Damped Vibrator Thermometer in

Thermo Pocket Step Response And

Impulse For Zeta <1, zeta>1,

A second-order transfer function will be developed by

considering a classicalexample from mechanics. This is the
damped vibrator, which is shown in Fig.
A block of mass W resting on a horizontal, frictionless table is
attached to alinear spring. A viscous damper (dashpot) is also
attached to the block. Assumethat the system is free to oscillate
horizontally under the influence of a forcingfunction F(t). The
origin of the coordinate system is taken as the right edge ofthe
block when the spring is in the relaxed or unstretched condition.
At time zero,the block is assumed to be at rest at this origin. *
Positive directions for force anddisplacement are indicated by
the arrows in Fig.Consider the block at some instant when it is
to the right of Y = 0 andwhen it is moving toward the right
(positive direction). Under these conditions,

the position Y and the velocity df/dt arc both positive. At this
particular instant,the following forces are acting on the block:
1. The force exerted by the spring (toward the left) of -KY
where K is a positive
constant, called Hookes constant.
2. The viscous friction force (acting to the left) of -C dY/dt,
where C is a positive
constant called the damping coefficient.
3. The external force F(t) (acting toward the right).
Newtons law of motion, which states that the sum of all forces
acting onthe mass is equal to the rate of change of momentum.
Step Response
If the forcing function is a unit-step function, we have
X(s) = ;In terms of the damped vibrator shown in Fig. this is
equivalent to suddenly applying a force of magnitude K directed
toward the right at time t = 0. This follows from the fact that X

is defined by the relationship X(t) = F(t)IK position will enable

us to determine easily the response to a step function of any
other magnitude.
CASE I STEP RESPONSE FOR 6 < 1. For this case, the
inversion of Eq. yields the result
Y(f) = 1 J &e-c t sin J-t + tan-I C f-F1
Since 6 < 1,
Eqs. (8.14) to (8.16) indicate a pair of complex conjugate roots
in the left-half
plane and a root at the origin. In terms of the symbols of Fig.
3.1, the complex
roots correspond to s:! and S; and the root at the origin to Sg.
By referring to Table 3.1, we see that Y(t) has the form
Y(f) = Cl + e --5f7 iC2 cos \/1_52$ + C3 sin 4-7;) (8.18)
The constants C 1, C2, and C3 are found by partial fractions.
The resulting equation
is then put in the form of Eq. (8.17) by applying the
trigonometric identity used
TABLE 8.1
CaSe 5 Nature of roots Description of response
I <I Complex Underdamped or oscillatory
I I = 1 Real and equal Critically damped
III >l Real Overdamped or nonoscillatory
94 LINEAR OPEN-LOOP SYSTEMS
in Chap. 5, Eq. (5.23). The details are left as an exercise for the
reader. It is
evident from Eq. (8.17) that Y(t) --f 1 as t + ~0.
The nature of the response can be understood most clearly by
plotting Eq.

(8.17) as shown in Fig. 8.2, where Y(t) is plotted against the

dimensionless
variable t/r for several values of {, including those above unity,
which will be
considered in the next section. Note that, for 4 < 1, all the
response curves are
oscillatory in nature and become less oscillatory as c is
increased. The slope at
the origin in Fig. 8.2 is zero for all values of t. The response of a
second-order
system for 6 < 1 is said to be under-damped.
CASE II STEP RESPONSE FOR 5 = 1. For this case, the
response is given by
the expression
Y(t) = 1 - (1 + ;,,-1, (8.19)
This is derived as follows: Equations (8.14) and (8.15) show that
the roots st
and s2 are real and equal. Referring to Fig. 3.1 and Table 3.1, it
is seen that
1.6
0.6
FIGURE 8-2
Response of a second-order system
to a unit-step forcing function.
HIGHER-ORDER SYSTEMS: SECOND-ORDER AND
TRANSPORTATION LAG 9 5
Eq. (8.19) is in the correct form. The constants are obtained, as
usual, by partial
fractions.

The response, which is plotted in Fig. 8.2, is nonoscillatory. This

condition,
b = 1, is called critical dumping and allows most rapid
approach of the response
to Y = 1 without oscillation.
CASE III STEP RESPONSE FOR 5 > 1. For this case, the
inversion of Eq.
(8.16) gives the result
Y(t) = 1 - e-@
i
sinh ,@?$
i
(8.20)
where the hyperbolic functions are defined as
sinh a =
p - e-a
2
cash a =
ea + eMa
2
The procedure for obtaining Eq. (8.20) is parallel to that used in
the previous
cases.
The response has been plotted in Fig. 8.2 for several values of 5.
Notice that
the response is nonoscillatory and becomes more sluggish as
4 increases. This
is known as an over-dumped response. As in previous
cases, all curves eventually
approach the line Y = 1.

Actually, the response for f > 1 is not new. We met it previously

in the
discussion of the step response of a system containing two firstorder systems in
series, for which the transfer function is
-Y(s=) 1
X(s) (71s + l)(r*s + 1)
(8.21)
This is true for f > 1 because the roots sr and ~2 are real, and the
denominator
of Eq. (8.11) may be factored into two real linear factors.
Therefore, Eq. (8.11)
is equivalent to Eq. (8.2 1) in this case. By comparing the linear
factors of the
denominator of Eq. (8.11) with those of Eq. (8.21), it follows
that
71 = (l + &T)r (8.22)
5-2 = ({ - JG)r (8.23)
Note that, if 71 = 72, then r = rr = 72 and l = 1. The reader
should verify
these results.