Solutions Chapter 10

Poles zeros and system stability

s+2
M10.1 What are the pole, p, and zero, z, of the transfer function G(s) = s+3
(a) p = 2, z = 3

(b) p = 3, z = 2

(c) p = -2, z = -3

(d) p = -3, z = -2

M10.2 If a first order system has a pole at p= -2, what is the system time
constant?
(a) = 0.5

(b) = 2

(c) = -0.5

(d) = -2

M10.3 Three different first order systems have the following poles: p1 = -0.2, p2
= -0.4, p3 = -0.6. Which system has the fastest step response?
(a) the system with p1 = -0.2
(b) the system with p1 = -0.4
(c) the system with p1 = -0.6
(d) they all respond the same since they are all first order systems.
M10.4 Purely oscillatory systems have poles that lie
(a) at the same place on the negative real axis
(b) at the same place on the positive real axis
(c) in the LHP, but not on the real axis
(d) on the Imaginary axis
M10.5 An example of a bounded signal is
(a) e 4t

(b) e2t

(d) et sint

(c) t

M10.6 A bounded signal has poles that lie

(a) only in the LHP
(b) in the LHP and on the Imaginary axis
(c) in the LHP, and single poles on the Imaginary axis

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10.1

(d) in the RHP

M10.7 A stable system has poles that lie
(a) only in the LHP
(b) in the LHP and on the Imaginary axis
(c) in the LHP, and single poles on the Imaginary axis
(d) in the RHP
M10.8 Are the following systems stable?
(i)

2
G1(s) = s+3

(a) yes, no, no

(ii)

3
G2(s) = s-3

4
(iii) G3(s) = s(s+2)

(b) no, yes, no

(c) yes, no, yes

(d) no, no, yes

M10.9 Poles with the same damping ratio lie

(a) the same distance from the origin
(b) on the real axis
(c) on the same radial line from the origin
(d) on the Imaginary axis
M10.10 If a system has a zero in the RHP, its output to a positive input step will
(a) be unstable
(b) will be the same as one having a zero in the LHP
(c) will go negative before going positive
(d) will be negative
Multiple choice questions
M10.1 d, M10.2 a, M10.3 c, M10.4 d, M10.5 a,
M10.6 c, M10.7 a, M10.8 a, M10.9 c, M10.10 c
Practical skills questions
Q10.1 Find the poles of the following Laplace transforms and state the general timedomain signal feature to which the poles relate. Select these features from the list:

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10.2

Fast exponential decay

Slow exponential decay
Constant signal-step-like
Slow exponential growth
Fast exponential growth
Slow sinusoidal oscillation
Fast sinusoidal oscillation

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

(g)

(h)

Solution Q10.1
(a) s = -3, slow exponential decay
(b) s = j0.125, zero at s = 0, constant oscillation
(c) s = 0.1, slow exponential growth
(d) s = 10.6, fast exponential growth
(e) s = -0.222, slow exponential decay
(f) s = -100, fast exponential decay
(g) s = 8, fast exponential growth
(h) s = 4, s = j8, zeros at s = -6, s= -4: poles provide fast increasing sinusoidal
growth
Q10.2 Using an X to mark a pole position in the s-domain, make an s-domain
sketch and plot the position of the poles found in Laplace transforms in parts (i) to
(viii) of the previous problem. Label each pole position with the appropriate
feature found in the time-domain signal from which the transform was obtained. If
there are any zeros, mark their position with an 'O.

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10.3

Solution Q10.2

Q10.3 In each of the following :

(a)

(b)

(c)

(i)

Determine , n and K

(ii)

Draw the s-domain plot for the system poles

(iii)

Sketch the appropriate unit step response.

Solution
Case (a)

(i)
K=1

(ii)

dch10 poles zeros v3 solutions

Poles s=-0.5 and s=-1

10.4

Case (b)

(i)
K=1
(ii)

dch10 poles zeros v3 solutions

implies poles at s = -0.75j

10.5

(iii)

Case (c)

(i)

K=1

(ii) s2 + 0.8s+1 = (s+0.4)2 - 0.42 +1 = (s+0.4)2 - 0.9162

Poles at s = -0.4

j0.916

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10.6

Q10.4 What are the poles of the following systems? Comment on the stability of
each system.
(a)

(b)

(d)

(c)

(e)

(f)

Solution Q10.4
(a) s = -1/4 (b) s = -3/2
(a) stable

(b) stable

(c) s = 4 (d) -1.5 j.2.6

(e) 1.5 j1.3 (f) -1, -1

(c) unstable (d) stable (e) unstable (f) stable

Q10.5 For the pole-map shown

(a) Comment on the stability of the various 1st order systems, A, B, C and D.
Assume each system is of the form

, p = A, B, C or D.

