Small Signal Stability
Outline
Description of Small Signal Stability Problems
Local problems
Global problems
Methods of analysis
Time domain analysis and its limitations
Modal analysis using linearized model
Characteristics of local plant mode oscillations
Characteristics of inter-area oscillations
Enhancement of Small Signal Stability
Classification Of Power System Stability
Power System Stability
Angle Stability Frequency Stability Voltage Stability
Small Signal Large Disturbance Small Disturbance
Small Signal Stability Transient Stability
Stability Voltage Stability Voltage Stability
Short Term Long Term Long Term Short Term
Small Signal Stability
Small-Signal (or Small Disturbance) Stability is the ability
of a power system to maintain synchronism when
subjected to small disturbances
Such disturbances occur continually on the system due to
small variations in loads and generation
A disturbance is considered sufficiently small if linearization
of system equations is permissible for analysis
Small-signal analysis using linear analysis techniques
provides valuable information about the inherent dynamic
characteristics of the power system and assists in its
robust design
Instability Forms
Small signal instability may take two forms:
aperiodic increase in rotor angle due to lack of
sufficient synchronizing torque
rotor oscillations of increasing amplitude due to
lack of sufficient damping torque
Damping and Synchronising Torques
Example:
Assume a synchronous generator is connected through a transformer by two parallel
transmission lines to a receiving-end transformer and a large system
j0.15 j0.1 j0.4 j0.1 UN=1.0
E =1.2 p.u j0.4 Infinite bus
H=4s
when two lines are in service an
equilibrium or steady-state condition
exists, in which the power output of
the prime-mover Pm0 is equal to the
electrical power output of the
Pm0 =Pe0 generator, Pe0 , at synchronous
speed and the rotor angle is 0 ;
at time t, one of the two lines is
opened
the power output of the prime-mover
assumed to remain constant during a
0
disturbance on the electrical system
Synchronising and Damping Torques
Immediately after the disturbance the electric
power output of the generator falls to Pt.
The net torque acting on the shaft of the
generator will cause it to accelerate with
respect to the system.
The rotor angle of the generator, 0,
Pp
Pm0 =Pe0 immediately starts to increase.
Once the electrical power output exceeds the
Pt
prime-mover power output Pm0 the generator
decelerates but, due to the inertia of the rotor,
the rotor angle continues to increase until the
0 speed falls to synchronous speed.
At this time the electric power output and the
rotor angle are at their peak values, Pp
However, the net decelerating torque
Synchronism in this scenario is maintained by the electrical power continues acting on the shaft to reduce the
flow electrical power flow until zero net
accelerating torque once more
Due to inertia, the electric power output and
𝑃 𝑃 sin 𝛿 rotor angle continue to decrease and reach
their minimum values at Pt and at
between the generator and the system, resulting in a synchronizing
torque being produced on the shaft of the generator. synchronous speed.
Thereafter the process repeats itself with the
electric power output and rotor angle
oscillating about Pm0, between peak and
trough values Pp, and Pt, respectively.
In the absence of damping, these
oscillations will continue indefinitely.
Synchronising torque as a function of
operating point
P
P -P
The level of the synchronising torque depends on
the operating point
Nature of small signal stability
problem
In today's practical systems, small signal stability is usually one
of insufficient damping of system oscillations
Local problems / global problems
Local problems involve a small part of the system. They may be
associated with
rotor angle modes
local plant modes
inter-machine modes
control modes
torsional modes
Global problems have widespread effects
They are associated with inter-area oscillations
Local plant mode oscillations
oscillation of a single generator or plant against the rest of the power system
Inter-machine or inter-plant mode oscillations
oscillation between the rotors of a few generators close to each other
Local Rotor Angle Stability Problems
Associated with either local plant mode
oscillations or inter-machine oscillations
frequency of oscillation in the range of 0.7 to 2.0 Hz
Stability of the local plant mode oscillations is
determined by the strength of the transmission
as seen by the plant excitation control, plant
output and voltage
Instability may also be associated with a non-
oscillatory mode
encountered with manual excitation control
Global Rotor Angle Stability Problems
Large interconnected systems usually have two distinct forms
of inter-area oscillations:
A very low frequency mode involving all the generators in
the system
system is essentially split into two parts
generators in one part swing against generators in the other part
frequency in the order of 0.1 to 0.3 Hz
Higher frequency modes involving sub-group of generators
swinging against each other
frequency typically in the range of 0.4 to 0.7 Hz
Methods of Small-Signal
Stability Analysis
State Space Representation of the Dynamic System
Linearization
State space representation
The behaviour of a dynamic system can be described
by a set of first order differential equations in the
state-space form:
x is an n-dimensional state vector
f is an n-dimensional nonlinear function
u is an r-dimensional input vector
The outputs of the system are nonlinear functions of
the state and input vectors:
• y is an m-dimensional output vector
• g is an m-dimensional nonlinear function
In steady state, the system is at an equilibrium point
x0 satisfying:
𝒇 𝒙𝟎 , 𝒖𝟎 𝟎
Linearization
For small perturbation about equilibrium point:
New state equation:
𝒙 𝒙𝟎 ∆𝒙 𝒇 𝒙𝟎 ∆𝒙 , 𝒖𝟎 ∆𝒖
Since perturbations are small:
– f(x,u) can be expressed in terms of Taylor's series expansion
– terms involving second and higher order powers of x and u may be
neglected
Linearization
∆𝒙 𝑨 ∆𝒙 𝑩 ∆𝒖
∆𝒚 𝑪 ∆𝒙 𝑫 ∆𝒖
A, B, C, D are the Jacobians of the system. A is also
referred to as the state matrix or the plant matrix.
