IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER APPARATUS AND SYSTEMS

Transient Stability

VOL.

Regions

PAS-85,

FEBRUARY, 1966

NO. 2

of Multimachine

Power

System s
AHMED H. EL-ABIAD,

SENIOR MEMBER, IEEE, AND

K.

NAGAPPAN,

MEMBER, IEEE

time is then changed, and a new solution is obtained

until the critical switching time is found. This procedure
is not entirely accurate, especially when the numerical
solutions are being done on a high-speed digital computer
such as the IBM 7094.
In this paper, the second method of Liapunov [3],
[6] is used to establish the region of asymptotic stability
of a multimachine power system. The direct or second
method of Liapunov enables one to determine the stability
or instability of the equilibrium states without actual
solution of the system of differential equations. In addition, the extent of stability of the system can be established
with the aid of a suitably constructed Liapunov function
1. INTRODUCTION
for the system. The extent of this stability specifies the
THE STABILITY characteristics of a power system region of all initial conditions around the equilibrium
during transient disturbances is analyzed from the state, for which the system is asymptotically stable.
stability nature of its mathematical model: a set of
differential equations. These differential equations, de- II. APPLICATION OF SECOND METHOD OF LIAPUNOV TO
THE POWER SYSTEM
scribing the power system dynamics, are nonlinear with
constant coefficients under the assumption of constant
During transients in a multimachine power system,
voltage behind transient reactance and constant input the system goes through the following stages:
to the machines.
1) System before the disturbance or the fault: prefault
The stability of a system of linear differential equations
system.
cain be established from the roots of its characteristic
2) System during the disturbance or the fault: faultedequation [1]-[3]. The stability thus obtained implies
system.
the stability of the system in the entire state space. But
3) System after the removal of the disturbance or the
in a nonlinear system, such an inference is invalid [3]-[5]
fatilt:
postfault system.
because its stability depends upon its initial conditions
as well as the system parameters. Therefore, it is also
The form of the set of differential equations describing
necessary to find the set of initial conditions defining the the system during the previous three stages will be the
region of stability. The trajectory of the system starting same as given by (1), except for the difference in pafrom any state within this region will tend to the stable rameters from one stage to another.
equilibrium state (steady state) as time tends to infinity.
This indicates asymptotic stability of the system.
+
n)
(1)
The existing numerical methods of evaluating the (M)( d24) (D2) (d, f+U[fi(1 82, .. SO=I(Pmi)
stability of a power system require the explicit solution
of the differential equations during and after the dis- where (M1) = diagonal (nxn) matrix representing the
turbance. The swing curves of the system during dis- effective momentum constants of n rotating machines.
turbance provide the initial conditions for the system
M= 4irfHi pu power radian2 per electrical radian
after the disturbance. An experienced engineer is also
H = inertia constant in pu power;sec-ond
required to analyze the numerical -solution and decide
0.231 X WR2 X r/min2 X 10whether the system is stable or unstable. The switching
Abstract-Analysis of the'stability of power systems following
a transient disturbance involves the study of a large set of nonlinear
differential equations. A new approach to the quantitative study of
the transient stability of large power systems is presented, using
the second method of Liapunov. A region of asymptotic stability for
the postfault system is obtained through Liapunov theorems. If
the initial conditions of the postfault system at the time of switching
to restore normal operation lie within this region, the system will
be stable. The extreme value of the time at which the conditions of
the system are at the boundary of the region of asymptotic stability
gives the critical'switching time. A general description of a digital
computer program and the results of its application to a 4-machine
system are given.

k1VA (base)

(D1) diagonal (nxn) matrix representing damping coPaper 31 TP 65-655, recommended and approved by the Power
of n rotating machines.
efficients
System Engineering Committee of the IEEE Power Group for
presentation at the IEEE Summer Power Meeting, Detroit, Mich.,
D = 27rfd1 pu powerradian per electrical radian
June 27-July 1, 1965. Manuscript submitted November 2, 1964;
made available for printing April 14, 1965.
damping coefficient in pu power second
A. H. El-Abiad is with Purdue University,,Lafayette, Ind.
di
K. Nagap an is with the American Electric Power Service
Pmi= mechanical input power at the it" machine
Corporation, Kew York, N. Y.
169

