Module-17 - Routh-Hurwitz Criterion: EE3101-Control Systems Engineering
Module-17 - Routh-Hurwitz Criterion: EE3101-Control Systems Engineering
Module-17 - Routh-Hurwitz Criterion: EE3101-Control Systems Engineering
Module-17_Routh-Hurwitz Criterion
Note: Refer the Video Lectures No-24 and 25 of Control Systems Engineering by Prof. M Gopal
Routh-Hurwitz Criterion:
Consider that the characteristic equation of a LTI, SISO system is of the form
= + + . + + = 0
Where all the coefficients are real, to ensure the last equation does not have roots with positive real
parts, it is necessary (but not sufficient) that the following conditions hold:
1. All the coefficients have the same sign
2. None of the coefficients vanish
These following conditions are based on the laws of algebra, which relate the coefficients of above
equation as follows:
=
=
=
.
.
.
= 1
Thus, all these ratios must be positive and nonzero unless at least one of the roots has a positive real
part.
The two necessary conditions to have no roots in the right half s-plane can easily be checked by
inspection of the equation. However these conditions are not sufficient, for it is quiet possible that an
equation with all its coefficients non zero and of the same sign still may not have all the roots in the
left half of s-plane.
Rouths Tabulation:
The Hurwitz criterion gives the necessary and sufficient condition for all roots of the characteristic
equation to lie in the left half of the s-plane. The criterion requires that the equations n Hurwitz
determinants must all be positive.
However the evaluation of the n Hurwitz determinants is tedious to carry out. But Routh simplified the
process by introducing a tabulation method in place of the Hurwitz determinants.
The first step in simplification of the Hurwitz criterion now called the Routh-Hurwitz criterion is to
arrange the coefficients of the characteristic equation into two rows. The first row consists of the first,
third, fifth..coefficients, and the second row consists of the second, fourth, sixthcoefficients, all
counting from the highest order term
Consider the equation + + . + + = 0
Where n=7 is formed as given below
Where
And so on
This is called Routh Tabulation or Routh Array. The study of array reveals that successive rows have
one term fewer than the preceding row, and hence, the array is triangular. The column of ss on the left
side is used for identification purposes. The reference column keeps track of the calculations, and the
last row of the Rouths tabulation should always be the row.
Once the Rouths tabulation has been completed, the last step in the application of the criterion is to
investigate the signs of the coefficients in the first column of the tabulation, which contains the
information on the roots of the equation. The following conclusions are made:
The roots of the equation are all in the left half of the s-plane if all the elements of the first column of the
Rouths tabulation are of the same sign. The number of changes of signs in the elements of the first
column equals the number of roots with positive real parts, or those in the right half s-plane
Because there are two sign changes in the first column of the tabulation, the equation has two roots in
the right half of the s-plane. Solving for the roots of the above equation, we have the four roots at
= 1.005 0.933 and = 0.755 1.444. clearly, the last two roots are in the right half s-plane,
which cause the system to be unstable.
The equations considered in the preceding two examples are designed so that Rouths tabulation can be
carried out without any complications. Depending on the coefficients of the equation, the following
difficulties may occur, which prevent Rouths tabulation from completing properly:
1. The first element in any one row of the tabulation is zero, but the others are not
2. The elements in one row are all zero
In the first case, if a zero appears in the first element of a row, the elements in the next row will all
become infinity, and the tabulation cannot continue. To remedy the situation, we replace the zero
element in the first column by an arbitrary small positive number and then proceed with tabulation.
This is illustrated by the following example.
Because the first element of the is zero, the element in the s row would all be infinite. To
overcome the difficulty, we replace the zero in the row with a small positive number , and then
proceed with the tabulation. Stating with the row, the results are as follows:
Because there are two sign changes in the first column of Rouths tabulation, the characteristic
equation has two roots in the right half s-plane. Solving the equation the roots will be = 0.091
0.902 = 0.406 1.293
It should be noted that the method described may not give correct results if the equation has pure
imaginary roots
In the second special case, when all the elements in one row are zeros before the tabulation is
properly terminated, it indicates one or more of the following conditions exist:
1. The equation has at least one pair of real roots with equal magnitude but opposite signs
2. The equation has one or more pairs of imaginary roots
3. The equation has pairs of complex conjugate roots forming symmetry about the origin of the s-
plane; for example, = 1 1 1 1
The situation with the entire row of zeros can be remedied by using the auxiliary equation
A(s)=0, which is formed from the coefficients of the row just above the row of zeros in the
Rouths tabulation. The auxiliary equation is always an even polynomial; that is only even
powers of s appear. The roots of the auxiliary equation also satisfy the original equation. Thus by
solving the auxiliary equation we also get some of the roots of the original equation. To continue
with the Rouths tabulation when a row of zeros appears, we conduct the following steps:
1. Form the auxiliary equation A(s)=0 by using the coefficients from the row just proceeding
the row of zeros
2. Take the derivative of the auxiliary equation with respect to s; this gives dA(s)/ds=0
3. Replace the row of zeros with coefficients of dA(s)/ds=0
4. Continue the Routh tabulation in the usual manner with the newly formed row of coefficients
replacing the row of zeros
5. Interpret the change of signs, if any, of the coefficients in the first column of the Rouths
tabulation in the usual manner
Because a row of zeros appear prematurely, we form the auxiliary equation using the
coefficients of the row:
= 4 + 4 = 0
The derivative of A(s) with respect to s is
= 8 = 0
From which the coefficients 8 and 0 replace the zeros in the s row of the original tabulation.