𝝏𝒇𝟏 𝝏𝒇𝟏 𝝏𝒇𝟏 𝝏𝒇𝟏
⋯ ⋯
𝒙𝟏 𝒙𝒏 𝒖𝟏 𝒖𝒏
𝑨 ⋮ ⋱ ⋮ 𝑩 ⋮ ⋱ ⋮
𝝏𝒇𝒏 𝝏𝒏 𝝏𝒇𝒏 𝝏𝒏
⋯ ⋯
𝒙𝟏 𝒙𝒏 𝒖𝟏 𝒖𝒏
𝝏𝒈𝟏 𝝏𝒈𝟏 𝝏𝒈𝟏 𝝏𝒈𝟏
⋯ ⋯
𝒙𝟏 𝒙𝒎 𝒖𝟏 𝒖𝒎
𝑪 ⋮ ⋱ ⋮ 𝑫 ⋮ ⋱ ⋮
𝝏𝒈𝒎 𝝏𝒈𝒎 𝝏𝒈𝒎 𝝏𝒈𝒎
⋯ ⋯
𝒙𝟏 𝒙𝒎 𝒖𝟏 𝒖𝒎
Stability
Stability is concerned with determination of conditions of
an equilibrium point
what will happen if the system is perturbed at an equilibrium condition
Stability of a linear system is independent of the input
Stability of a nonlinear system depends on
the type and magnitude of input
the initial state
In control system theory, it is common practice to classify
stability of nonlinear systems into the following categories,
depending on the region of state space in which the state
vector ranges:
local stability or stability in the small
finite stability
global stability or stability in the large
Stability categories
Local stability
The system is said to be locally stable about an equilibrium point, if
when subjected to a small perturbation, it remains within a small
region surrounding the equilibrium point
If, as time increases, the system returns to the original state, it is said
to be asymptotically stable in the small
Finite stability
If the state of a system remains within a finite region R, the system is
said to be stable within R
If, further, the state returns to the original equilibrium point from any
point within R, it is said to be asymptotically stable within the finite
region R
Global stability
The system is said to be globally stable if R includes the entire finite
space
Analysis of Stability in the Small
(Small Signal Stability)
Nonlinear Time Domain Analysis
Using nonlinear time domain simulations to analyze small signal
stability problems has the following limitations:
Results can be deceptive
critical mode may not be sufficiently excited by the chosen
disturbance
poorly damped modes may not be dominant in the observed
response
This approach does not give insight into the nature of the
problem
difficult to identify sources of the problem
mode shapes not clearly identified
corrective measures are not readily indicated
Computational burden high ; massive amount of data has to be
analyzed
Analysis of Stability in the Small
(Small Signal Stability)
Modal analysis
The theoretical foundation for the analysis of stability in the
small is based on Liapunov's first method:
The stability in the small of a nonlinear system is given by the
roots of the characteristic equation of the system of first
approximation, i.e., by the eigenvalues of the state matrix A
If the eigenvalues have negative real parts, then the original
system is asymptotically stable
When at least one of the eigenvalues has a positive real part,
the original system is unstable
Modal Analysis Approach
Modal analysis using eigenvalue approach has
proven to be the most practical way to analyze small
signal stability problems
Advantages are:
individual modes of oscillations are clearly identified
relationships between modes and system variables/parameters can
be easily determined by computing eigenvectors
Frequency response, poles, zeros, and residues can
be easily computed. Such information is useful in
control system design
Eigenproperties of the State Matrix
Eigenvalues and eigenvectors
𝑨. 𝝀 .
