Decentralized water-level balancing for irrigation channels in storage critical operations

TL;DR

This paper introduces a decentralized feedback control system for irrigation channels that balances water levels despite supply-demand uncertainties, using local controllers designed through a sequential loop-shaping method.

Contribution

It develops a novel decentralized control approach with a systematic design procedure for irrigation channels, validated by simulations and field trials.

Findings

Effective water-level balancing achieved in simulations

Stable closed-loop system verified analytically

Field trials confirm practical applicability

Abstract

A feedback control system is proposed for balancing the deviations of water levels from set-points along open channels subject to uncertain supply-demand mismatch that exceeds individual pool capacity. Decentralized controllers adjust the gate flows between pools to regulate potentially weighted differences between neighbouring water-level errors to zero in steady state. A sequential SISO loop-shaping procedure is developed for the design of each local flow controller based on distributed parameter transfer function models of the channel dynamics. Recursive feasibility of the procedure for relevant performance specifications, and stability of the resulting MIMO closed-loop, are verified by supporting analysis. Both numerical simulations and field trial results are presented.