Linear Control Systems (EE-333)

Lecture-8
Routh-Herwitz Stability Criterion
Dr. Imtiaz Hussain
Associate Professor (Control Systems),
Department of Electrical Engineering
DHA Suffa University, Karachi, Pakistan
email: [Link]@[Link]

5th Semester (BE-EE-5A)

Fall 2020

Note: I do not claim any originality in these lectures. The contents of this presentation are
mostly taken from the book of Ogata, Norman S Nise and various other internet sources. 1
 Routh-Hurwitz Stability Criterion

• It is a method for determining continuous system

stability.

• The Routh-Hurwitz criterion states that “the number of

roots of the characteristic equation with positive real
parts is equal to the number of changes in sign of the
first column of the Routh array”.
 Example-1: Generating a basic Routh Table.

• Only the first 2 rows of the array are obtained from the characteristic eq. the
remaining are calculated as follows;
 Special Cases or Configurations in the First
Column Array of the Routh’s Table:

1. Case-I: No element in the first column is zero.

2. Case-II: A zero in the first column but some other elements of the row

containing the zero in the first column are nonzero.

3. Case-III: A zero in the first column and the other elements of the row

containing the zero are also zero.

 Case-I: No element in the first column is zero
Example-2: Find the stability of the continues system having the
characteristic equation of

The Routh table of the given system is computed and shown is the table below

• Since there is no changes of the sign in the first column of the Routh
table, it means that all the roots of the characteristic equation have
negative real parts and hence this system is stable.
 Case-I: No element in the first column is zero
Example-3: Find the stability of the continues system having the
characteristic polynomial of a third order system is given below

• The Routh array is

• Because TWO changes in sign appear in the first column, we find that two
roots of the characteristic equation lie in the right hand side of the s-plane.
Hence the system is unstable.
 Case-I: No element in the first column is zero
Example-4: Determine a rang of values of a system parameter K for which the
system is stable.

• The Routh table of the given system is computed and shown is the table
below;

• For system stability, it is necessary that the conditions 8 – K >0, and

1 + K > 0, must be satisfied. Hence the rang of values of a system
parameter K must lie between -1 and 8 (i.e., -1 < K < 8).
 Case-I: No element in the first column is zero
Example-5: Find the stability of the system given in following figure
using Routh criterion.

The close loop transfer function of the system is given in following figure
 Case-I: No element in the first column is zero

The Routh table of the system is shown in the table

Because TWO changes in sign appear in the first column, we find that
two roots of the characteristic equation lie in the right hand side of the
s-plane. Hence the system is unstable.
 Case-I: No element in the first column is zero
Example-6: Find the stability of the system shown below using Routh criterion.

• The Routh table of the system is

• System is unstable because there are two sign changes in the first column of
the Routh’s table. Hence the equation has two roots on the right half of the s-
Case-II: A Zero Only in the First Column

There are TWO methods in case-II.

1. Stability via Epsilon Method.

2. Stability via Reverse Coefficients (Phillips, 1991).
 Case-II: Stability via Epsilon Method

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

form the next row.
• To avoid this phenomenon, an epsilon, ε, (a small positive number) is
assigned to replace the zero in the first column.
• The value ε 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.
 Case-II: Stability via Epsilon Method
Example-7: Determine the stability of the system having a characteristic
equation given below;

The Routh array is shown in the table;

 Case-II: Stability via Epsilon Method
Example-7:

Where

There are TWO sign changes due to the large negative number in the first
column.

Therefore the system is unstable, and two roots of the equation lie in the
right half of the s-plane.
 Case-II: Stability via Epsilon Method
Example-8: Determine the range of parameter K for which the system is
unstable.

The Routh array of the above characteristic equation is shown below;

Where

• Therefore, for any value of K greater than zero, the system is unstable.
• Also, because the last term in the first column is equal to K, a negative value of K
will result in an unstable system.
• Consequently, the system is unstable for all values of gain K.
 Case-II: Stability via Epsilon Method
Example-9: Determine the stability of the of the closed-loop transfer function;

Table-1: The complete Routh table is formed by using the denominator of the
characteristic equation T(s).
 Case-II: Stability via Epsilon Method
Example-9:

Table-2: shows the first column of Table-1 along with the resulting signs for
choices of ε positive and ε negative.

• When quantity ε is either positive or negative, in both cases the sign in the
first column of Routh table is changes twice.
• Hence, the system is unstable and has two poles in the right half-plane.
 Case-II: Stability via Reverse Coefficients (Phillips, 1991).

Example-10: Repeated example-9: Determine the stability

of the closed-loop transfer function;

• First write a polynomial that has the reciprocal roots of the

denominator of T(s).

• This polynomial is formed by writing the denominator of T(s) in

reverse order. Hence,
 Case-II: Stability via Reverse Coefficients (Phillips, 1991).

Example-10:

• The Routh table is

• Since there are TWO sign changes, the system is unstable and has TWO
right-half-plane poles.
• This is the same as the result obtained in the previous Example.
• Notice that Table does not have a zero in the first column.
 Case-III: Entire Row is Zero.
• Sometimes while making a Routh table, we find that an entire row
consists of zeros.

• This happen because there is an even polynomial 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.
 Case-III: Entire Row is Zero.

Example-11: Determine the number of right-half-plane

poles in the closed-loop transfer function

  10
𝑇 ( 𝑠) = 5 4 3 2
𝑠 +7 𝑠 +6 𝑠 +42 𝑠 +8 𝑠 +56

• The characteristic equation q(s) of the system is

5 4 3 2
𝑞 ( 𝑠 )=𝑠 +7 𝑠 + 6 𝑠 +42 𝑠 +8 𝑠+ 56
 
 Case-III: Entire Row is Zero (Example-11)
 𝑞 ( 𝑠 ) =𝑠5 +7 4 3 2
𝑠 + 6 𝑠 +42 𝑠 +8 𝑠+ 56
1 6 8
1 6 8
0 0 0

• Return to the row immediately above the row of zeros and form an auxiliary
polynomial, using the entries in that row as coefficients.
 𝑃 ( 𝑠 ) =𝑠 4 +6 𝑠2 +8
• Next we differentiate the polynomial with respect to s and obtain

 𝑑 𝑃 ( 𝑠) 3
=4 𝑠 +12 𝑠
𝑑𝑠
 Case-III: Entire Row is Zero (Example-11)
• Use the coefficients of this equation to replace the row of zeros.
 𝑑 𝑃 ( 𝑠 ) 3
=4 𝑠 +12 𝑠
𝑑𝑡
1 6 8
1 6 8
4 12 0

• For convenience, the third row is multiplied by 1/4.

1 6 8
1 6 8
1 3 0
 Case-III: Entire Row is Zero (Example-11)

• Rest of the table is formed by following the standard procedure

1 6 8
1 6 8
1 3 0
3 8 0
1/3 0
8
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END OF LECTURE-8