Suppose that the motor input is increased gradually until the point C of

maximum power is reached. If now an additional increment of load is put on the

motor, the displacement angle awill increase as before, but as it does so there
will be no increase in input. Instead there will be a decrease in input, further
increasing the differencebetween output and input, and retarding the motor
more rapidly. The motor will pull out of step and will probably stall (unless it is
kept goingby induction-motor action resulting from damper circuits which may be
present). Pm is the steady-state stabilitylimit of the system. It is the maximum
power that can be transmitted, and synchronism will be lost if an attempt is
made to transmit more power than this limit. If a large increment ofload on the
motor isadded 8uddenly, instead of gradually, the motor may fall out ofstep even
though the new load does not exceed the steady-state stability limit. The reason
is as follows: When the large increment ofload isadded to the motor shaft, the
mechanicalpoweroutput ofthe motor greatly exceedsthe electrical power input,
and the deficiency of input is supplied by decrease of kinetic energy. The motor
slows down, and an increase of the displacement angle ~ and a consequent
increase of input result. In accordance with the assumption that the new load
does not exceed the steady-state stability limit, ~ increases to the proper value
for steadystate operation, a value such that the motor input equals the output
and the retarding torque vanishes. When this value of 0 is reached, however, the
motor is running too slowly. Its angular momentum prevents its speed from
suddenly increasing to the normal value. Hence it continuesto run too slowly, and
the displacement angle increases beyond the proper value. After the angle has
passed this value, the motor input exceedsthe output, and the net torque is now
an accelerating torque. The speed of the motor increases and approaches normal
speed. Before normal speed is regained, however, the displacement angle may
have increased to such an extent that the operating point on the poweranglecurve (Fig. 3) not only goes over the hump (point C) but also goesso far
over it that the motor input decreases to a value less than the output. If this
happens, the net torque changes from an accelerating torque to a retarding
torque. The speed, which is still belownormal, now decreasesagain, and
continues to decreaseduring all but a small part of each slip cycle. Synchronism
is definitelylost. In other words, the system is unstable. If, however,the sudden
increment in load isnot too great, the motor willregain its normal speedbeforethe
displacement angle becomestoo great. Then the net torque is still an
accelerating torque and causes
DEFINITIONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS OF TERMS 5
the motor speed to continue to increase and thus to become greater than
normal. The displacement angle then decreases and again approaches its proper
value. Again it overshoots this value on account of inertia. The rotor of the motor
thus oscillates about the new steady-state angular position. The oscillations
finally die out be.. cause of damping torques,t which have been neglected in this
elementary analysis. A damped oscillatory motion characterizes a stable system.
With a given sudden increment in load, there is a definite upper limit to the load
whichthe motor willcarrywithoutpulling outofstep. This is the transient stability
limit of the system for the given conditions. The transient stability limit is always
below the steady-state stability Iimit.t but, unlike the latter, it may have many
different values, depending upon the nature and magnitude of the disturbance.
The disturbance may be a sudden increase in load, as justdiscussed,or it may be

a sudden increase in reactance of the circuit, caused, for example, by the

disconnection of one of two or more parallel linesas a normal switching
operation. The most severe type of disturbance to which a powersystem
issubjected, however, isa short circuit. Therefore, the effect of short circuits (or
"faults," as they are often called) must be determined in nearly all stability
studies. A three-phase short circuit on the line connecting the generator and the
motor entirely cuts off the Bow of power between the machines. The
generatoroutputbecomeszerointhe pure-reactance circuits under consideration;
the motor input also becomes zero. Because of the slowness of action of the
governor of the prime mover driving the generator, the mechanical power input
of the generator remains constant for perhaps i sec. Also,since the power and
torque of the load on themotorarefunctionsofspeed,andsince thespeed cannot
change instantly andchangesby notmore than a fewper cent unless and until
synchronism islost, themechanicalpower output of the motormaybe assumed
constant. As the electrical power of both machines is decreased by the short
circuit, while the mechanical power of both remains constant, there is an
accelerating torque on the generator and a retarding torque on the motor.
Consequently, the generator speeds up, the motor slowsdown, and it is apparent
that synchronism will be lost unless the short circuit is quickly removed so as to
restore syn.. chronizing power between the machines before they have drifted
too tDiscussedin Chapter XIV, Vol.III. tConventional methods of calculation,
however, sometimes indicate that the transient stability limit is above the
steady-state stability