REAL TIME CONTROL OF WATER SYSTEMS - ASSIGNMNET

1. Explain what happens when y1<gate level and briefly suggest a possible way to deal with
this situation.
Ans: There will be a pronounced increase in output discharge when we have a water level lower than
the gate opening. This will in turn result in an open channel flow the hydraulics of which can be
explained well with the Manning equation.

We can prevent this situation by optimising our gate opening to always be lower than the water level
which in this case could be increasing our gates limitation to extend beyond 2m < gate height < 4m.
We can assume the slope of the channel to be 0.001 and concrete finished channel (n=0.013)
2. Graph 1: y1 (water levels) vs t, for each controller (P, PI and PID)

6.00
Comparison of Water Level in P, PI & PID Controllers

5.00
Water Level (m)

4.00

3.00

2.00

1.00

0.00
78

162
0
6
12
18
24
30
36
42
48
54
60
66
72

84
90
96
102
108
114
120
126
132
138
144
150
156

168 Time Step

Drought Flood P PI PID

3. Graph 2: y2 (gate opening) vs t for each controller (P, PI and PID)

Comparison of Gate Level in P, PI & PID Controllers

5.00

4.00
Gate Level

3.00

2.00

1.00

0.00
102

156
0
6
12
18
24
30
36
42
48
54
60
66
72
78
84
90
96

108
114
120
126
132
138
144
150

162
168

Time Step (s)

P PI PID Drought Flood

Michael Getachew Tadesse 44530 March 1

14, 2016
 REAL TIME CONTROL OF WATER SYSTEMS - ASSIGNMNET

4. Graph 3: Qinp and Qout vs t for the PI controller only

Q input Vs Q output Comparison for PI Control

200
Discharge (m3/s)

150

100

50

0
36

85
1
8
15
22
29

43
50
57
64
71
78

92
99
106
113
120
127
134
141
148
155
162
169
Time Step (s)

Qin Qout

5. Comment briefly each graph, analysing the differences of each controller.

Ans: Starting off with the water level versus time graph, we can see that there is a similar pattern of
water level (y1) in all the controllers.
Where as in the gate level (y2), there is a stark difference observed in all three control systems. This is
due to the difference in K values generally the less K values we have, the response of the control system
with be slower but it also means continuous oscillations or instability is prevented.
It can easily be seen that the PI control system shows a slow response and reaches the 4.0m gate limit
late, this is due to the low K value (0.8) attributed to the P control system.
The third graph which juxtaposes the input discharge against the output discharge for the PI controlled
system displays that there is a more or less smooth increase in output discharge due to the controlling
effect of the sluice gate.
6. What values of K, Ti and Td would you recommend for each controller?
P Control

The approach is to optimise the value of the proportional gain (K) in such a way that response of
the control system is maximised whereas instability (oscillation) is minimised.
It can be seen in the figures below, as we keep on increasing the value of K, the gate height values
start oscillating and the system becomes instable. Therefore using the SOLVER tool in excel, I
have chosen the value of K to be 0.22. [Objective function in solver is the Root Mean Square
Error of the difference between water level and set point level, Decision variable is K].

Michael Getachew Tadesse 44530 March 2

14, 2016
 REAL TIME CONTROL OF WATER SYSTEMS - ASSIGNMNET

K = 0.22 K=1 K = 100

6 6 6

4 4 4

2 2 2

0 0 0
0
18
36
54
72
90
108
126
144
162

54

144
0
18
36

72
90
108
126

162

0
18
36
54
72
90
108
126
144
162
PI Control

Using the Ziegler-Nichols method, we compute starting values for K and Ti which are around
0.22 and 120,000s respectively. However using this values will result in a sudden opening of the
gate around time step 33. Increasing the values of K and T i to 0.8 and 131,000 resulted in a
smooth operation of the gate up until the water level reaches the limit, 4.5m. Therefore, K and T i
values of 0.8 and 131,564.5 are found to be suitable values for this controller.

6.00 PI Controller 6.00 PI Controller

5.00 5.00

4.00 4.00

3.00 3.00

2.00 2.00

1.00 1.00

0.00 0.00
66

0
0
11
22
33
44
55

77
88
99
110
121
132
143
154
165

11
22
33
44
55
66
77
88
99
110
121
132
143
154
165
Time Step Time Step

PID Control

The derivative component (Td) of the control output is less sensitive compared to the
proportional gain (K) and the integral time (Td).
We can observe from above that the control output is formulated in such a way that if we keep
on increasing the values of Ti, a control system which is more or less identical to a P controller
would result, therefore our Ti values should not be significantly high and by manipulating the
values of K and Ti and Td within a range that ensures stability a final result of K = 1.7, T i =
131,705 and Td = 74,224 are computed.

7. Can you recommend further changes in the system to improve its performance?
It can be observed from graph 1 that we cant prevent the flood no matter how small or big our
values of K, Ti, and Td. Therefore, it is recommended to:
o Increase the width of our gate; an increase by one meter and half almost prevents
flooding totally.
o We can also extend the minimum height of the gate which will cut the number of
instances when water level will be lower than the drought level.

Michael Getachew Tadesse 44530 March 3

14, 2016