170

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER APPARATUS AND SYSTEMS

FElBRUARY

Every trajectory of the system starting in Q tends to

The mechanical input power may be variable or constant;
in most of the transient stability studies, it is treated as a M, the equilibrium state, as time t, tends to infinity, and
is thus asymptotically stable.
constant.
In this paper, construction of the Liapunov function for
T = time in radians (r = 2r ft)
the particular class of problems in the power systems and
fi(1,527 *n) = E12Gii +
the evaluation of b are shown with an illustrative example.
n
general form of the Liapunov function for power sysE E,EjYij cos [Oil - (5i - 6a)] (2) The
problems is the same for all systems, but the
stability
tem
j=1
jFdi
values of b depend on the system parameters and the
= electric power equations
nature of transients. The numerical value of b in each
case provides an index of the stability region. This ap=
the
of
internal
it
voltage phasor
ElS/i
provides a decided advantage of establishing the
proach
machine
index for the stability region without explicit solution of
Y__l_ij = Gij + jB,j (short-circuit transfer admit- swing curves of the postfault system for various sets of
tance between the i" and the jt"
initial conditions.
machines)
These system parameters under disturbance are differIII. THEORY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE 1\METHOD
ent from those of the system after the disturbance. Denote
The procedure for establishing the region of stability
fj(61, 827 ...*5J) as the expression for electrical power of the and determining the critical switching time is shown in the
ilh machine after clearing the disturbance and f*i(31, 52, flow chart of Fig. 1. The following are the main steps:
.,) as that of the ith machine during the disturbance.
It is of primary importance to determine whether the Step 1 Load flow for the prefault system.
system is stable or not after clearing the disturbance. As a Step 2 Determination of driving point and transfer
admittances between the internal busses of the
first step, the steady state of the system after the disturbthe
machines
the
solution
of
(Ye,) for the faulted and the postfault
is
obtained
by
ance (postfault system)
systems.
power equations.
Determination of the stable equilibrium state of
(3) Step 3 the
fi(31i 62, ..*.*n) = Pmi; i = 1, 2, ... n.
postfault system and testing its stability.
This steady state (equilibrium state) is then tested for Step 4 Determination of the unstable equilibrium state
stability and its region of asymptotic stability is estabclosest to the stable equilibrium state found in
lished by the second method of Liapunov.
Step 3.
The major steps in the application of the second method Step 5 Estimation of the index of the region of stability
of Liapunov [3] are the construction of a suitable scalar
for the postfault system.
function called Liapunov Function [3] and the establish- Step 6 Forward step-by-step integration (swing curves)
ment of the region of asymptotic stability. In general, a
of the faulted system to find the critical switching
suitable Liapunov function for a physical system will yield
time.
a strong sufficient condition [3], [5]. For the particular
The first two steps need no explanation, detailed declass of problem of power systems stability, a suitable funcare found in [8 ]- [10 ].
scriptions
the
conditions
constructed
[3],
following
tion is
satisfying
3:
The stable equilibrium state of the postfault
Step
[7]:
is
found
by solving the following nonlinear algesystem
1) The Liapunov function V should be a co-ntinuous braic equations by the steepest descent method [11].
scalar function of the state variables (positions,! velocities,
5 - Pmi = O; i = 1, 2, . . ., n
etc.).
(3)
fi(l? 62, * * an)
with
to
the
state
first
respect
partial derivatives,
2) Its
variables, should exist and be continuous in a region Q Define
in
defined by V < b where b is a positive constant.
(4)
E (fi - Pmt)2.
s
=
2
is
whose
stability
at
the
state,
equilibrium
3) Its value
2i=l
zero
and
V
>
inside
be
0
U.
should
under investigation,
4) Its time derivative should be negative for all values The previous function s has a minimum at the solution
of state variables in Q, except at the equilibrium state of (3), and the minimum value of 4ib is zero. The function
is minimized with the aid of the steepest descent method.
where it vanishes.
b
The solution to which the minimum converges depends
V
>
0).
<
(b
by
designated
a
bounded
region
5) Q is
the
state
is
the
In
the
largest upon the starting values of bi; i = 1, 2, . . ., n, the functions
equilibrium
region Q,
6)
=
M
invariant
set
is
characV
0.
fi being nonlinear. In this step, our interest is the steadywhere
set
(An
invariant
terized by the property that solution of the system state equilibrium state of the postfault system. Normally,
(trajectory) starting from this set remains in the same set this state will be close to the steady state of the prefault
for the whole time. All equilibrium states and limit cycles system. Hence, the starting values of 8,, for all i, can be
chosen to be the steady-state values of the prefault sysare examples of such invariant sets.)
...

1966

EL-ABIAD AND NAGAPPAN: MULTIMACHINE POWER SYSTEM

TRANSIENT

STABILITY REGIONS

1.
2.

3.

4.
5..

6.

COMPUTE 6d AND Wi AT Ten)

BY RUNGE- KUTTA METHOD OF
INTEGRATION OF SWING EQUATIONS OF FAULTED SYSTEM

Fig. 1. Computer, program flow chart for transient stability analysis.