𝝍 .𝑨 𝝀 .𝝍
A is an n x n matrix (real for a physical system)
is the eigenvalue
is the right eigenvector associated with
is the left eigenvector associated with
Modal matrices
𝚽 𝟏 𝟐 ⋯ 𝒏
𝝍 𝝍𝒕𝟏 𝝍𝒕𝟐 ⋯ 𝝍𝒕𝒏
» is the right eigenvector matrix
» is the left eigenvector matrix
Eigenproperties of the State Matrix
Relationships
𝑨 .𝚽 𝚽. 𝚲 𝝍 .𝚽 𝑰
𝚽 𝟏. 𝑨 .𝚽 𝚲
I is the unit matrix
𝚲 is a diagonal matrix: 𝚲 = diag [1... n]
Free Motion of a Linear Dynamic System
• Free motion of a linear dynamic system is described by
• In order to eliminate the cross coupling between the
state variables consider the state transformation
𝑥 𝜙. 𝑧
State space equations in z is a set of decoupled
• The above represents uncoupled first order (scalar)
differential equations:
𝑧 𝜆 . 𝑧 , i = 1,2,…,n
Time domain response
𝑧 𝑡 𝑧 0 .𝑒
Where 𝑧 0 𝜓 . 𝑥 0 is the initial condition
Time Response of System Variables
Response in terms of the original state vector
The time response of the state variable xi is given by
𝑥 𝑡 𝜙 .𝐶 .𝑒 𝜙 .𝐶 .𝑒 +…+𝜙 . 𝐶 . 𝑒
a linear combination of n dynamic modes corresponding to
the n eigenvalues of the state matrix
ci = I x(0) represents the magnitude of the excitation of the
ith mode due to the initial conditions
if the initial condition lies along the jth eigenvector, only the jth
mode will be excited (since I j = 0 for all i j)
if the vector representing the initial condition is not an
eigenvector, it can be represented by a linear combination of the
n eigenvectors. The response of the system will be the sum of n
responses
if a component along an eigenvector of the initial conditions is
zero, the corresponding mode will not be excited.
Eigenvalue and stability
A real eigenvalue corresponds to a non-oscillatory mode
A pair of complex eigenvalues j correspond to an oscillatory
mode
Frequency of the mode:
𝑓
Damping ratio of the mode:
𝝈
𝝇
𝝈𝟐 𝝎𝟐
A real eigenvalue, or a pair of
complex eigenvalues, is
usually referred to as a mode
To ensure an acceptable
performance, a damping
margin 𝝇 in the range of 3% -
5% is normally required
Modal characteristics
While an eigenvalue indicates the stability, its right and left
eigenvectors give much more information on the
characteristics of the mode
The right eigenvector shows the mode shape, i.e., the
observability of the mode
A mode should be observable from generator rotor
oscillations if the generator is high in its mode shape
A weighted left eigenvector shows the participation factors,
i.e., the controllability of the mode
A mode should be controllable from a generator if the
generator is high in its participation factors
A generator which is high in the mode shape of a mode is
not necessarily high in the participation factor of the same
mode
Controllability and Observability
For a linear dynamic system
𝒙 𝑨𝒙 𝑩𝒖
𝒚 𝑪𝒙 𝑫𝒖
Apply state transformation x = z
𝑧 𝜙 . 𝐴. 𝜙. 𝑧 Λ. 𝑧
𝑦 𝐶𝜙𝑧 𝐷𝑢
• If the ith row of matrix 𝝓 𝟏 𝑩 is zero, the ith mode is said to be
uncontrollable
• If the ith column of matrix C is zero, the ith mode is said
to be unobservable
Characteristics of Local Plant Mode
Oscillations
• Local mode oscillation problems most commonly
encountered
– dates back to the 1950s and 1960s
– associated with units of a plant swinging against the rest of the system
• Characteristics well understood
– analysis using block diagram approach (K-constants); gives
physical insight
• Encountered by a plant with high output feeding into
weak transmission network (K5 negative)
– more pronounced with high response exciters/AVR
• Adequate damping readily achieved using Power System
Stabilizers (PSS)
– excitation control
Block Diagram Approach to the Analysis
of Local Mode Problems
• First published by Heffron and Phillips to analyze a
single machine (or a plant) connected to a large system
(represented by an infinite bus) through a transmission
network
• System is represented by a block diagram (the following
slide):
Interpretation of the block diagram
Power System Stabilizers
Characteristics of Low Frequency
Interarea Oscillations (LFIO)
Fundamental Nature of Low Frequency
Interarea Oscillations (LFIO)
Damping of Low Frequency
Interarea Oscillations (LFIO) with PSS
Enhancement of small signal stability