(b) Which system would have the fastest stable response?

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10.7

Solution Q10.5
(a) A unstable, B C and D all stable. (b) D
Q10.6 For the pole-map shown,
(a) comment on the stability of systems whose poles are A, B, C and D.
(b) Comment on the response to a step input for systems A, B, C and D.

Solution Q10.6
(a) A unstable, B unstable, C and D stable.
(b) A unstable, B oscillating, no decay, C oscillatory, decays to a steady state
value,
D overdamped, settles at a steady state value.
Problems
P10.1 A diagram of the pole positions of three thermocouples is given. You have
to determine which thermocouple responds fastest to a change in temperature.
Determine also the associated time constant for each thermocouple.

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10.8

Solution P10.1
Th3 is the fastest since pole further from the origin. Associated time constant
.
P10.2 The system shown represents a the position control system for a robot
cutting arm within a manufacturing system which produces clothing. The
production manager has insisted that in order to save material wastage, there
should be no overshoot to any requested change in cutting position. What value of
controller K would satisfy this requirement?

Solution P10.2
3K
GCL(s) = s2 + 2s + 3K
s2 + 2s + 3K = 0

Poles given by roots of denominator:

s=

-2 4 - 12K
= -1 2-3K
2

The requirement is for the system to be critically or over damped, 1.

This is equivalent to two real poles, that is 2-3K0, K 2/3.

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10.9

P10.3 A typical feedback control system is shown.

The system transfer function has three poles at s = 0, s = -2, s = -1. It has a gain
of 5. The controller is a simple gain, where U(s) = K E(s).
(a) Draw the block diagram, substituting in appropriate transfer functions.
(b) Is the open loop system stable?
(c) Using MATLAB , comment on the stability of the closed loop system for K =
0.3, 0.5, 0.7 and 0.9.
Solution

(a)
(b) Open loop system is unstable since the pole s = 0 does not lie in the LHP.
(c) (iii) Enter in MATLAB:
g=10/(s*(s^2+3*s+2));
k=0.3;
gcl=g/(1+g*k);
mgcl = minreal(gcl); % Note the use of the minreal function to remove
%poles and zeros which have not been cancelled.
pole(mgcl)
K = 0.3: p1 = -2.6717

p2,3 = -0.1642 j1.0469

K = 0.5: p1 = -2.9042

p2,3 = -0.0479 j 1.3112

K = 0.7: p1 = -3.0867

p 2,3 = 0.0434 j1.5053

K =0.9: p1 = -3.2400

p2,3 =

0.1200 j 1.6623

System stable for K = 0.3 and K = 0.5 but unstable for K = 0.7 and K = 0.9.
P10.4 An open loop system is given by

dch10 poles zeros v3 solutions

10.10

(2s+1)
G(s) = (0.5s+1) (12 s +1)
The system is placed in a unity feedback loop with a controller K(s) =

10s + 1
in
s

the forward path.

(a) What are the system zeros and poles?
(b) What are the open loop zeros and poles?
(c) Using MATLAB, determine the closed loop zeros and poles. Are any the same
as those of the system or open loop?
Solution P10.4
(a) System zero at z = -0.5, system poles at p1 = -2 and p2 = -0.0833
(b) Open loop system given by:
(2s+1)(10s+1)
GOL(s) = G(s) K(s) = s(0.5s+1) (12 s +1)
open loop zeros: z1 = -0.5, z2 = -0.1
open loop poles: p1 = -2, p2 = -0.0833, p3 = 0
(c) Closed loop transfer function:
(2s+1)(10s+1)
GCL(s) = s(0.5s+1) (12 s +1)+ (2s+1)(10s+1)
Using MATLAB, poles of GCL(s) are
pCL1 = -4.9891,

pCL2 = -0.3247,

pCL3 = -0.1029

Zeros of GCL(s) are z1 = -0.5, z2 = -0.1.

The poles are different, they have been moved to another position by controller.
The open loop zeros remain in the closed loop transfer function.
s

P10.5 Given a system of the form G(s) = (0.333s + 1) (0.25s + 1) , use MATLAB
1

to investigate how the unit step response changes for the zero at s = taking
value of s= 2, 4, 7, 10. Comment on your results.
Solution P10.5

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10.11

Since the zero is in the RHP, we should expect an initial negativegoing response
which eventually ends up at the value of the positive step input (Gain K = 1).
The magnitude and time duration of the negative section depend on the position of
the zero. A RHP zero close to the Imaginary axis will cause a greater negative
impact on the step response a RHP zero which is further away. This is clearly seen
in the plot.

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10.12