L1-adaptive robust control design for a pressurized water-type nuclear power plant

This work proposes adaptive control-based design strategies to control a pressurized water (PWR) nuclear power plant (NPP). An L1-adaptive-based state feedback control technique is proposed using linear quadratic Gaussian control and projection-based adaptation laws. The control scheme possesses good robustness capabilities in handling disturbances and uncertainties. A Robust L1-adaptive control technique is also proposed by combining the L1-adaptive control with the loop transfer recovery (LTR) technology. The framework hence gives strengthened robust set-point tracking performance given the matched and unmatched uncertainties and disturbances. The NPP model employed in the current work is defined by five-inputs, five-outputs, and thirty-eight state variables. A linear model for controller design is obtained by linearizing the nonlinear NPP model at operating conditions. Various simulations are carried out on subsystems of the NPP to verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. Numerical and statistical measures are computed for quantitative analysis of the controllers’ performance. Several classical control design techniques are also implemented, and their performance is compared with the proposed adaptive control techniques.