ISA Transactions 48 (2009) 273282

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ISA Transactions
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/isatrans

Design of nonlinear PID controller and nonlinear model predictive controller for
a continuous stirred tank reactor
J. Prakash , K. Srinivasan
Department of Instrumentation Engineering, Madras Institute of Technology, Anna University, Chennai-44, India

article

info

Article history:
Received 7 September 2008
Received in revised form
4 February 2009
Accepted 9 February 2009
Available online 19 March 2009
Keywords:
CSTR
PID controller and model predictive
controller

abstract
In this paper, the authors have represented the nonlinear system as a family of local linear state space
models, local PID controllers have been designed on the basis of linear models, and the weighted sum of
the output from the local PID controllers (Nonlinear PID controller) has been used to control the nonlinear
process. Further, Nonlinear Model Predictive Controller using the family of local linear state space models
(F-NMPC) has been developed. The effectiveness of the proposed control schemes has been demonstrated
on a CSTR process, which exhibits dynamic nonlinearity.
Crown Copyright 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of ISA. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
PID controller and linear model predictive controller are
the two most popular control schemes that have been widely
implemented throughout the chemical process industries for the
past two decades. However, control of nonlinear system using
above linear control schemes dont give satisfactory performance
at all operating points, the reason being that the process
parameters of the nonlinear process will vary with the operating
conditions. Moreover, the PID controller tuned at one operating
condition may not provide satisfactory servo and regulatory
performances at shifted operating points. It should be noted that,
to achieve improved closed loop performance a different set of
controller settings for each operating condition have to be used.
In the case of model based control schemes, the accuracy of the
model will have a significant effect on the closed loop performance
of the control system. The multiple-linear models concept has been
used in the recent years for modeling of nonlinear systems [1].
In addition, multiple-linear model based approaches for controller
design [25] have attracted the process control community. A
plethora of multiple-model adaptive control schemes have been
proposed in the control literature [69]. Gao et al. [10] has
proposed a nonlinear PID controller for CSTR using local model
networks. Omar Galan et al. [11] have reported the real-time
implementation of multi-linear model based control strategies on
the laboratory scale process.

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: prakaiit@rediffmail.com (J. Prakash).

A simple way to describe a nonlinear dynamic system using

multiple linear models has been proposed by TakagiSugeno [12]
and it is being used in this paper to develop Nonlinear PID controller and Nonlinear Model Predictive Controller. The proposed
control scheme consists of a family of controllers (Local Controllers) and a scheduler. As suggested by Kuipers and Astrom [13],
either local PID controller outputs or the local PID controller parameters can be interpolated. In the case of interpolation of controller parameters, the controllers structure have to be assumed
as homogeneous, whereas interpolation of controllers output does
not impose any such constraints. At each sampling instant, the
scheduler will assign weights for each controller and the weighted
sum of the outputs will be applied as an input to the plant in the
case of interpolation of local controller outputs.
As suggested, one can also apply operating regime approaches
to develop an operating regime based model that can be applied
in a model-based controller [14,15]. Since global information can
be applied to determine the control input at each sampling instant,
the nonlinear model based controller is expected to achieve better
control performance. Recently, stability analysis of a multi-model
predictive control algorithm with an application to the control
of chemical reactors has been reported by Leyla, zkan and
Kothare, [16].
The key unit operation in chemical plants namely the continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) exhibits highly nonlinear dynamic
behavior. Hence, there arises a need to develop computationally
non-intensive control schemes in order to achieve tighter control of strong nonlinear processes. A plethora of advanced control schemes such as neural adaptive controller [17], nonlinear
internal model control scheme [18] and fuzzy model predictive

0019-0578/$ see front matter Crown Copyright 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of ISA. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.isatra.2009.02.001

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J. Prakash, K. Srinivasan / ISA Transactions 48 (2009) 273282

2. TakagiSugeno (TS) fuzzy model

Nomenclature
CA
T
qc
q
CA0
T0
Tc0
V
hA
k0
E /R

1H
, c
Cp , Cpc
x(k)
y(k)
u(k)
A
B
C
Ki
K c ,i
T r ,i
Td,i
NP
Nc
WE
WU

Concentration (mol/l)
Temperature (K)
Coolant flow rate (l/min)
Feed flow rate (l/min)
Feed concentration (mol/l)
Feed temperature (K)
Inlet coolant temperature (K)
CSTR volume (l)
Heat transfer term (cal/(min K))
Reaction rate constant (min1 )
Activation energy term (K)
Heat of reaction (cal/mol)
Liquid density (g/l)
Specific heats (cal/(g K))
True state variable
Measured variables
Process inputs
State transition matrix (continuous domain)
Input matrix (continuous domain)
Measurement matrix
Steady State gain of the ith process model
Proportional gain of ith PID controller
Integral time of ith PID controller
Derivative time of ith PID controller
Prediction horizon
Control horizon
Error weighting matrix (N-MPC)
Controller weighting matrix (N-MPC)

