PROCESS CONTROL AND

ANALYSIS

LECTURE FIVE
 ROOT LOCUS
• The path traced by the poles of an closed
loop transfer function in the complex
plane, as a function of some variable or
parameter
• The technique is a graphical method used
to determine the stability of given system
• It is also used as one of the methods in
controller design
 Sketching Root Locus
•  Given the following open loop transfer
function:
• Sketch the root locus
• Determine the range of values of k for
which the system is stable
 Solution
In order to sketch the root locus, determine
the:
1-Poles and zeros, & plot the pole-zero map:
in the above example:
• Poles: s = 0; s = - 2 & s = - 4
• Zeros: No zeros
2-Number of infinite zeros:
• The root locus begins at the poles and ends
at zeros of the open loop transfer function;
the zeros can be finite or infinite
• The number of infinite zeros is the number
of RL branches terminating at infinity
• It is the difference between number of
poles and number of zeros, i.e., n - m
• In the above example: n = 3 and m = 0
• Number of infinite zeros = 3 - 0 = 3
3-Region where the root locus exists on the
real axis
• This is a segment of the real axis where the
total number of poles and zeros on the RHS
of a given point is odd
4-Centroid or center of gravity
• This is where all asymptotes start
• It is the ratio of the difference between sum
of poles and sum of zeros, to the number of
infinite zeros
•  i.e., center of gravity is given by:

• Therefore, centroid = (- 2, 0)
•  For complex roots, the centroid is given by:

• The asymptotes start at the centroid and

end at infinity
• The number of asymptotes = n - m = 3
•5-Angle
  of asymptotes:
• The angle of asymptotes is given by:

• Where q = 0; 1; 2; …; n-m
• For q = 0;
•  For q = 1;

• For q = 2;

• For q = 3;
6-The break away (for non-complex roots) and
break-in (for complex roots):
• This is where the RL separates from or enters
the real axis, i.e., break-away and break-in,
respectively, determined as follow:
• Obtain the characteristic equation
• Differentiate the characteristic equation,
equate to zero and solve for dk/ds
• The magnitude criterion can be used to
determine the value of k at any desired point
•  In the above example, the open loop
transfer function is:

• The characteristic equation is:

•  

• The roots of this equation are: s = - 0.8452;

s = - 3.155
• From procedure-3 above, point (- 3.155, 0)
is located on the part of real axis that does
not have the root locus
• However, point (- 0.8453, 0) lies on the part
of real axis that has the root locus,
therefore, it becomes the break-away point
• I.e., from procedure-2, the root locus begin
at points (0, 0) & (- 2, 0) and move towards
each other; on approaching point (- 0.8452,
0) the RL breaks away from the real axis and
move towards the asymptotes
•7-Where
  the root locus crosses the
imaginary axis:
• From the characteristic equation:

• Let the point at which the RL crosses the

imaginary axis be (0, )
• Substituting for :
•  Isolating the imaginary parts:

• And real parts:

• Therefore, the RL crosses the imaginary

axis at points (0, 2.8284j) & (0, - 2.8284j)
•  Draw the remaining part of the root locus
8-Determine the critical value of k:
• The critical value can also be obtained
using Routh array:
• Routh array:
•  From the first column, it can be seen that
for a stable system: k > 0; and 8 – k/6 = 0

• Therefore, the range of k-values for

stability is:
•  The magnitude criterion can also be used
to determine the critical values of k
• The characteristic equation is:

• Taking magnitudes:
 Root Locus with Complex Poles
•  The procedure given above from 1 through
to procedure-8 applies
• In addition, there is the angle of departure
• The angle of departure/entry is the sum of
angles subtended by all zeros minus sum of
angles subtended by all poles, plus 180°
•  Sketch the RL for the following open loop
transfer function and determine the
stability range for k:
 Advantages of Root Locus Method
• Easy to implement compared to other
techniques
• Easy to predict system performance
 Disadvantages of Root Locus
Method

• What are the limitations of the root locus

method of controller design?
 Assignment:
•  Given the following open loop:

• Sketch the root locus

• Determine the values of k for which the
system will be stable:
 Frequency Response
•  A frequency response is a steady state
behavior of the system when forced by a
sinusoidal input.
• Suppose the input x(t) to a process is a sine
wave of amplitude A and frequency 𝝎:

• The period of one complete cycle is T units

of time.
•  Frequency is expressed in various units,
the common ones are hertz (cycles per
second) and the radians per unit time:

• In a given linear system, if the input is a

sine wave with frequency 𝝎, the output
will also be a sine wave with the same
frequency.
• However, the output will have a different
amplitude and will either have lead (rise
ahead) or lad (fall behind) characteristics.
• The following figures show output lagging
& leading the input by Tx, units of time.
Output lags
Output leads
•  The phase angle 𝞱, is the angular
difference between the input and the
output, i.e.,

• Where y(t) = output resulting from the

sine-wave input of frequency 𝜔; B =
maximum amplitude of the output; and 𝞱
= phase angle (phase difference) in
radians.
•  The phase angle is negative if output lags
the input and positive if output leads the
input.
• The phase angle can be expressed in units
of radians or degrees:
• For a given process, both the amplitude
ratio (AR) and phase angle will change if
the frequency is changed.
• An important question is how these values
change as the frequency is varied from zero
to infinity.
• This is called the frequency-response.
• The variation of AR and phase angle with
frequency is different for different
processes.
• The frequency-response curves are
therefore unique and characteristic for
each process, just like fingerprints are
unique to individuals.
• By looking at the curves one can tell the
kind of system with respect to order and
damping; and also the values of
parameters: time constant; gain; and
damping coefficient.
• There are a number of ways that can be
used to obtain the frequency-response of a
process.
• These include experimental methods and
numerical (mathematical) methods.
• The frequency-response can also be
obtained by simply substituting i𝜔, for s in
the system transfer function.
•  The substitution results in a complex
number G(i𝜔) with the following
characteristics:

• The magnitude, |G(i𝜔)| is the same as the

amplitude ratio (AR) that would be
obtained with a sine wave input of
frequency 𝜔
•  The phase angle or argument, arg G(i𝜔) is
equal to the phase angle 𝞱 that would be
obtained with input sine wave of frequency
𝜔

• G(i𝜔) is a complex number having real part

and imaginary part as:
•  And:

• In polar coordinates the complex number

• The expressions permit easy movement

from the Laplace domain to the frequency
domain.
 Example
•  Determine the frequency-response of a
first order process with open loop
transfer function:
 Solution
•  Substituting for:  

• Multiplying denominator and numerator

with complex conjugate:
•  
•  Therefore:

 
•  
•  And:
• Both AR and 𝞱 vary with frequency, 𝜔.
• There are three different types of plots
that are used to show how the amplitude
ratio and phase angle vary with the
frequency.
• These are Nyquist plot, Bode and Nichols
plots.