171

172

IEEE

TRANSACTIONS ON POWER APPARATUS AND SYSTEMS

FEBRUARY

tem. The solution thus obtained is then tested for its given by V = b passes through the unstable equilibrium
steady-state stability. At the equilibrium state, if all the state closest to the steady-state stable equilibrium state
self-partial derivatives bfil/bi k 0, for all i, then the sys- of the postfault systenm. Thus, the region Q includes only
tem is steady-state stable. (This is obviously a sufficient the equilibrium state under investigation. At this equilibrium state, dV/dr is zero. This state is the only invariant
condition but may not be a necessary condition.)
Step 4: This unstable equilibrium state is found in the set in Q and, hence, the largest,
same way as in Step 3, but the initial guess of bi, for all i,
Step 6: As stated before, the region Q defines all the
for the minimization is chosen in such a way that the initial conditions of the postfault system for which it is
desired solution is obtained as shown in Appendix I.
asymptotically stable. In power system transient stability
Step 5: The Liapunov function for the multimachine studies, the possible initial conditions for the postfault
power system under postfault conditions is given by (5). system are along the trajectory (solution) of the faulted
(See Appendix II.)
system. Therefore, during the forward integration of the
faulted system (swing curves), the state at every step of
time is tested to determine whether or not it is inside the
) = E -2+
V(1, '52.. 5n
I, C02 *
kc=1
region Q by checking the corresponding value of V againist
_ n-1 n
the value of b which serves as the index for the regioil Q.
(Ek2Gkk - Pmk) ('k5
k) + E E EkE' X
Under some circumstances, the value of V will not reach
k=1 j=k+l
the
value b within a reasonable transient period (usually
Bk,j [cos (ks - ej) - cos (6k - 'j)] +
one
second). For this reason, time limit of the study is
Gkj [sin (3k - bjf) - sin ('k - 'j)] }* (5) specified in the digital computer program.
This function can be simplified by neglecting the effect
IV. NUMERICAL EXAMPLE
of network transfer conductances.1 This simplified form
The 1-line diagram of the system chosen as an example
of the V function is given by (6).
is given in Fig. 2. The line constants, machine details, and
the loads are given in Tables I-III.
E F+
V('51, 62
'5,
Wn) =MkWk
n Wi2i
The following assumptioins are made in the example:
n
n-1
_
1) The input power to all the machines in the system
(Ek 2 Gkk - Pmk) ('k &Oks) + E E EkEk Bkj X
k=l j=k+l
remain constant during the entire transient period. (Time
[cos ('kV - 'jf) - cos ('5 - '5) ]. (6) constants of the goverinors are considered large with respect to the period under study.)
where Yjk = Gjk + jBjk and b'S (i = 1, 2, ... n) is the
2) Each machine is represented by a constant reacsteady-state (stable equilibrium state under investigation) tance (direct axis transient reactance) in series with a convalue of the rotor angle of the ith machine.
stant EMF (voltage behind transient reactance; constant
These two V funletions satisfy the conditions given in flux linkages). Stator resistances of the machines are
the section on system neglect of the effect of transfer neglected.
conductances (see Appendix II). For the function given by
3) The rotor angle of each machine is fixed with
(6), the time derivative of V is negative definite, and for respect to the electrical phase angle of the voltage behind
the function given by (5), dV/dr-< 0 for
> E > 0 the transient reactance. These angles are measured with
(i = 1, 2, ... n) where E is a very small positive number. respect to common axis rotating at synchronous speed.
The latter implies that the solutions of the system are
4) Damping or asynchronous torque is represented as
bounded [5]. The boundedness of all solutions is a kind of directly proportional to the rate of change of rotor angle.
stability, called Lagrange stability. The value of V is
5) Loads other than syinchronous machines are repreevaluated at the unstable equilibrium state found in step sented as constant impedances.
4, which is the index of the region of stability.
6) Saliency of the rotating machines is neglected.
b = V(1U5, 52U, ... 'nU W CW2 ..
u)
(7) -The critical switching time and the stability region are
The region Q is defined by V < b. It can be shown that evaluated for a 3-phase fault using the method described
the surfaces given by (5) and (6) are closed for V < b and
Load flow solution of the prefault system is given in
open
forV> b These surfaces completely
the region
Theuaso
open span
lrio
.
V
>
Table
IV. Inserting the transient reactances of the maU2. Hence, V8 > 0 in 9, except at the equilibrium state 1
chines
at the respective busses of the system, the internal
..Ol
62s *
2 vanishes. The surface
nSIos 2
Ct)ns) wher'ev
voltages of the machines behind their transient reactances
are calculated and given in Table V.
After calculating the equivalent impedances of the
'Transfer conductances are mainly caused by the conductances
of the interconnecting-network, which are generally small in comparison to the transmission susceptances, while the self conductances loads and inserting these impedances in the network, drivmay be high as a result of the effect of conductances of equivalent 'ng point and transfer admittances between the internal
load admittances. Therefore, neglecting the transfer conductances bse o
busses of the machines are calculated for the faulted and the
will not affect the results

Icow,I

1-

1966

173

EL-ABIAD AND NAGAPPAN: MULTIMACHINE POWER SYSTEM TRANSIENT STABILITY REGIONS

Fig. 2. Onie-line diagram of

system used in numerical example.

TABLE I
TRANSMISSION LINE CONSTANTS FOR SYSTEM
Line

pu Impedances
To Buis
2
3

From Bus
1
2
3
4
5
6
2

TABLE II1
LOADS ON THE SYSTEM

X
0.20
0.50
0.80
0.30
0.40
0.15
0.50

R
0.05
0.10
0.20
0.10
0.20
0.10
0.20

4
5
6

1
5

Loads

TABLE II
SYNCHRONOUS MACHINE CONSTANTS

Generator
Number
10
7
8
9

At
Bus
1
2
3
4

MVA
Capacity
100
15
40
30

211

pu
75 350
1 130
2260
1508

Xd
pu
0.004
1.000
0.500
0.400

LOAD FLOW

P in mW
20
40
30

At Bus
2
5
6

pu

Bus

1.0
12.0
2,5
6.0

1
2
3
4
56

E
1.000
1.002
1.084
1.025
0.956
0.953

FOR

Q in Mvar
10
15
10

TABLE IV
PREFAULT CONDITION (EXCLUDING MACHINE

Degrees
0.0
-0.12
4.62
1.41
-2.80
-2.30

REACTANCES)

PG,

mW
33.2
10.0
30.0
20.0
0.0

0.0;

QG,

Mvar
9.1
5.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
0.0

PL,

mW
0. 0
20.0
0.0
0.0
40.0
30.0

QL, t

Mvar
0.0
10.0
0.0
0.0
15.0
10.0

* Loss for PL = 3.2.

t Loss for QL = 9.0
Case 2 Including the effect of transfer conductances,

postfault systems and are given in Tables VI and VII,

respectively.
= 160 radians or 0.4244 seconds (25.464 cycles).
Tables VIII and IX give the stable equilibrium state,
and the unstable equilibrium state closest to it, for the case Incremental time used in the forward integration of the
when the transfer conductances are neglected, while faulted system (Runge-Kutta method) is 5 radians
Tables X and XI give the same for the case including (0.01326 seconds).
the effect of transfer conductances.
These results are verified with the swing curves of the
The critical switching time obtained by this method is postfault system with the corresponding initial conditions.
When the fault was cleared at 160 radians for Case 2, the
as follows:
system was stable; when cleared at 165 radians, the system
Case 1 Neglecting the effect of transfer conductances,
was found to be unstable as shown by the swing- curVes
in Figs. 3 and 4. Case 1 was also similarly verified.
Tc = 155 radians or 0.4110 seconds (24.66 cycles).

174

FEBRUARY

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER APPARATUS AND SYSTEMS

TABLE V
INTERNAL Bus VOLTAGES FOR PREFAULT SYSTEM

Generator Internal
Bus
Number
10
10
7
7
8
8
9
9

E, pu

Pm (Input),
pu
0.332
0.100
0.300
0.200

Radians
0.0013
0.1030
0.1970
0.0772

1.0004
1.0410
1.1900
1.0710

TABLE VI
MATRIX FOR FAULTED SYSTEM (Y,,)
G Matrix
7
-0.001
0.027
0.000
0.008

10
1.456
-0.001
0.000
-0.036

10
7
8
9

B Matrix

9
-0.036
0.008
0.000
0.222

8
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000

10
-3.582
0.546
0.000
0.303

10
7
8
9

TABLE VII
MATRIX FOR POSTFAULT SYSTEM

7
0.546
-0.871

0.000
0.062

7
-0.015
0.029
0.017
0.009

10
7
8
9

B Matrix

8
-0.081
0.017
0.104
0.003

9
-0.121
0.009
0.003
0.255

10
7
8

radians

10
7
8
9

0.05630
0.15013
0.21430
0.02497

co, radians

per radians
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0

Ofi/d5s
0.30014
8.01844
4.41392
6.27845

X
X
X
X

10-10-4
10-4
10-4

Remarks
Stable
Stable
Stable
Stable

Internal
Bus
10
7
8
9

TABLE IX
UNSTABLE EQUILIBRIUM STATE CLOSEST TO THE STABLE
EQUILIBRIUM STATE OF TABLE VIII, CASE
Internal
Bus
10
7
8
9

5,

radians
0.06610
0.20136
3.08290
-0.02425

w,

per

radians
radians
0.0
0.0
0.0

0.0

Ofs/a5i
0.9444 X 10,0.5378 X 10-.1
-0.4419 X 10-3'
0.5237 X 10. 3

Remarks
Stable
Stable
Unstable
Stable

10
-2.310

0.664
0.656
0.751

7
0.664
-0.880
0.121
0.062

8
0.656
0.121
-0.868
0.062

9
0.751
0.062
0.062
-0.984

TABLE X
STABLE EQUILIBRIUM STATE OF THE POSTFAULT SYSTEM,
CASE 2: TRANSFER CONDUCTANCES INCLUDED

TABLE VIII
STABLE EQUILIBRIUM STATE OF THE POSTFAULT SYSTEM,
CASE 1: TRANSFER CONDUCTANCES NEGLECTED
Internal
Bus

9
0.303
0.062
0.000
-1.216

(Y,,)

G Matrix
10
0.864
-0.015
-0.081
-0.121

8
0.000
0.000
-2.000
0.000

5,
radians
0.00030
0.10243
0.24106
0.05197

co, radians
per radians
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0

afs/a5s
0.294X
0.805 X
0.444 X
0.635 X

10-4
10-3
10-3
10-3

Remarks
Stable
Stable
Stable
Stable

TABLE XI
UNSTABLE EQUILIBRIUM STATE CLOSEST TO THE STABLE
EQUILIBRIUM STATE OF TABLE X, CASE 2

Internal
Bus
10
7
8
9

5,
w, radians
radians per radiains
afil/oa
0.914 X
-0.00136
0.0
0.539 X
0.0
0.17606
0.0
-0.445 X
3.09250
0.0
0.532 X
0.05892

10-5
10-3
10-3

10-'

Remarks
Stable
Stable
Unstable
Stable

1966

EL-ABIAD AND NAGAPPAN: MULTIMACHINE POWER SYSTEM TRANSIENT STABILITY REGIONS

2.00

175

S 25

a:~~~~~~~~~~:

MAHN 8~
w~~~~

AHIE1

0 .0
-I.0

2.0

Fig. 3. Swing curves, Case 2: stable fault cleared at 160 radians (0.4244 seconds).
2.0
3.0-

2.0MACHINE 8
En

1.0

<Hz0

o0

100

TIME

200

300

400

500

600

a:

1.0

POSTFAULT SYSTEM

Fig. 4. Swing curves, Case 2: unstable fault cleared at 165 radians (0.4377 seconds).

RADIANS

176

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER APPARATUS AND

V. CONCLUSION
Liapunov's direct (second) method for the study of
stability of nonlinear systems has been successfully applied
to multimachine power systems. The advantages over
previous methods are

SYSTEMSE

FEBRUA.RY

POWER OUTPUT
M

A/

a.