Greek letter words

State transition matrix (Discrete domain)

Input coupling matrix (Discrete domain)
Damping factor
Un-damped natural frequency
Tuning parameter (IMC-PID controller)

control scheme [19] have been already attempted on the CSTR process which is considered for the simulation study in this paper.
Even with the introduction of powerful nonlinear control strategies such as nonlinear internal model control schemes and neural
adaptive control, the proposed control schemes remain an attractive control strategy, because it offer advantages such as simple design and low computational complexity.
The main contributions of the paper are as follows: firstly, the
nonlinear system is represented as a family of local linear state
space models. Secondly, local PID controllers have been designed
on the basis of local linear models, the weighted sum of the
output from local PID controllers has been used to control the
nonlinear process, and finally a nonlinear model predictive control
scheme using the family of local linear state space models has been
proposed to control nonlinear process.
The organization of the paper is as follows. Section 2 discusses
the TS fuzzy model. Section 3 presents the design of nonlinear PID
controller. Section 4 deals with nonlinear model predictive control
schemes formulation using local linear models. Section 5 deals
with analytical (first principle) model based predictive control
formulation. The process considered for simulation study has
been discussed in Section 6. Simulation results are presented in
Section 7 and the conclusions drawn from the simulation studies
in Section 8.

Consider a nonlinear system represented by the following

nonlinear differential equations:

x = f (x, u, d)

(1)

y = g (x, u, d).

(2)

Eq. (1) describes a deterministic system evolution and can be

obtained from the material and energy balances of the process
under consideration. Eq. (2) describes the relationships between
the measurements and the state variables. In order to describe a
discrete nonlinear system, Eqs. (1) and (2) can also be functionally
represented in discrete form as
x(k) = f [x(k 1), u(k 1), d(k 1)]

(3)

y(k) = g [x(k 1), u(k 1)]

(4)

where, x(k) is the system state vector (x(k) Rn ), u(k) is the

system input/known deterministic input (u(k) Rm ), d(k) the
unmeasured disturbance/unknown input (d(k) Rq ), and y(k) is
the measured variable (y(k) Rr ). The parameters k represents
the sampling instant and the symbol f and g represent an ndimensional function vectors. We assume that measurements are
made at discrete sampling instants with sampling period T . Note
that the d(t ) term described in Eq. (1) is assumed to be piecewise
constant for kT t < (k + 1)T
A TS fuzzy model has been proposed to represent a nonlinear
system using locally linearized models [12]. Two different
methods for developing a TS fuzzy model have been suggested
in the literature, namely (i) the black box identification via
fuzzy clustering technique [20] and (ii) Linearization of an
existing nonlinear system around the centers of the fuzzy region
partitioning the state space. The TS fuzzy model is nothing
but a piecewise interpolation of local linear models through
membership function. The TS fuzzy model is described by IFTHEN rules, which represent local linear relations of the nonlinear
system. The rule to describe the nonlinear system around an
operating point is as follows:
Rule i (i = 1 : N )
If z1 (k) is Mi,1 and . . . and zg (k) is Mi,g then
xi (k) = i (x(k 1) x i ) + i (u(k 1) u i )

(5)

yi (k) = Ci xi (k)

(6)

where, zj (k) are the premise variables and Mij (k) are the fuzzy sets.
i , i , and Ci are known time invariant matrices of appropriate
dimensions. In this work it is assumed that such a model of the
process can be developed from the first principles by linearizing
them around different operating steady state values (x i and u i ). The
global system behavior is described by a fuzzy fusion of all linear
model outputs. For a given input vector, u(k), the global state and
output of fuzzy model are inferred as follows:
x(k) =

N
X

hi (z (k))[i (x(k 1) x i )

i=1

+ i (u(k 1) u i ) + x i ]
y(k) = Cx(k)

(7)
(8)

where the membership grades hi (z (k)) are defined as

hi (z (k)) =

i (z (k))
(k)

i (z (k)) =

g
Y

(9)

Mij

(10)

i (z (k)).

