Application of the ISE Optimized Proportional Control of the Wave Maker in a Towing Tank

Abstract

This paper presents the improvement of the wave maker control system. The wave maker is a facility widely used in hydromechanics laboratories to generate waves in towing tanks. It is equipped with an electrohydraulic drive and an actuator submerged into water. The waves are generated to model the environmental conditions for physical experiments, performed on reduced-scale models of maritime objects. The physical experiments allow to predict the behaviour of full-scale objects and prove the results of numerical analyses. The overriding goal of the fluid dynamics experiments is to improve the human safety and survivability of constructions. The reported investigation and application works were vital for the improvement of physical model tests. The optimization of the proportional controllers was performed in terms of the Integral of Squared Error (ISE). The final evaluation was performed in terms of the frequency response characteristic. The results of the proportional control optimization were evaluated versus the previously applied control. The experimental research was conducted in the real towing tank located at the Maritime Advanced Research Centre. The investigation has shown the advantage of the ISE optimized conventional proportional control. It has particularly proven the affordability and swiftness of the optimization process. It also proved a more efficient frequency response of the wave maker obtained within a required and reasonable lead time. The performed investigation has greatly contributed to the development of a new method of physical experiments in white noise waves. The results related to this new more efficient method are presented as well.

Keywords

• Automatic control
• energy conversion
• hydraulic actuators
• ISE optimization
• marine safety
• microcontrollers