L1 Adaptive Anti-Slug Control

Abstract

In many multiphase pipeline-riser systems, anti-slug control is necessary to ensure steady and optimal operation. In this paper, we propose using an ℒ1 adaptive controller as an augmentation to standard PI control to stabilize the desired non-slugging flow regime. The ℒ1 adaptive controller is designed based on a model identified from an experimental closed-loop step test. The proposed design involves fewer tuning parameters compared to other adaptive control methods and it does not need any observer. We have tested the controller by simulations in both MATLAB and OLGA, and by experiments in a small-scale laboratory. The results show that the proposed solution can stabilize the process outside the stability region of the traditional PI controller.