Model Reference Control of a Gas Turbine Engine

Abstract

A simple control law is developed that guarantees that the outputs of a linear time invariant plant with feedthrough elements will converge asymptotically to a pre-specified set of desired trajectories. This control law is illustrated on a gas turbine engine to demonstrate its applicability to higher dimensional problems and to highlight the fast asymptotic convergence towards the desired trajectories. The algorithm presented here is fairly straightforward to implement, and should be a useful tool for model reference control. The desired model is implemented off-line, thus allowing for a potential real-time application. The only assumption made in this work is that the modes of the ‘actual’ plant are controllable. No assumptions are made or required on the ‘desired’ plant. The dynamic characteristics of both the ‘actual’ and the ‘desired’ plant can actually be quite different. The control law generates an input that forces the ‘actual’ outputs to follow the ‘desired’ trajectories.