Albanus, Julie C.2014-03-142014-03-141999-05-06etd-061099-133953http://hdl.handle.net/10919/33516When designing or reviewing control systems, it is important to understand the limitations of the system's design. Many systems today are designed using numerical methods. Although the numerical model may be controllable, stabilizable, or stable, small perturbations of the system parameters can result in the loss of these properties. In this thesis, we investigate these issues for finite element approximations of a thermal convection loop.In Copyrightcontrollability radiusstability marginstabilizability radiusThesishttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-061099-133953/