EEET2506 Control Systems

Lecture 10 : Root Locus Analysis

 References:

▪ Chapter 6, Modern Control Engineering

▪ Videos on Canvas

2
 Lecture Overview

• Fundamentals of Root Locus Analysis

• Simple Analytic Examples
• Guidelines for Higher Order Root Locus Plots
• Examples

3
 Generic Control System

• Consider the Single Input Single Output (SISO)

control system illustrated below:

E(s) U(s)
R(s) H(s) G(s) Y(s)
Plant
Reference Controlled
Controller Input Plant Output

• We now consider an S-plane analysis technique called

the root locus method

4
 Root Locus Fundamentals

• The Root Locus approach is used to explore the

variation in the location of the closed-loop poles as a
function of one parameter
• Commonly the chosen parameter is the controller
forward gain Kp
• Consider the closed loop transfer function for the above
system:

𝐺 𝑠 𝐻(𝑠)
𝑇 𝑠 =
1 + 𝐺 𝑠 𝐻(𝑠)

5
 Root Locus Fundamentals

• The poles of the closed loop system are found by

solving for the roots of the equation:
1+ G(s) H(s)= 0
• Consider a proportional controller form:
H (s) = K P
• The closed loop poles are therefore found from:
1+ K P G(s) = 0
• Solutions to this equation as KP varies from 0 to  define
the locus of system poles (roots) as a function of the
controller forward gain

6
 Example – 2nd Order System

• Consider the following example:

1
𝐺 𝑠 =
𝑠(𝑠 + 1)
• The closed loop poles are found as solutions to:
1
1 + 𝐾𝑃 =0
𝑠(𝑠 + 1)

• Which can be re-arranged as:

𝑠 2 + 𝑠 + 𝐾𝑃 = 0

7
 Example – 2nd Order System

• There are clearly two possible solution types:

– Real valued roots for , 0 < KP ≤ 0.25
1 1
𝑠1 , 𝑠2 = − ± − 𝐾𝑃
2 4

– Complex Conjugate roots for KP > 0.25

1 1
𝑠1 , 𝑠2 = − ± 𝑗 𝐾𝑃 −
2 4

• The two solution types clearly converge when KP = 0.25

1
𝑠1 , 𝑠2 = −
2 8
 Example – 2nd Order System
Plot of the Root Locus as a function of KP

9
 Guidelines for Root Locus
• The solution of the exact high order polynomial in ‘s’ is
difficult.
• The following guidelines assist in the construction of
root locus plots
• The roots are the solution to the equation:
1 + 𝐾𝑃 𝐺 𝑠 = 0

• Since the gain KP is taken to be a positive number, this

means we are searching for conditions where:

1 1
𝐺 𝑠 =− → 𝐺 𝑠 = ±180 𝑜
; 𝐺 𝑠 =
𝐾𝑃 𝐾𝑃
10
 Guidelines for Root Locus

• More generally: 𝐺 𝑠 = 180𝑜 + 360𝑜 𝑙

l is any integer
• For a transfer function of the form:
ς𝑚
𝑖=1(𝑠 − 𝑧𝑖 )
𝐺 𝑠 = 𝑛
ς𝑘=1(𝑠 − 𝑝𝑘 )

• The phase at s is given by:

𝐺 𝑠 = σ𝑚 
𝑖=1 𝑖 − σ 𝑘=1 𝑘
𝑛

• Where:
𝐼𝑚(𝑠 − 𝑧𝑖 ) 𝐼𝑚(𝑠 − 𝑝𝑘 )
𝑖 = 𝑡𝑎𝑛−1 𝑖 = 𝑡𝑎𝑛−1
𝑅𝑒(𝑠 − 𝑧𝑖 ) 𝑅𝑒(𝑠 − 𝑝𝑘 )
11
 Guidelines for Root Locus

• This is illustrated graphically below:

Test Point j - axis

so

3 1 1

2 real - axis

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 Example
j - axis
• Determine the phase of: 00 so
2
(𝑠 + 1)
𝐺 𝑠 =
𝑠( 𝑠 + 2 2 + 4)(𝑠 + 5)
1
• At the test point:
900
s0=-1+j2 26.60 116.60

-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 real - axis

• The system poles and zeros are:

z1=-1; p1=0; p2=-5; p3=-2+j2; p4=-2-j2 -1

760
-2
13
 Example

• At the test point so the phase angles are:

 1 = 90, 1 = 116.6, 2 = 26.6, 3 = 0, 4 = 76
• Hence the phase of G(so) is:
G(so )=  1 − 1 − 2 − 3 − 4
= 90 −116.6 − 26.6 − 0 − 76 = −129.2
• Thus the root locus does not pass through so
• While this phase calculation is straight forward, it is not
feasible to check every point in the S-plane manually
• We therefore need some guidelines for preparing a root
locus plot using more analytic means
14
 Root Locus : Asymptote
• Consider test-points on the real axis:
• The phase contributions from complex conjugate pole
(or zero) pairs are equal and opposite
• Therefore test points only produce a phase of 1800
immediately to the left of an odd number of real
valued poles and zeros (red line).

j - axis

−2
1

so real - axis
2
Test Point 15
 Root Locus : Asymptote

• The locus branches track towards zeros and other

asymptotes as Kp increases to 
• The asymptotes are centered around the point
, and depart at angles , according to:

σ𝑝 − σ𝑧
𝛼=
𝑛−𝑚

180𝑜 + 360𝑜 (𝑙 − 1)
= , 𝑙 = 1,2, … , 𝑛 − 𝑚
𝑛−𝑚

m,n are the order of the polynomials of the numerator

and denominator of G(s), respectively 16
Root locus: Departing and arriving
angles
• The locus branches depart from all open loop poles
at the angles (KP->0) :
qdep =  −   −180 − 360l

• Where, q is the order of the pole,  and  are the angles

from each zero and pole to the departure pole being
analysed
• The locus branches arrive at all open loop zeros at the
angles (KP->):
q arr =  −  +180 + 360l

17
 Example
• Determine the root locus for the system:
1
𝐺 𝑠 =
𝑠(𝑠 2 + 8𝑠 + 32)

• Simple Step 1 : Open loop pole and zero

Identification:
p1 = 0, p2 = −4 + j4, p3 = −4 − j4
• Simple Step 2 : Plot the open loop poles and zeros on
the S-plane
• Simple Step 3 : Draw the real axis branch to the left of an
odd number of real axis poles and zeros

18
19
 Example
• Simple Step 4 : Draw the asymptotes, centered at ,
and departing at angles i, where:

σ 𝑝 − σ 𝑧 −8
𝛼= = = −2.667
𝑛−𝑚 3

180𝑜 + 360𝑜 (𝑙 − 1)
𝑖 = , 𝑙 = 1,2,3
𝑛−𝑚

1 = 60, 2 = 180, 3 = −60

20
21
 Example
• Simple Step 5: Compute the locus departure angles
from the poles:
𝑑𝑒𝑝_𝑖 = ෍ 𝑖 − ෍ 𝑖 − 180𝑜 − 360𝑜 𝑙

• Recall the pole values:

p1 = 0, p2 = −4 + j4, p3 = −4 − j4
• This gives:
dep _1 = −180

dep _ 2 = −90 −135 −180 − 360l = −45

dep _ 3 = −270 − 225 −180 − 360l = +45

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23
Root locus: Critical Gain for Stability

• For stability, the closed loop system poles must be restricted

to the LHP

• If any locus branch crosses the j axis, there is a potential

stability problem

• The proportional gain that causes the root locus to cross

the j axis is the critical gain for stability

• It is useful to be able to determine this gain analytically

24
Root locus: Critical Gain for Stability

• The critical gain for stability is the value of Kp such that:

1 + 𝐾𝑃 𝐺 𝑗𝜔0 = 0
1
• Example : 𝐺 𝑠 =
𝑠(𝑠 2 + 8𝑠 + 32)
• The critical gain is the solution to:
𝑗𝜔03 − 8𝜔02 + 𝑗32𝜔0 + 𝐾𝑃 = 0

• Separating into real and imaginary terms:

𝐾𝑃 − 8𝜔02 = 0 −𝜔0 (𝜔02 − 32) = 0
• Yields:
𝜔0 = 32 𝑟𝑎𝑑 𝐾𝑃 = 256
25
 Root locus: Branch Points

• A branch point arises when two or more locus

branches meet at one location
• This is the condition for multiple equivalent roots, e.g:

G(s)=s2+4s+4=(s+2)2

• The exact determination of the location of a

branch point can be difficult.
• However it is useful to explore how to determine
branch points analytically, as this greatly assists
the construction of root locus plots

26
 Root locus: Branch Points
• On the root locus we know that:
−1
𝐾𝑃 =
𝐺 𝑠
• Therefore the local maxima of Kp occur at:
𝑑 −1
=0
𝑑𝑠 𝐺 𝑠 𝑠=𝑠0
• Given a rational transfer function, we have:
𝑑 −1 𝑑 −𝑎(𝑠) −1 𝑑𝑎 𝑠 𝑑𝑏 𝑠
= = 2 𝑏 𝑠 −𝑎 𝑠 =0
𝑑𝑠 𝐺 𝑠 𝑑𝑠 𝑏(𝑠) 𝑏 (𝑠) 𝑑𝑠 𝑑𝑠
𝑑𝑎 𝑠 𝑑𝑏 𝑠
• Or: 𝑏 𝑠 −𝑎 𝑠 =0
𝑑𝑠 𝑑𝑠 28
 Root locus: Branch Points

• Applying this to the above example:

1
𝐺 𝑠 = ; 𝑏 𝑠 = 1; 𝑎 𝑠 = 𝑠 2 + 𝑠
𝑠(𝑠 + 1)
• Branch Point Criteria:
𝑑𝑎 𝑠 𝑑𝑏 𝑠 −1
𝑏 𝑠 −𝑎 𝑠 = 2𝑠 + 1 = 0 → 𝑠0 =
𝑑𝑠 𝑑𝑠 2

• Note: This test is a necessary condition for a branch

point, but it is not a sufficient condition
• The solutions to the branch test must lie on the locus
path for this test to indicate a branch point
• Furthermore, the test is difficult to apply to all but the
simplest of cases, and is therefore not always used 29
 Root locus: Branch Points

• Branch Points involving two loci branches

• Two branches always approach at relative angles of
1800
• The departing branches leave at relative angles of
1800, rotated at 900 to the incoming branches
• Branch Points involving three loci branches
• Three branches always approach at relative angles
of 1200
• The departing branches leave at relative angles of
1200, rotated at 600 to the incoming branches

30
 Example 1
𝑠+1
• Determine the root locus for the system: 𝐺 𝑠 = 2
𝑠
• Simple Step 1 : Open loop pole and zero Identification:

p1 = p2 = 0, z1 = −1
• Simple Step 2 : Plot the open loop poles and zeros on
the S-plane
• Simple Step 3 : Draw the real axis branch to the left of
an odd number of real axis poles and zeros
• Simple Step 4 : Draw the asymptotes:
– Since n = 2, and m = 1, there is one asymptote corresponding to
the real axis branch 31
 Example 1

Poles, Zeros and Real Axis Branch Only

32
 Example 1
• Simple Step 5 : Compute the departure and arrival
angles from the poles and zeros:
2dep_1 = 0−180 + 360  dep_1= 90
 arr_1 =180 +180 −180 =180
• New Simple Step 6 : Stability Point?
8𝜔02 + 𝑗𝜔0 𝐾𝑃 + 𝐾𝑃 = 0 → 𝜔0 = 0 LHP polesonly

• New Simple Step 7 : Branch Points?

𝑑𝑎 𝑠 𝑑𝑏 𝑠
𝑏 𝑠 −𝑎 𝑠 = 𝑠 + 1 2𝑠 − 𝑠 2 = 0
𝑑𝑠 𝑑𝑠

→ 𝑠1 = 0; 𝑠2 = −2 Two Branch Points

33
34
 Example 2
• Determine the root locus for the system:
𝑠+1
𝐺 𝑠 = 2
𝑠 (𝑠 + 4)
• Simple Step 1 : Open loop pole and zero Identification:

p1 = p2 = 0, p3 = −4, z1 = −1

• Simple Step 2 : Plot the open loop poles and zeros on

the S-plane
• Simple Step 3 : Draw the real axis branch to the left of an
odd number of real axis poles and zeros

35
 Example 2

Poles, Zeros and Real Axis Branch Only

36
 Example 2

• Simple Step 4 : Draw the asymptotes

σ 𝑝 − σ 𝑧 −4 + 1
𝛼= = = −1.5
𝑛−𝑚 2
180𝑜 + 360𝑜 (𝑙 − 1)
𝑖 = , 𝑙 = 1,2
2
1 = 90, 2 = -90
• Simple Step 5 : Compute the departure and arrival angles
from the poles and zeros:
2dep_1 = 0 −180+ 360  dep_1 = 90
dep_3 = 180 −180 −180 +180 = 0
 arr_1 = 0+180 +180 −180 =180 37
 Example 2

Real Axis Branch and Asymptotes

38
 Example 2

• Simple Step 6 : Stability Point?

𝑠 3 + 4𝑠 2 + 𝐾𝑃 𝑠 + 𝐾𝑃 = 0

Only possible at  = 0

• Simple Step 7 : Branch Points?

