Sliding mode control of Rijke-type thermoacoustic systems

Observer-based feedback control of self-excited combustion oscillations in a Rijke-type thermoacoustic system is considered. A commonly used thermoacoustic model with a number of sensors and distributed monopole-like actuators is first introduced. The model is formulated as a linear time-delay system. It is shown that the velocity or pressure sensor locations can be chosen to assure the observability of the system. An observer-based sliding mode controller is then implemented to tune the actuators so that the system is asymptotically stable. The effectiveness of the controller is illustrated through a simulation example involving two modes.