The remaining portion of the Rouths tabulation is
Because there are no sign changes in the first column of the entire rouths tabulation, the
equation
= 8 = 0
Does not have any root in the right half s-plane. Solving the auxiliary equation
= 4 + 4 = 0
We get the roots at = = which are also two roots of the equation + 4 +
8 + 8 + 7 + 4 = 0 . thus the equation has two roots on the imaginary axis and the
system is marginally stable. These imaginary roots caused the initial Rouths tabulation to
have the entire row of zeros in the s row.
Because all zeros occurring in a row that corresponds to odd power of s creates an auxiliary
equation that has only even powers of s, the roots of the auxiliary equation may all lie on the
imaginary axis. For design purposes, we can use the all zero row condition to solve for the
marginal value of a system parameter for system stability. The following value illustrates the
realistic value of the Routh-Hurwitz criterion in a simple design problem.
Consider that a third order control system has the characteristic equation
+ 3408.3 + 1204000 + 1.5 10 = 0
The R-H criterion is best suited to determine the critical value of K for stability, that is, the
value of K for which at least one root will lie on the imaginary axis and none in the right half
s-plane. The Rouths tabulation is as follows
For the system to be stable, all the roots must be in the left half s-plane and thus all
coefficients in the first column of the tabulation must have the same sign. This leads to the
following conditions:
410.36 10 1.5 10
>0
3408.3
And
1.5 10 > 0
From the above two equations, the system is stable when 0 < < 273.57
If we let = 273.57, the characteristic equation will have two roots on the imaginary axis.
To find these roots, we substitute = 273.57 in the auxiliary equation, which is obtained
from Rouths tabulation by using the coefficients of the row. Thus
= 3408.3 + 4.1036 10 = 0
Which has roots at = 1097 and = 1097 and the corresponding roots at these values is
273.57. Also if the system is operated at = 273.57, the zero input response of the system
will be an un damped sinusoid with a frequency of 1097.27 rad/sec
R-H criterion is valid only if the characteristic equation is algebraic with real coefficients. If
any one of the coefficients is complex, or if the equation is not algebraic, for example
containing exponential functions or sinusoidal functions of s, the R-H criterion simply cannot
be applied. Another limitation of R-H criterion is that it is valid only for the determination of
roots of the characteristic equation with respect to the left half or the right half of the s plane.
The stability boundary is the imaginary axis of the s-plane. The criterion cannot be applied to
any other stability boundaries in a complex plane, such as the unit circle in the z-plane, which
is the stability boundary of discrete data systems
Problem Set:
4. Determine the stability of the following cases, which represent characteristic equations of
two different control systems
(a) 3 + 10 + 5 + 5 + 2 = 0
(b) + + 2 + 2 + 3 + 5 = 0
5. The open loop transfer function of a unity feedback control system is given as
=
1 +
It is desired that all the roots of the characteristic equation must lie in the region to the
left of the line = . Determine the values of K and T required so that there are no
roots to right of the line =
6. Determine the values of K and b, so that the system whose open loop transfer function is
+ 1
=
+ + 3 + 1
Oscillates at a frequency of oscillations of 2 rad/sec. assume unity feedback
7. The open loop transfer function of a control system is
+ 2
=
+ 3 + 5
If K=8, check, all the roots of the characteristic equation of the control system have
damping factor greater than 0.5
8. Determine whether the largest time constant of the characteristic equation given below is
less than, greater than or equal to 1.0 sec
+ 5 + 8 + 6 = 0
9. A feedback control system has an open loop transfer function of
=
+ 2 + 1
Determine the maximum value of K for the closed loop stability
Reference Books: