Automatic Control of the Middle Route Project for South-to-North Water Transfer Based on Linear Model Predictive Control Algorithm

The application of automatic control to irrigation canals is an important means of improving the efficiency of water delivery. The Middle Route Project (MRP) for South-to-North Water Transfer, the largest water transfer project in China, is currently under manual control. Given the complexity of the MRP, there is an urgent need to adopt some form of automatic control. This paper describes the application of model predictive control (MPC), a popular real time control algorithm particularly suited to the automatic control of multi-pool irrigation water delivery systems, to the MRP using a linear control model. This control system is tested in part of the MRP by means of numerical simulations. The results show that the control system can deal with both known and unknown disturbances, albeit with a degree of resonance in some short pools. However, it takes a long time for the MRP to reach a stable state under the MPC system and the calculation time for the whole MRP network would be too long to satisfy the requirements of real-time control. Suggestions are presented for the construction of an automatic control system for the MRP.