(11)

j =1

(k) =

N
X
i=1

J. Prakash, K. Srinivasan / ISA Transactions 48 (2009) 273282

It should be noted that the grade of membership should be

hi (z (k)) [0, 1] and

N
X

hi (z (k)) = 1.

(12)

i=1

275

To account for plant model mismatch and unmeasured

disturbances, a simple unmeasured disturbance estimator similar
to the dynamic matrix control scheme is incorporated as follows:
yc (k + j/k) = y(k + j/k) + d(k + j/k)

(17)

where
3. Nonlinear PID controller (N-PID) design using local linear
models
In this section, the design of local PID controllers on the basis
of local linear models, which were described in the previous
section, is discussed. Further, the method to combine the local
PID controller outputs yielding a global controller output has been
outlined. The global controller output u(k) has been determined by
the following rules:
Rule i (i = 1 : N )

d(k + j/k) = d(k/k) = (ym (k) y(k))

(18)

In the above Eq. (18), ym (k) represents the measured output

at the kth instant and y(k) represents the model output at the
kth instant. Given a future setpoint trajectory yr (k + j/k), (j =
1, . . . , Np ), the nonlinear model predictive controller design
problem can be formulated as:
u(k/k) .min
. . u(k + Nc 1/k) J

(19)

where,

If z1 (k) is Mi,1 and . . . and zg (k) is M1,g then

ui (k) = Kc ,i (e(k) e(k 1)) +

K c ,i
T r ,i

T e(k) +

J =

(Kc ,i Td,i )

[E (k + j/k)]T WE [E (k + j/k)]

j =1
Nc 1

(13)

[1u(k + j/k)]T Wu [1u(k + j/k)]

j =0

where, T is the sampling time. It should be noted that PID

controller could be designed to satisfy the stability, performance,
and robustness criteria for each local linear model. Kc ,i , Tr ,i and
Td,i are the proportional gain, integral time and derivative time
values of the ith PID controllers determined using standard optimal
PID tuning methods. The global controller output is described by a
fusion of all linear PID controller outputs.
4. Nonlinear model predictive controller using local linear
models (F-NMPC)
In the proposed N-MPC formulation, at every sampling instant
the fuzzy dynamic model (Refer Eqs. (7) and (8)) is used for
predicting the future behavior of the plant over a finite number
of future time steps, say Np which is called prediction horizon.
A set of Nc future manipulated input moves {u(k/k), u(k +
1/k) . . . u(k + Nc 1/k)}(where Nc is called the control horizon)
are determined by constrained optimization with the objective of
minimizing the predicted deviation of the process output from
the target over the prediction horizon as well as minimizing the
expenditure of control effort in driving the process output to target,
subject to pre-specified operating constraints. The proposed FNMPC is implemented in a moving horizon framework, that is,
only u(k/k) is implemented at each sampling instant and the
optimization is repeated at each sampling instant based on the
updated information from the plant.
The fuzzy dynamic model developed in the Section 2 can
be used recursively to obtain multi-step prediction. Given a
sequence of future control moves {u(k/k) u(k + 1/k) u(k
+ Nc 1/k)}, a Np step ahead output prediction can be written
as follows:
N
X

Np
X

(e(k) 2 e(k 1) + e(k 2)) + ui (k 1)

x(k + j + 1/k) =

for j = 1, . . . , Np .

E (k + j/k) = yr (k + j/k) yc (k + j/k)

(20)

1u(k + j/k) = u(k + j/k) u(k + j 1/k).

(21)

Subject to the following constraints

uL u(k + j/k) uH
yL yc (k + j/k) yH

for j = 1, . . . , Np
1u(k + Nc /k) = 1u(k + Nc + 1/k)

= 1u(k + Np 1/k) = 0 .

5. Nonlinear model predictive controller using first principle

(analytical) modelA-NMPC
The objective of the A-NMPC is to calculate a set of future
control moves (Control horizon) by minimization of a cost function
on a moving finite horizon (Prediction horizon). The optimization
problem is solved on-line, based on the predictions obtained
from a nonlinear model. It is possible to use different empirical
nonlinear models for predictions in the controller, but the most
attractive approach is to use the first principle models [21]). In the
analytical model based N-MPC formulation, given a sequence of
future control moves {u(k/k) u(k + 1/k) u(k + Nc 1/k)},
a Np step ahead output prediction using the first principle model
could be written as follows:
x(k + j + 1|k) = x(k + j|k)

(k+j+1)T

i =1

y(k + j/k) = C x(k + j/k);

for j = 1, . . . , NP .

