NONLINEAR CONTROL OF DIFFUSION-CONVECTION-REACTION PROCESSES

This work addresses the nonlinear control of a non-isothermal packed-b ed reactor, modeled by two quasi-linear parabolic partial differential equations (PDEs). Initially, nonlinear Galerkin's method and the conc ept of approximate inertial manifold are used to derive a minimal-orde r ordinary differential equation (ODE) model, which accurately describ es the dynamics of the process. This model is then used for the synthe sis of a nonlinear finite-dimensional controller that guarantees close d-loop stability and enforces output tracking. Computer simulations ar e used to evaluate the performance of the controller.