\B

POWER INPUT

1) Automatic determination of stability or instability.

w
2) Automatic determination of the critical switching
0~
I
time.
I
The same method has been extended to include the
0
(7- o)
v
80
effect of Governor regulations. This requires a slight
ROTOR ANGLE (rod.)
(Bj -81)
modification in the system equations and the corresponding Liapunov function. Further investigation is also in Fig. 5. Power vs. rotor angle of ith machine with respect to reference
progress to extend this approach to include the effect of where A = stable equilibrium state, B = unstable equilibrium state.
voltage changes, saliency, and asynchronous machines.
APPENDIX I
EVALUATION OF INITIAL GUESS FOR AIINIMIZATION TO
DETERMINE UNSTABLE EQUILIBRIUM STATE
Under steady-state conditions, by neglecting the damping, the condition of zero angular acceleration between two
machines can be obtained from the knowledge of their
inertias and torque angles [12]. Applying this criterion between any machine (preferably the one with the largest
inertia, chosen as a reference) and the rest of the machines
in the system, taking one at a time,
= = PaR _Pai(8
8OR
0i
0
(8)
=

- -

MR 311
i = 1, 2, ... n and i # R
where Pai anid Mi are the accelerating power and angular
momentum constant, respectively, of the ith machiiie.
Then, considering the ith machine with respect to the reference machine and neglecting the effect caused by the
difference of rotor angles of the other machines, for i 1,
2, ... n andi7z R, (8) yields
dT2

[Pmi - EiERGFR Cos (a? - R)

Ei,2Gii ]/Mi ~

EIERBiR sin (5i- 6R)-

[PR-EREIGRi COS (6R-

i)

EREIBRi sin (5R - Si) - ER2GRR 1/MR (9)

Since GiR, for all i # R, is relatively small, (9) can be
further approximated as follows:

[Pmj

E%ERBiR sin (t - SR) - E12Gi1]/Mi

[PmR - ERE,BRi sin (SR - 3i) - ER2GRR]/IMR
i=1, 2, ... nandi# R.
(10)
Rearranging the terms in (10) (note: B,R = BRI), yields
(A1i + MR)EjERBIR sin (S - R);R)
(MRPmi - MiPmR -MRE2Gii + MiER2GRR)
i = 1)2,... nand i 5R.
(11)
From (11),
-

(6i- R) =
(MRPmi

sin-'
-

MiPmR

MREi2Gii + MIER2GRR) (12)

(Mi + MR) EIERBiR

or

(6 i

R) =

Sill-,

MiPmR - MRE, Gi + MIERiGRR) (13)

(M1i + MR) ElERBiR
These values are shown in Fig. 5 under the indicated
assumption. Point A, corresponding to that given by (12),
is the stable equilibrium state, while B, corresponding to
that given by (13), is the unstable equilibrium state of the
i"t machine, with reference to the reference machinie.
The machine having the largest ratio of initial accelerating power to momentum constant would be expected to
accelerate faster than the other machines. Then, it is
probable that this machine would become unstable before
the rest of the machines. Considering this factor, to
choose the starting values of rotor angles in the minimization of 4), the angle of such machine (say the ith machine)
is chosen as given by (13) and the rest of the angles as
given by (12). In the minimization of 4) by the method of
steepest descent, solution of (3) converges to the nearest
equilibrium state where the i)h machine would be unstable. If the system is perturbed from its stable equilibrium
state, the ith machine being faster than the rest, the unstable equilibrium state obtained previously shall be
reached first, if the perturbation is large enough to force
the system to become unstable. Hence, this is the unstable
equilibrium state immediate to the stable equilibrium state
of the postfault system. This unstable equilibrium state is
denoted by bj', 3j'; j = 1, 2, 3,..., n; cojU = o for all j.

(MRPmi

APPENDIX II
CONSTRUCTION OF THE V FUNCTION (LIAPUNOV FUNCTION)
The system given by (1) can be written as a set of first
order differential equations (state vector form) as follows:
d 5i

dcoi~

~ ~ d

- j = (-Dswo - fi(ll 622 63 ... anS) + Pm)/Mi

dr c=
i = 1, 2, 3, 4,.. ., n.
(14)
Equilibrium states for the preceding system of equations
are given by the solutions of (15).

1966

EL-ABIAD AND NAGAPPAN: MULTIMACHINE

COi

fi(K1, a2,

aPn mi = 0
i = 1, 2, 3, 4, ..., n.

63,

(15)

We are interested in two equilibrium states, one corresponding to the steady-state value and the other closest to
the former as determined in Appendix I.
Denote the steady-state stable point by (3,S; i = 1, 2, 3,
... , n and coi8 = O for i = 1, 2, 3 . . ., n) and the unstable
state closest to the stable state by (bi, i = 1, 2, 3, .. ., n
and c.i== 0, i = 1, 2, 3, . ., n).
The second method of Liapunov to determine stability
is illustrated as follows. Let b(t) be the general solution of a
set of differential equations a = f(a); f(be) = 0, where be
is the equilibrium state. Suppose there exists a function
V(a) satisfying the conditions (1, 2, and 3 of Section II)
in the neighborhood of be. Then V(a) = c, where c > 0 is a
constant parameter, defines, for sufficiently small values of
c, a family of closed surfaces [13] in the neighborhood of be
since V(a) is positive definite. The equilibrium state is itself located in the interior of each of the closed surfaces
and corresponds to the value c = 0. Then by condition
[2 ] of Section II, all the trajectories originating from points
in the neighborhood of the equilibrium state cross the
surface V(a) = c from exterior towards the interior for
increasing values of time when dV/dr < 0 and stay in
the same neighborhood around the equilibrium state
when dV/dr = 0.
From the preceding, it is intuitively clear that, near an
equilibrium state of a physical system, if the transient
energy of the system is always decreasing, then the equilibrium state is stable. Thus, Liapunov's theory of stability
is a generalized extension of the energy concept. The main
step of the second method of Liapunov is the construction
of the Liapunov function to satisfy the conditions given
in Section II. The construction of a Liapunov function
has to. be- adjusted to the peculiarities of every specific system. Liapunov theorems do not containi any hint on how
to find a Liapunov function. As such, there is no systematic
method of constructing this function. In fact, the general
question on the existence of such functions remains completely open. On the other hand, suitable functions can be
determined by trials for numerous specific cases and also
for certain general types of equations. In general, a particular Liapunov function for a physical system yields a
strong sufficient condition for stability, which is desired
in practice, but- it may not be a necessary condition.
With this point in mind, the following Liapunov function is found to be the suitable one for the system given by

(14).

For the system including the effect of transfer conductances

as)
k +

aj) ]

EkEj Bk [COS (Si -.

k=li=k+l

G,j [sin

(6k1 - bs) -

sin

(ak

i) -

COS

177

STABILITY REGIONS

The first summation term is the kinetic energy of the system. The last two summation terms on the right-hand side
of (16) are equal to

rk

(Ek 2Gkk- Pmk)dxk

E
k=1 Jks
_

IBkj

(Ik-8j)

n-1 n

Ei j=k+1
E EkEj

k=l

sin (Xk - xj)d(x,

I(8k - Si)

kas_ s)

(xi

cos

xj) + Gk j

Xk)d(xj -x)

This is the potential energy of the system with reference to

the equilibrium state (8, co'). Potential energy at (3s, &8) is
equal to zero. Thus, V(6, w) represents the total energy of
the system.
The value of V at the equilibrium state (68, W8) is

V(a3, 0) = 0
/Vdav
V , + aV dcW,
-= 1 ) d-r bco dr /

dV
dr

(17)

(18)

Taking partial derivatives of V [as given by (16) ], which

is the same as (5) with respect to ai and wi (i = 1, 2, 3,
... , n), and substituting these along with (14) into equation (18) yields
n
n-i
n
dV
-=D
E
Z
cc22-2
E
dr
i=l j=i+i
i=

EjEjGijwi cos
(bi -X). (19)

For large values of ci, dV/dr is negative definite. Inspection of (19) shows that V is negative definite for || (6, c)| I| >
r > 0, r being relatively small constant within the region
Q where (a, co)|| is the norm of the vector (6, c) defined
by
n

f1(a, w)jj = i.E (a1 a')2 +

-

This property guarantees that the trajectories of the

equation of the system (14) will be within the region Q in
the neighborhood of the equilibrium state (Y8, c8) [5].
Such trajectories are bounded. Boundedness of trajectories
is called Lagrange stability.
For the system neglecting the effect of transfer conductances
The Liapunov function for this case can be deduced
from (16) by letting Gj1 = 0 for k p j. Then, the corresponding V function is as given by (6). The value of this
function at the equilibrium state is

v(61s, a2', .. .

V(6 C) = k=i
E -2k=
Mk@W2 + E (E, 2Gk - Pmk) X

(ak

POWER SYSTEM TRANSlENT

as, 0, 0,

...

0) =

also

(sk -

ai) ] } (16)

dV
d
dT-

E1 Diwi2 < 0 for allwi

cOf 0.
=

(20)

178

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER APPARATUS AND SYSTEMS

REFERENCES
[1] N. Minorsky, Introduction to Non-Linear Mechanics. Ann Arbor,

Mich.: Edwards, 1947, pp. 30-37, 56-66.

[2] W. J. Cunningham, Introduction to Non-Linear Analysis.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 1958, pp. 281-300.
[3] J. P. LaSalle and S. Lefschetz, Stability by Liapunov's Direct
Method with Applications. New York: Academic Press, 1961,
pp. 21-30, 33-34, 56-58.
[4] W. J. Cunningham, "Concept of stability," American Scientist,
vol. 51, pp. 425-430, December 1963.
[5] W. Hahn, Theory and A pplications of Liapunov's Direct Method.
Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, 1963, pp. 1-13, 35-39.
[6] J. P. LaSalle, "Recent advances in Liapunov stability theory,"
SIAM Review, vol. 6, pp. 1-11, January 1964.
[7] J. P. LaSalle, "Some extensions of Liapunov's second method,"
IRE Trans. on Circuit Theory, vol. CT-7, pp. 520-527, December 1960.
[8] R. W. Stagg, A. F. Gabrielle, D. R. Moore, and J. F. Hohenstein, "Calculations of transient stability problems using highspeed digital computers," Trans. AIEE (Power Apparatus and
Systems), vol. 78, pp. 566-574, August 1959.
[9] A. F. Glimn and G. W. Stagg, "Automatic calculation of load
flows," Trans. AIEE (Power Apparatus and Systems), vol. 76,
pp. 817-828, October 1957.
[10] A. H. El-Abiad, "Mathematical models of electric power
networks for digital computer applications," American Electric
Power Service Corporation, New York, Rept. No. 640, January
1961.
[11] A. D. Booth, "An application of the method of steepest descent
to the solution of systems of non-linear simultaneous equations," Quart. J. Mech. Appl. Math., vol. 2, pp. 460-463,
December 1949.
[121 S. B. Crary, Power System Stability, Vol. II. New York: Wiley,
1947.
[13] A. M. Letov, Stability in Non-Linear Control Systems. Princeton,
N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1961, pp. 1-19.
[14] S. B. Crary, Power System Stability, Vol. I. New York: Wiley,
1947.

