Practice Problems Set #3

MAAE 4500, Fall 2013 (sections A and B)

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Carleton University
Notes:
1. You are expected to solve all the problems as part of this course for practice.
2. For any problem that involves simulations using Matlab, you are expected to develop your
program and generate the related plots.

Question 1 You have identified your plant transfer function as

G p ( s) =

C ( s)
( s + 3)
=
U ( s ) ( s + 1)( s + 2)( s + 5)( s + 7)

You intend to design a feedback controller for the plant. Also, you would like to investigate the
effect of a proportional controller and therefore, resort to draw its root locus. Please follow the
following procedures:
(a) Sketch the root locus and find all important features through a detailed step-by-step
process. Find all features (if needed) including asymptotes and their properties, break-in
or break-away points and gains, marginally stable points and gains, departure angles, etc.
(b) Do the same process using Matlab and verify your findings through those plots.
(c) As part of the requirements of the application, you are required to ensure that the system
stay stable for all gains. A PD controller has been proposed of the form Gc(s) =
kp*(1+Td *s). If the gain kp=1, what condition on Td would guarantee the an always
stable system?
(d) Can you suggest a controller that can eliminate any oscillations in the response of the
system completely? Write down the description of the controller, justify it, and draw the
root locus of the controlled system using MATLAB to verify.
Question 2 For the following two open-loop systems,
(a) Without going through the details, with basic calculations, sketch the root locus for each
(approximate manual graph).
(b) Comment on the possibility of showing instability or oscillations, when they are used in
closed-loop control architecture with a proportional controller and unity feedback as the gain
is varied.
1
I G p (s) =
( s 10)( s + 23)
1
II G p ( s ) =
2
( s + 1) ( s + 10)

Question 3 Practice more on drawing root locus by checking the following problems in the
textbook:
Solved Examples: 6-1 to 6-5
Solved Problems at the end of chapter 6: A-6-1 to A-6-10