Control Systems

Engineering
Sixth Edition

Norman S. Nise

Chapter 6
Stability

Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Study:
For linear time invariant systems (LTIs),
•Stability
•Routh-Hurwithz Criteria to determine stability
Three analysis and design specifications and/or objectives of control
systems are:

•Transient Response
•Stability
•Steady-State Error

Stability is the most important system specification and/or objective.

If a system is stable, then the proper transient response and steady-

state error characteristics can be designed. In other words, an unstable
system cannot be designed for a specific transient response or steady-
state error requirement.

Time plot of an unstable system’s response (for bounded input) would

show a transient response that grows without bound and without any
evidence of steady-state response.
A linear system’s total response:

In the output (or response) of a system, what we see is transient response and steady-
state response. The transient response is the sum of the natural and forced responses,
while the natural response is large. The steady-state response is also the sum of the
natural and forced responses, but the natural response is small.
If a system’s natural response decays to zero as time approaches infinity then, the
transient response will also die out, leaving only forced response. We can control the
output of a system if the steady-state response consists of only the forced response.
A linear system’s total response:

• Natural response describes the way the system dissipates or stores energy.
• Form or nature of natural response depends only on the system not on the input

For a control system to be useful, the natural response must:

(1) eventually approach to zero (hence leaving only the forced response), or
(2) oscillate.

In some systems natural response grows without bound, and eventually the natural
response becomes so much greater than forced response that the system can not be
controlled. This is called instability condition which may result system-destruction.
Definitions of stability for linear, time-invariant systems:

Using the natural response:

•A system is stable if the natural response approaches zero as time

approaches infinity.
•A system is unstable if the natural response approaches infinity as time
approaches infinity.
•A system is marginally stable if the natural response neither decays nor
grows but remains constant or oscillates.

Using the total response (BIBO):

•A system is stable if every bounded input yields a bounded output.

•A system is unstable if any bounded input yields an unbounded output.
Recall from the study of system poles that,
poles in the left half-plane (lhp) yield either pure exponential decay or
damped sinusoidal natural responses. These natural responses decay to
zero as time approaches infinity.

Thus, if the closed-loop system poles are in the left half of the plane and
hence have a negative real part, the system is stable.

That is, stable systems have closed-loop transfer functions with poles only
in the left half-plane.
Recall from the study of system poles that,
poles in the right half-plane (rhp) yield either pure exponentially increasing or
exponentially increasing sinusoidal natural responses. These natural responses
approach infinity as time approaches infinity.

Thus, if the closed-loop system poles are in the right half of the s-plane and
hence have a positive real part, the system is unstable.

Also, poles of multiplicity greater than 1 on the imaginary axis lead to

the sum of responses of the form Atn cos (cos t+ ), where n = 1,2,..., which
also approaches infinity as time approaches infinity. Thus, unstable systems
have closed-loop transfer functions with at least one pole in the right half-
plane and/or poles of multiplicity greater than 1 on the imaginary axis.
Recall from the study of system poles that,
a system that has imaginary axis poles of multiplicity 1 yields pure sinusoidal
oscillations as a natural response. These responses neither increase nor decrease
in amplitude. Thus, marginally stable systems have closed-loop transfer functions
with only imaginary axis poles of multiplicity 1 and poles in the left half-plane.
Consider below closed-loop system and its reduced block diagram indicating
closed-loop-transfer-function (CLTF). To determine the stability of the closed-
loop system, one way is to solve for the closed-loop system’s poles. However,
there is another method that yields stability information without solving for the
closed-loop system poles and this method is know as Routh-Hurwitz Criterion
for stability.
 Routh-Hurwitz Criterion for Stability (1905)

Routh-Hurwitz Criterion for stability is a method that yields stability information

without the need to solve for the closed-loop system poles.

Using this method, we can tell how many closed-loop system poles are in the
left half-plane, in the right half-plane, and on the imaginary axis (j-axis).
We can find the number of poles in each section of the s-plane, but we cannot
find their coordinates.
 Routh-Hurwitz Criterion for Stability (1905)

The method requires two steps:

(1) Generate a data table called a Routh table, and
(2) interpret the Routh table to tell how many closed-loop system poles are in
the left half-plane, the right half-plane, and on the j-axis.

R-H Criterion for Stability Method has its power in the design rather than
analysis.
For example, if you have an unknown parameter in the denominator of
a transfer function, it is difficult to determine via a calculator the range of this
parameter to yield stability. Routh-Hurwitz criterion can yield a closed-form
expression for the range of the unknown parameter.
 Generating a Basic Routh Table
Consider the equivalent closed-loop transfer function shown below

Since we are interested in the system poles, we focus our attention on the
denominator. We first create the Routh table shown below
For convenience, any row of the Routh table can be multiplied by a positive
constant without changing the values of the rows below.
 Interpreting Basic Routh Table

Simply stated, the Routh-Hurwitz criterion declares that the number of roots
of the polynomial that are in the right half-plane is equal to the number of
sign changes in the first column.

If the closed-loop transfer function has all poles in the left half of the s-plane,
the system is stable. Thus, a system is stable if there are no sign changes in the
first column of the Routh table.
 Interpreting Basic Routh Table
In below table, there are two sign changes in the first column. Thus, the system
is unstable since two poles exist in the right half-plane.

Sign change

Sign change

Recall that, for convenience, any row of the Routh table can be multiplied
by a positive constant without changing the values of the rows below.
 Routh-Hurwitz Criterion: Special Cases

Two special cases can occur:

(1) The Routh table sometimes will have a zero only in the first column of a row.
(2) the Routh table sometimes will have an entire row that consists of zeros.

Zero Only in the First Column

If the first element of a row is zero, division by zero would be required to form
the next row.

To solve this problem, zero in the first column is replaced with a small number
epsilon, . The value  is then allowed to approach zero from either the positive
or the negative side, after which the signs of the entries in the first column can
be determined.
There is another way to solve the problem when the first element of a row
is zero.

In this method, if we can find the polynomial that has the reciprocal roots
of the original polynomial, then it is possible that the Routh table for the
new polynomial will not have a zero in the first column. This method is
usually computationally easier than the epsilon method just described.

This method is derived from the fact that a polynomial that has the
reciprocal roots of the original polynomial has its roots distributed the
same (right half-plane, left half-plane or imaginary axis) because taking the
reciprocal of the root value does not move it to another region.

Shortly, the polynomial with reciprocal roots is a polynomial with the

coefficients written in reverse order. (Assignment: study details of this
method from your textbook)
 Routh-Hurwitz Criterion: Special Cases

Entire Row is Zero.

Sometimes while making a Routh table, we find that an entire row consists of
zeros because there is an even polynomial (has only even powers of s) that is a
factor of the original polynomial. This case must be handled differently from the
case of a zero in only the first column of a row.

An entire row of zeros will appear in the Routh table when a purely even or
purely odd polynomial is a factor of the original polynomial.

Even polynomials only have roots that are symmetrical

about the origin. It is this even polynomial that causes the
row of zeros to appear. Thus, the row of zeros tells us of
the existence of an even polynomial whose roots are
symmetric about the origin.
Reading Assignment: Study further explanations about “Routh Table with Row of
Zeros” from your textbook and also study the examples in Section 6.4.
Stability Design Using Routh-Hurwitz
You are NOT RESPONSİBLE from the below subsections of Chapter 6.

6.5 Stability in State Space