Discussion
A. J. Pennington (The Detroit Edison Company, Detroit, Mich.):
This is a valuable paper because it contributes to the development
of "direct" methods for power system stability analysis. As our
systems grow larger, pointwise numerical integration of the equations
of motion becomes increasingly costly, and the results become less
useful because of the sheer bulk of information which must be
evaluated. Hence, the interest in "direct" methods, the mathematical
foundation of which is the 1892 contribution of Liapunov [1].
Kalman and Bertram [2] and other Western mathematicians and
control engineers began to discuss and extend Liapunov's ideas
about five years ago, and an impressive body of theory has grown
up since then. Unfortunately, there has not been a corresponding
development of successful applications to actual engineering systems.
To some extent, this reflects the current preoccupation with theory,
but it is mainly a consequence of the great difficulty of large non-

linear system stability problems.

It is interesting to note that even before the recent popularization
of direct methods, power engineers were developing the same
techniques on their own. Perhaps the first contribution, and one
which anticipated much of the work to come, was Magnusson's
[3] paper in which the concept of "transient energy" was introduced
and applied to solution of multimachine problems. This object
would now be called a "Liapunov function," and is, in fact, closely
related to the V function chosen in the present paper. More recently,
European papers by Aylett [4], Szendy and Bokay [5], and an
American Ph.D. dissertation by Gless [6] have covered essentially
the same ground. A related paper by Rao [7] introduces the phaseplane approach, which like the well-known equal-area criterion (a
very early "direct" method) is applicable only to second-order
systems, except in very special cases. At present, the situation
Manuscript received July 8, 1965.

FEBRUARY

appears to be that while the concept of characterizing power systems

in terms of their "energy functions," or more generally, "Liapunov
functions," is attractive as a point of view, some very hard work
remains to be done in reducing these ideas to practice. Almost
certainly, the development of direct methods for very large systems
will involve digital computer techniques in a fundamental way.
With this in mind, it is appropriate to consider the specific procedures suggested by the present paper.
At the outset, it is helpful to recognize that, without exception,
the Liapunov functions chosen in the work cited previously, and
in the present paper, are identical with or closely related to the total
system energy. For example, the first term in (5) is the kinetic energy
stored in the system's rotors multiplied by the radian frequency
co, while the second is the potential energy stored in the "springtype" electrical coupling torques, also multiplied by w. Since the
kinetic energy term is always positive definite, tests for stability
center on the potential energy. In particular, if the potential energy
takes on a minimum of zero at the origin, then the origin is a stable
equilibrium point. This formulation, because of Lagrange, actually
predates the more general Liapunov theory. Because of its direct
physical significance, system energy is a very desirable means for
characterizing stability and appears to have no disadvantage
relative to more general choices of Liapunov functions. Kimbark
[8] pointed out in his discussion of the previously cited paper by
Magnusson that the use of the potential energy function allows one
to visualize the multimachine stability problem as that of a ball
rolling on the potential energy surface in multidimensional space.
If the ball is released at a point (initial condition) on the surface
from which it is possible for it to escape from the local minimum,
representing a stable equilibrium, by rolling over a saddle point,
then that initial condition is unstable. In particular, this will happen
if the ball is released from a point higher than the lowest local saddle
point. In the present paper, this critical level is identified as b in
(7), but the procedure for calculating it leaves some doubt as to
whether or not the lowest saddle point will actually be obtained.
The computing procedure outlined in Appendix I has as its objective
the point "closest" to the stable equilibrium, where "distance"
is defined as the angular coordinate separation between a reference
machine and the machine with the highest initial relative acceleration. Even if it were established that the initialization suggested is
generally applicable, and always converges to this "closest" equilibrium point, it is not at all clear that the lowest saddle point will be
found above it on the energy surface. If not, the actual region of
stability would be quite different than calculated. For high dimensional systems, a very large number of such possibilities exist,
a phenomenon which Richard Bellman has called "the curse of
dimensionality." Somehow, our computing procedures will have to
cope with this characteristic, either through exhaustive searching or
(preferably) through some more efficient method.
In addition to dimensionality, the power system stability problem
is made difficult by the fact that it is of the "nonautonomous" type,
that is, the equations of motion depend functionally on the time.
This difficulty is met by the authors at a price by considering only
the stability properties of the postfault system and relying on conventional integration of the equations of motion to establish the
postfault initial conditions. Since it is necessary to integrate this
sustained fault case, some of the potential advantage of direct
methods in eliminating pointwise calculations remains unrealized.
The theory of nonautonomous systems is in a primitive state compared to that of autonomous systems; therefore, this problem may
be with us for some time to come.
In spite of the difficulties, work must continue in order to forge
new tools for analysis and control of very large power systems.
Certainly this paper helps to point the way.
REFERENCES

[1] A. A. Liapunov, "Probl6m6 general de la stabilite du mouvement," in Annals of Mathematics Study No. 17, Princeton,
N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1949 (1907 French translation
of the original 1892 paper in Russian by Liapunov).

