Tuning of Robust Distant Downstream PI Controllers for an Irrigation Canal Pool. II: Implementation Issues

Abstract

Based on the companion paper results, this paper presents a robust tuning method to tune a proportional integral (PI) controller that fulfills the design requirements for a single pool with different hydraulic conditions. The robust PI controller parameters are obtained analytically as a function of the physical parameters of the canal pool. Important implementation issues are also considered. Rules are provided for the sampling time selection in order to recover the continuous-time performance. When the sampling time is imposed, it has to be included in the controller design, by modifying the delay of the system. A simple way is proposed to take account of the gate opening as control action variable, instead of the upstream discharge. This robust PI tuning method is evaluated by simulation on a full nonlinear model of two different canal pools for different flow conditions and different implementations: continuous-time control, discrete-time control, using the discharge or the gate opening as control action variable. Simulation results show that the method leads to efficient realistic PI controllers for a canal pool.