Predictive control applied to ASCE canal 2

Applying automatic control methods to irrigation canals is a way to improve the management of irrigation systems. The difficulties involved in these hydraulic systems such as nonlinearity, delays and uncontrolled perturbations make the choice of a suitable automatic control method a challenge. To this purpose, the paper investigates the applicability of control strategies which would be able to compensate the time delay and to overcome the system nonlinearity. The proposed method is the so-called generalized predictive control technique. After a brief overview of open canals flow modeling we recall the basic principles of GPC. Then, we apply this method to the first three reaches of the canal 2 proposed by the ASCE Task Committee on Canal Automation Algorithms. In our study, the objective is to regulate the downstream water level of each reach by controlling both upstream discharges and thus gate openings.