1966

12] R. E. Kalman and J. E. Bertram, "Control system analysis

[3]
[4]

[5]
[6]
[7]

[8]

179

EL-ABIAD AND NAGAPPAN: MULTIMACHINE POWER SYSTEM TRANSIENT STABILITY REGIONS

and design via the 'second method' of Liapunov," J. Basic

Engrg., June 1960.
P. C. Magnusson, "The transient-energy method of calculating
stability," Trans. AIEE, vol. 66, pp. 747-755, 1947.
P. D. Aylett, "The energy integral criterion of transient stability
limits of power systems," Proc. Instn. Elect. Engrs., vol. 77, pp.
527-536, 1958.
C. Szendy and B. Bokay, "Transient and steady state stability
conditions of power systems," Rept. No. 308, CIGRE, Paris,
France, 1960.
G. E. Gless, "Application of the direct method of Liapunov to
the power system stability problem," Ph.D. thesis, Iowa State
University of Science and Technology, Ames, 1963.
N. D. Rao, "A new approach to the transient stability problem,"
Trans. AIEE (Power Apparatus and Systems), vol. 81, pp.
186-192, June 1962.
P. C. Magnusson, "The transient-energy method of calculating
stability," Trans. AIEE, vol. 66, pp. 747-755, 1947 (see discussion, E. W. Kimbark, p. 755).

G. I. Stilhman (American Electric Power Service Corporation,

New York, N. Y.): The authors of this paper have used Liapunov
functions to devise an elegant technique for direct evaluation of
the most important transient stability limit, critical switching time.
By construction of a suitable Liapunov function which satisfies
(1) of the paper, they can obtain the critical switching time in one
pass through the computer. This should result in much more efficient
computer usage than the conventional methods in use currently,
which require several passes through the computer.
The coefficients of the first two left-hand terms of (1) are machine
parameters which will be constant for a given system. The difference
between the right-hand term (mechanical input power Pmi) and the
third left-hand term (electrical output power fi) is the accelerating
power generated by a system perturbation, and it results in a
redistribution of power angles 3, through A. In this paper, the mechanical input powers Pmi are held constant. During a large system
perturbation (transient stability test), the power angles bi are
measured between a constant voltage behind transient reactance
and a synchronously rotating reference while during a small system
perturbation (steady-state stability test), the power vs. power
angle variation is sinusoidal (Fig. 5 of the paper).
Constant Pmi implies no governor action. For transient stability
tests, constant voltage behind transient reactance implies an exciter
system with a voltage-response ratio of somewhat less than 1.0
pu [14] and is valid for approximately one second (377 radians)
after a disturbance; it also neglects damper winding and rotor
eddy-current effects, generator and exciter saturation effects,
and transient saliency effects. For steady-state stability tests, a
sinusoidal power-angle curve implies manual operation of the

exciter.
These limitations of source representation are not especially
important for many cases of stability testing. For long-distance
transmission and EHV transmission, i.e., for the so-called highimpedance systems frequently encountered with hydro plants or
mine-mouth plants, the simplified source representation is often
quite inadequate for both transient and steady-state stability tests.
The question then arises: If the electrical output power fi is to
include the flux-linkage equations (including saturation) for circuits
in the 2-machine axes and the transfer functions for the exciter-

Manuscript received July 6, 1965.

regulator-stabilizer feedback loop, and if the mechanical input

power is to include the governor feedback loop and capability for,
investigating fast-valving action, can suitable Liapunov functions
be constructed? I ask this question particularly with regard to the
authors' statement in Appendix II. "Liapunov theorems do not
contain any hint on how to find a Liapunov function. As such,
there is no systematic method of constructing this function."
A. H. El-Abiad and K. Nagappan: The authors appreciate the
comments of the discussers. Use of Liapunov functions to establish
the regions of asymptotic stability of power systems is based on the
energy concept which makes the problem of constructing a Liapunov
function easier. There is no unique method of finding a function.
However, trials based on the physical nature of the system are
helpful in this respect.
With reference to Dr. Pennington's question about the unstable
equilibrium state, the authors would like to add that this unstable
equilibrium state is not decided by.the distance. In determining this
state and the value of V at this state, that is, b, the following considerations are taken into account. First, suitable initial guess of
solutions for the nonlinear algebraic equations is decided, as suggested in Appendix I of the paper. Secondly, the convergence of the
solutions are obtained with the requirement that the matrix of
second partial derivatives of the potential energy function be
negative definite at this state. This assures that the potential
energy, and consequently the total energy, is maximum at this
state relative to the stable equilibrium state where V is equal to
zero. Thus, the region around the stable equilibrium state does not
contain any other equilibrium state. Then the stable equilibrium
state is the only invariant set in the region where all the conditions
on V function are satisfied. The authors agree with Dr. Pennington
that it is difficult at this time to avoid completely the integration to
establish the postfault initial conditions.
In answer to the question of Mr. Stillman, the authors would
like to mention that construction of Liapunov function to include
the Governor effect does not present any difficulty. The differential
equations corresponding to the variation of input power resulting
from Governor action,
psi

IR?TGi
i

1,2, .. .

TGi
n

should be added to the list of differential equations of the system.

The mechanical power is treated as a constant part Pij plus the
variable part pvi. The corresponding Liapunov function will contain
additional terms
n

E RkTGkPvTP.
When the system equations include the flux linkage equations,
saliency, saturation and exciter-regulator-stabilizer feed back loop,
the differential equations become time variable in their parameters,
which would present difficulty in constructing Liapunov function.
Investigations by the authors are in progress.

Manuscript received August 12, 1965.