STABILITY OF FEEDBACK CONRTOL SYSTEM

Introduction

In vernacular English, the term "unstable" has a negative connotation. Certainly, no one would want to be described
as unstable! This undesirable meaning extends to products of engineering design; we generally want our plants and control
systems to be stable. To ensure consistency, we will use a clear and precise definition of stability, termed bounded input-
bounded output stability, which can be employed in the design and analysis of process control systems.

Stable system

A system is stable if all output variables are bounded when all input variables are bounded.

Unstable system

A system that is not stable is unstable.

Bounded Variable

A variable is bounded when it does not increase in magnitude to ±00 as time increases. Typical bounded inputs are step
changes and sine waves; an example of an unbounded input is a ramp function. Naturally, process output variables do not
approach ±00 in a chemical plant, but serious consequences occur when these variables tend toward ±00 and reach large
deviations from their normal values. For example, liquids overflow their vessels; closed vessels burst from high pressures;
products degrade; and equipment is damaged by excessive temperatures. Thus, substantial incentives exist for maintaining
plant variables, with and without control, at stable operating conditions.

As a further clarification, a chemical reactor would be stable according to our definition if a step increase of 1°C in
its inlet temperature led to a new steady-state outlet temperature that was 100°C higher. Thus, systems that are very sensitive
can be stable as long as they attain a steady state after a step change.

STABILITY ANALYSIS OF CONTROL SYSTEMS: PRINCIPLES

Again, the local stability of a system will be evaluated by analyzing the linearized model. The analysis method for
linear systems can be tailored to feedback control systems by considering the models in transfer function form. The resulting
methods will be useful in (1) determining the stability of control designs, (2) selecting tuning constant values, and (3)
gaining insight into how process characteristics influence tuning constants and control performance. We begin by
considering a general transfer function for a linear control system in Figure 10.4.

For the present, we will consider only the disturbance transfer function and will assume that the transfer function
can be expressed as a polynomial in s as follows:
 The right-hand side (the numerator of the original transfer function) represents the forcing function, which is always
bounded because physical input variables cannot take unbounded values, and we assume that the disturbance transfer
function, Gd(s), is stable.

The essential information on stability is in the left-hand side of equation (10.17), called the characteristic
polynomial, which is the denominator of the closed-loop transfer function. In the system being considered, Figure 10.4, the
characteristic polynomial is . Setting the characteristic polynomial to zero produces the
characteristic equation.

Before continuing, it is important to note that either transfer function in equation (10.16) could be considered,
because the characteristic equations of both are identical. Thus, the stability analyses for set point changes and for
disturbances yield the same results. Examination of the characteristic equation demonstrates that the equation contains all
elements in the feedback control loop: process, sensors, transmission, final elements, and controller. As we would expect,
these terms affect stability. The disturbances and set point changes are not in the characteristic equation, because they affect
the input forcing; therefore, they do not affect stability. Naturally, the numerator terms affect the dynamic responses and
control performance and must be considered in the control performance analysis, although not in this part, which establishes
stability. Continuing the stability analysis, the solution to the homogeneous solution is evaluated to determine stability. For
the transfer function, the exponents can be determined by the solution of the following equation resulting from equation
(10.17):

As before, if any solution of equation (10.18) has a real part greater than or equal to zero, the linearized system is
unstable, because the controlled variable increases without limit as time increases. The stability test is summarized as
follows:

Locally stable linearized closed control system- if all roots of the characteristic equation have negative real parts at the
steady-state point.

Locally unstable linearized closed control system- If one or more roots with positive or zero real parts exist.

Recall that the roots of the characteristic equation are also referred to as the poles of the closed-loop transfer function,
e.g., . This approach to determining stability is applied to two examples to
demonstrate typical results.

SAMPLE PROBLEM

The stability of the series chemical reactors shown in Figure 10.5 is to be determined. The reactors are well mixed
and isothermal, and the reaction is first-order in component A. The outlet concentration of reactant from the second
reactor is controlled with a PI feedback algorithm that manipulates the flow of the reactant, which is very much smaller
than the flow of the solvent. The sensor and final element are assumed fast, and process data is as follows.

Process: V = 5m3 Fs =5m3/min >> Fa

 Since all roots have negative real parts, this system is stable. Remember, we still do not know how well the
closed-loop control system performs, although the complex poles indicate that the system is underdamped and the integral
mode indicates that the controlled variable will return to its set point for a step like disturbance.

