ROUTH STABILITY CRITERION

Routh and Hurwitz stability criterion is a technique for finding out if there are any roots of a
characteristic equation in the right-half of the s-plane . Both for open loop and closed-loop

systems using their respective characteristic equations. If characteristic equation of interest is an

Nth-order polynomial;
a N s N a N 1 s N 1 a N 2 s N 2 a N 3 s N 3 a N 4 s N 4 a N 5 s N 5 a N 6 s N 6 a N 7 s N 7
..(10)
a N 8 s N 8 a N 9 s N 9 a N 10 s N 10 ......... a1 s a0

aN a N 2 a N 4 a N 6 a N 8 a0
N 1 N 3 N 5 N 7 N 9
a a a a a
A1 A2 A3 A4 A5

B1 B2 B3 B4 B5
C1 C2 C3 C4

D1 D2 D3
W1 W2

Where the As, Bs, Cs are calculated from the equations

a N 1a N 2 a N a N 3 a N 1a N 4 a N a N 5
A1 ; A
a N 1 a N 1
2

a N 1a N 6 a N a N 7 a N 1a N 8 a N a N 9
A3 ; A4
a N 1 a N 1

A1a N 3 A2 a N 1 A a N 5 A3 a N 1
B1 ; B2 1
A1 A1

A1a N 7 A4 a N 1 A a N 9 A5 a N 1
B3 ; B4 1
A1 A1

B1 A2 A1 B2 B A A1 B3 B A A1 B4
C1 ; C2 1 3 ; C3 1 4
B1 B1 B1

C1 B2 C 2 B1 C B C3 B1 C B C 4 B1
D1 ; D2 1 3 ; D3 1 4
C1 C1 C1
The number of sign changes of this first column is equal to the number of roots of the characteristic
equation that are in the RHP. For stable system there must not be any sign change in the first
column

Example; For the characteristic eqn s 2 s s 3s 4 s 5 0

5 4 3 2

There sre two sign changes. There must be two roots in the RHP. The system is unstanle

1 1 4
2 3 5
23 1 85 3
0
2 2 2 2
5/ 2 0
0
3 / 2 3
9 5
1/ 2 1/ 2
27 / 2 5 / 2
32 / 18 0 0
9
5 0 0
0 0 0

C A3 1/ 8
Example;For a three- CSTR process the transfer function Gm(s) = ,discus the open-
C A0 ( s 1) 3
loop and closed loop stability.

(a)open-loop stability ;The characteristic equation is (s+1)3=s3+3s2+3s+1 =0

There Is no sign change in the first column. Therefore,there is no root in RHP and hene the sysem
is open loop stable.

1 3
3 1
9 1
8/3 0
3
1 0

(b) closed-loop stability

The characteristic eqn for closed-loop is 1+B(s)Gm(s)=0 ,where B(s)=Kc (gain) i.e

1/ 8 Kc
1+Kc( )0 or s 3 3s 2 3s (1 )0
( s 1) 3 8
 9 (1 Kc / 8)
There can only be a sign change if the third term is negative i.e O
3

Kc
Or -8+ O or Kc 64
8

1 3
Kc
3 1
8
9 (1 Kc / 8)
0
3
1
Kc
0
8