 Exercise
Determine the steady-state error for the following inputs for the system
shown below:

a)Step-input r(t) = u(t)

b)Ramp-input r(t) = tu(t)
c) Parabolic-input r(t) = t2u(t)