Time Response of Second-

Order Control System

• The order of a control system is determined by the power of s in the
denominator of its transfer function. If the power of s in the
denominator of transfer function of a control system is 2, then the
system is said to be second-order control system. The general
expression of transfer function of a second order control system is
given as
• Here, ζ and ωn are damping ratio and natural frequency of the system
respectively
• Therefore, the output of the system is given as
unit step function as the input of the system, then
the output equation of the system can be
rewritten as
Taking inverse Laplace transform of above
equation, we get,
The above expression of output c(t) can be
rewritten as
The error of the signal of the response is
given by e(t) = r (t) – c(t), and hence.

• From the above expression it is clear that the error of the signal is of
oscillation type with exponentially decaying magnitude when ζ d and
the time constant of exponential decay is 1/ζωn. Where, ωd, is
referred as damped frequency of the oscillation, and ωn is natural
frequency of the oscillation. The term ζ affects that damping a lot and
hence this term is called damping ratio.
There will be different behaviors of output signal,
depending upon the value of damping ratio and
let us examine each of the cases, one by one.
• When damping ratio is zero, we can rewrite the above expression of
output signal as

As in this expression, there is no exponential term, the

time response of the control system is un-damped for unit
step input function with zero damping ratio.
Now let us examine the case when damping
ratio is unity.
• In this expression of output signal, there is no oscillating part in
subjective unit step function. And hence this time response of
second-order control system is referred as critically damped.
Time response of a second order control system
subjective unit step input function when damping
ratio is greater than one.
 Taking inverse Laplace transform of both sides
of the above equation we get,

In the above expression, there are two time constants.

For the value of ζ comparatively much greater
than one, the effect of faster time constant on the
time response can be neglected and the time
response expression finally comes as
Characteristics equation of time response of
second-order control system
• If the denominator of the expression is zero,
• Delay time (td) is the time required to reach at 50% of its final value by a time response
signal during its first cycle of oscillation.
• Rise time (tr) is the time required to reach at final value by a under damped time response
signal during its first cycle of oscillation. If the signal is over damped, then rise time is
counted as the time required by the response to rise from 10% to 90% of its final value.
• Peak time (tp) is simply the time required by response to reach its first peak i.e. the peak of
first cycle of oscillation, or first overshoot.
• Maximum overshoot (Mp) is straight way difference between the magnitude of the highest
peak of time response and magnitude of its steady state. Maximum overshoot is expressed
in term of percentage of steady-state value of the response. As the first peak of response is
normally maximum in magnitude, maximum overshoot is simply normalized difference
between first peak and steady-state value of a response.

•Settling time (t ) is the time required for a response to become steady. It is defined as
s

the time required by the response to reach and steady within specified range of 2 % to
5 % of its final value.
•Steady-state error (e ) is the difference between actual output and desired output at
ss

the infinite range of time.

Expression of Peak Time
Expression of Settling Time
• For 2% error
• ts= 4T
• For 5% error
• ts= 3T

Where T =
In general x% error
Then ts=ln(x%)* T
Steady State Errors

• The deviation of the output of control system from desired response

during steady state is known as steady state error. It is represented as
ess. We can find steady state error using the final value theorem as
follows.

• E(s) is the Laplace transform of the error signal, e(t)

• Let us discuss how to find steady state errors for unity feedback and
non-unity feedback control systems one by one.
Steady State Errors for Unity Feedback
Systems

Where,
•R(s) is the Laplace transform of the reference Input signal r(t)r(t)
•C(s) is the Laplace transform of the output signal c(t)