Root Locus - Example

Example

Suppose there is a plant (process) with a transfer function expression P(s), and a forward controller with both an adjustable gain K and output expression C(s) as shown in the block diagram below.

A unity feedback loop is constructed to complete this feedback system. For this system, the overall transfer function is given by

Thus the closed-loop poles (roots of the characteristic equation) of the transfer function are the solutions to the equation 1+ KC(s)P(s) = 0. The principal feature of this equation is that roots may be found wherever KCP = -1. The variability of K, the gain for the controller, removes amplitude from the equation, meaning the complex valued evaluation of the polynomial in s C(s)P(s) needs to have net phase of 180 deg, wherever there is a closed loop pole. The geometrical construction adds angle contributions from the vectors extending from each of the poles of KC to a prospective closed loop root (pole) and subtracts the angle contributions from similar vectors extending from the zeros, requiring the sum be 180. The vector formulation arises from the fact that each polynomial term in the factored CP,(s-a) for example, represents the vector from a which is one of the roots, to s which is the prospective closed loop pole we are seeking. Thus the entire polynomial is the product of these terms, and according to vector mathematics the angles add (or subtract, for terms in the denominator) and lengths multiply (or divide). So to test a point for inclusion on the root locus, all you do is add the angles to all the open loop poles and zeros. Indeed a form of protractor, the "spirule" was once used to draw exact root loci.

From the function T(s), we can also see that the zeros of the open loop system (CP) are also the zeros of the closed loop system. It is important to note that the root locus only gives the location of closed loop poles as the gain K is varied, given the open loop transfer function. The zeros of a system can not be moved.

Using a few basic rules, the root locus method can plot the overall shape of the path (locus) traversed by the roots as the value of K varies. The plot of the root locus then gives an idea of the stability and dynamics of this feedback system for different values of k.