ROUTH’S STABILITY CRITERION

Consider a closed-loop transfer function

where the ai’s and bi’s are real constants and m ≤ n. An alternative to factoring the denominator polynomial, Routh’s
stability criterion, determines the number of closed loop poles in the right-half s plane.
Algorithm for applying Routh’s stability criterion
The algorithm described below, like the stability criterion, requires the order of A(s) to be finite.

1. Factor out any roots at the origin to obtain the polynomial, and multiply by −1 if necessary, to obtain

where a0 6= 0 and an > 0.

2. If the order of the resulting polynomial is at least two and any coefficient ai is zero or negative, the polynomial
has at least one root with nonnegative real part. To obtain the precise number of roots with nonnegative real part,
proceed as follows. Arrange the coefficients of the polynomial, and values subsequently calculated from them as
shown below:

where the coefficients bi are

generated until all subsequent coefficients are zero. Similarly, cross multiply the coefficients of the two previous
rows to obtain the ci, di, etc.

until the nth row of the array has been completed1 Missing coefficients are replaced by zeros. The resulting array
is called the Routh array. The powers of s are not considered to be part of the array. We can think of them as labels.
The column beginning with a0 is considered to be the first column of the array.

The Routh array is seen to be triangular. It can be shown that multiplying a row by a positive number to
simplify the calculation of the next row does not affect the outcome of the application of the Routh criterion.

3. Count the number of sign changes in the first column of the array. It can be shown that a necessary and sufficient
condition for all roots of (2) to be located in the left-half plane is that all the ai are positive and all of the coefficients
 in the first column be positive.

Example: Generic Quadratic Polynomial

Consider the quadratic polynomial:

where all the ai are positive. The array of coefficients becomes

where the coefficient a1 is the result of multiplying a1 by a2 and subtracting a0(0) then dividing the result by a2. In the
case of a second order polynomial, we see that Routh’s stability criterion reduces to the condition that all ai be positive.
where the last element of the first column is equal 2 = (ϵ2 − 0)/ ϵ. In counting changes of sign, the row beginning with ϵ is
not counted. If the elements above and below the ϵ in the first column have the same sign, a pair of imaginary roots is
indicated. Here, for example, (22) has two roots at s = ±j. On the other hand, if the elements above and below the ϵ have
opposite signs, this counts as a sign change. For example,

with two sign changes in the first column.

Special Case: Zero Row. If all the coefficients in a row are zero, a pair of roots of equal magnitude and opposite sign is
indicated. These could be two real roots with equal magnitudes and opposite signs or two conjugate imaginary roots. The
zero row is replaced by taking the coefficients of dP(s)/ds, where P(s), called the auxiliary polynomial, is obtained from
the values in the row above the zero row. The pair of roots can be found by solving dP(s)/ds = 0.

Note that the auxiliary polynomial always has even degree. It can be shown that an auxiliary polynomial of degree 2n has
n pairs of roots of equal magnitude and opposite sign.
ROOT-LOCUS CRITERION

The root locus is a graphical procedure for determining the poles of a closed-loop system given the poles and
zeros of a forward-loop system. Graphically, the locus is the set of paths in the complex plane traced by the closed-loop
poles as the root locus gain is varied from zero to infinity.

In mathematical terms, given a forward-loop transfer function,

KG(s)

where K is the root locus gain, and the corresponding closed-loop transfer function

the root locus is the set of paths traced by the roots of

as K varies from zero to infinity. As K changes, the solution to this equation changes. This equation is called the
characteristic equation. The roots to the equation are the poles of the forward-loop transfer function. The equation defines
where the poles will be located for any value of the root locus gain, K. In other words, it defines the characteristics of the
system behavior for various values of controller gain.

The characteristic equation of a system is based upon the the transfer function that models the system. It contains
information needed to determine the response of a dynamic system. There is only one characteristic equation for a given
system.
 The root locus gain, typically denoted as K, is a gain of the forward-loop system. While determining the root locus,
this gain is varied from 0 to infinity. Note that the corresponding variations in the poles of the closed-loop system determine
the root locus. As the gain moves from 0 to infinity, the poles move from the forward-loop poles along the locus toward
forward-loop zeros or infinity.

In block diagram form, the root locus gain is located in the forward loop, before the system, as shown below.