𝑑𝑎 𝑠 𝑑𝑏 𝑠
𝑏 𝑠 −𝑎 𝑠 = 𝑠 + 1 3𝑠 2 + 8𝑠 − (𝑠 3 +4𝑠 2 ) = 0
𝑑𝑠 𝑑𝑠

→ 𝑠 2𝑠 2 + 7𝑠 + 8 = 0

→ 𝑠1 = 0; 𝑠2,3 = −1.75 ± 𝑗0.97 One Valid Branch Point 39

Example 2

40
 Example 3

• Determine the root locus for the system:

𝑠+1
𝐺 𝑠 = 2
𝑠 (𝑠 + 12)
• Analysis proceeds as outlined above
• Consider the Branch points:
𝑎 𝑠 = 𝑠 2 (𝑠 + 12) 𝑏 𝑠 =𝑠+1
𝑑𝑎 𝑠 𝑑𝑏 𝑠
𝑏 𝑠 −𝑎 𝑠 = 𝑠 + 1 3𝑠 2 + 24𝑠 − (𝑠 3 +12𝑠 2 ) = 0
𝑑𝑠 𝑑𝑠
→ 𝑠 2𝑠 2 + 15𝑠 + 24 = 0

→ 𝑠1 = 0; 𝑠2 = −5.18 ; 𝑠2 = −2.31 Three Branch Points

41
Example 3

42
 Example 4
𝑠+1
• Determine the root locus for the system: 𝐺 𝑠 = 2
𝑠 (𝑠 + 9)
• Analysis proceeds as outlined above
• Consider the Branch points:
𝑎 𝑠 = 𝑠 2 (𝑠 + 9) 𝑏 𝑠 =𝑠+1
𝑑𝑎 𝑠 𝑑𝑏 𝑠
𝑏 𝑠 −𝑎 𝑠 = 𝑠 + 1 3𝑠 2 + 18𝑠 − (𝑠 3 +9𝑠 2 ) = 0
𝑑𝑠 𝑑𝑠
→ 2𝑠 𝑠 2 + 6𝑠 + 9 = 0

→ 𝑠1 = 0; 𝑠2,3 = −3 Two Branch Points

• At s=-3, three root locus branches meet 43

Example 4

44
 Example 5

• Determine the root locus for the system:

1
𝐺 𝑠 =
𝑠(𝑠 + 2)(𝑠 2 + 2𝑠 + 5)

• Simple Step 1 : Open loop pole and zero

Identification:
p1 = 0, p2 = -2, p3 = -1+j2, p4 = -1-j2
• Simple Step 2 : Plot the open loop poles and zeros on
the S-plane
• Simple Step 3 : Draw the real axis branch to the left of an
odd number of real axis poles and zeros

45
 Example 5

Poles, Zeros and Real Axis Branch Only

46
 Example 5
• Simple Step 4 : Draw the asymptotes
σ 𝑝 − σ 𝑧 −2 − 1 − 1 − 0
𝛼= = = −1
𝑛−𝑚 4
180𝑜 180 𝑜 + 2 ∗ 360𝑜
1 = = 45𝑜 3 = = −135𝑜
4 4
180𝑜 + 360𝑜 180 𝑜
+ 3 ∗ 360 𝑜
2 = 𝑜
= 135 4 = = −45 𝑜
4 4
• Simple Step 5 : Compute the departure and arrival angles
from the poles and zeros:
dep_1= 0 + 63 − 63 −180 = 180
dep_2 = −180 −116 +116 −180 = 0
dep_3 = −116 − 63 − 90 −180 = −90
dep_4 = +116 + 63 + 90 −180 = +90 47
 Example 5

Real Axis Branch and Asymptotes

48
 Example 5

• Simple Step 6 : Stability Point?

𝑠 4 + 4𝑠 3 + 9𝑠 2 + 10𝑠 + 𝐾𝑃 = 0
𝜔04 − 4𝑗𝜔03 − 9𝜔02 + 10𝑗𝜔0 + 𝐾𝑃 = 0

→ −4𝜔03 + 10𝑗𝜔0 = 0 𝜔04 − 9𝜔02 + 𝐾𝑃 = 0

→ 𝜔0 = 1.58; 𝐾𝑃 = 16.25
• Simple Step 7 : Branch Points?
𝑎 𝑠 = 𝑠 4 + 4𝑠 3 + 9𝑠 2 + 10𝑠, 𝑏 𝑠 = 1
𝑑𝑎 𝑠 𝑑𝑏 𝑠
𝑏 𝑠 −𝑎 𝑠 = 4𝑠 3 + 12𝑠 2 + 18𝑠 + 10 = 0
𝑑𝑠 𝑑𝑠
→ (𝑠 + 1) 4𝑠 2 + 8𝑠 + 10 = 0
→ 𝑠1 = −1; 𝑠2,3 = −1 ± 𝑗1.22 Three Branch Points 49
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