Routh-Hurwitz conditions and Lyapunov methods for the transient-stability problem

In this paper, Lyapunov functions are generated to determine the regions of asymptotic stability of power systems under transient disturbances. With suitable assumptions, the swing equations of the synchronous machines connected to a power system are second- or third-order nonlinear autonomous differential equations. The Lyapunov functions V, employed to determine the domains of asymptotic stability of these nonlinear differential equations, are simple quadratic forms, whose coefficients are chosen so that the Routh-Hurwitz criteria are satisfied for the corresponding linear differential equations. For a synchronous machine swinging against an infinite bus, three typical Lyapunov functions are generated, taking transient saliency and positive-sequence damping into account. The application of Aizerman´s method to the same problem leads to a fourth Lyapunov function. The domains of stability given by these Lyapunov functions are compared with the actual stability region obtained by numerical integration. Consideration of one time constant of the prime-mover governor leads to a third-order differential equation. A Lyapunov function is generated, and the stability surface obtained is verified by computing the swing curves numerically for various initial conditions. Finally, it is explained how some of these techniques could be extended for generating Lyapunov functions for multimachine systems.