(25)
for j = 0, 1, . . . , NP 1. (26)

To account for plant model mismatch and unmeasured disturbances, a simple unmeasured disturbance estimator similar to the
dynamic matrix control scheme is incorporated as follows:
yc (k + j/k) = y(k + j/k) + d(k + j/k)

+ u,i (u(k + Nc 1/k) u i ) + x i ]

for j = Nc , . . . , NP 1

d ;
F x( ), u(k + j|k), d

y(k + j + 1/k) = Cx(k + j + 1/k);

(14)

(23)

The resulting constrained optimization problem can be solved

using any standard optimization technique.

(k+j)T

i =1

(22)

(24)

j = 0, 1, . . . .Np 1

hi z (k + j)[i [(x(k + j/k)) x i ]

+ u,i (u(k + j/k) u i ) + x i ] for j = 0, . . . , Nc 1

N
X
x(k + j + 1/k) =
hi z (k + j)[i [[x(k + j/k)] x i ]

for j = 0, . . . , Nc 1

(15)

where

(16)

d(k + j/k) = d(k/k) = (ym (k) y(k))

(27)

for j = 1, . . . , Np .

(28)

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J. Prakash, K. Srinivasan / ISA Transactions 48 (2009) 273282

Table 1
Operating data for CSTR process.

7.1. Fuzzy dynamic model for the CSTR process

Given a future setpoint trajectory yr (k + j/k), (j = 1, . . . , Np ),

the nonlinear model predictive controller design problem can be
formulated as:

For fuzzy dynamic model design for the CSTR process, the
coolant flow rate (qc ) has been chosen as the premise variable
and triangular membership functions have been used to partition
the input space qc . The universe of discourse is divided into five
intervals which are defined by the linguistic variables, very low
[97 100], low [97 100 103], medium [100 103 106], high [103 106
109] and very high [106 109] respectively. Further, local model
parameters (consequent part of TS fuzzy model) are determined
by linearizing the nonlinear differential equations ((35) and (36))
around the centers of the fuzzy region partitioning the operating
space of the system. The detailed design procedure of the fuzzy
dynamic model for the CSTR process has been reported in Senthil
et al. [22]. The linear time invariant discrete state space models
(Refer Eqs. (5) and (6)) for five different operating points of CSTR
are:

u(k/k) .min
. . u(k + Nc 1/k)J

Operating point: 1 (qc = 97C A = 0.0795 and T = 443.4566)

Process variable

Normal operating condition

Process flow rate (q)

Feed concentration (CA0 )
Feed temperature (T0 )
Inlet coolant temperature (Tc0 )
CSTR volume (V )
Heat transfer term (hA)
Reaction rate constant (k0 )
Activation energy term (E /R)
Heat of reaction (1H)
Liquid density ( , c )
Specific heats (Cp , Cpc )

100.0 l/min
1 mol/l
350 K
350 K
100 l
7 105 cal/(min K)
7.2 1010 min1
1 104 K
2 105 cal/mol
1 103 g/l
1 cal/(g K)

(29)

where,
J =

1.2040e001
1 =
1.5350e+002

3.1008e003
1.4438


1.2927e004
1 =
.
9.6293e002


Np
X

[E (k + j/k)]T WE [E (k + j/k)]

j =1
Nc 1

Operating point: 2 (qc = 100, C A = 0.0885 and T = 441.1475)

[1u(k + j/k)]T Wu [1u(k + j/k)]

E (k + j/k) = yr (k + j/k) yc (k + j/k)

(30)

1u(k + j/k) = u(k + j/k) u(k + j 1/k).

(31)

Subject to the following constraints

for j = 0, . . . , Nc 1

(32)

3.2672e003
1.4733


1.3035e004
2 =
.
9.4559e002

for j = 1, . . . , Np
1u(k + Nc /k) = 1u(k + Nc + 1/k)
H

(33)

= 1u(k + Np 1/k) = 0 .

(34)

The resulting constrained optimization problem can be solved

using any standard optimization technique.
6. Continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR)
The first principle model of the continuous stirred tank system
and the operating point data (Refer Table 1) as specified in the
paper titled Fuzzy Model Predictive Control by Huang et al. [19]
have been used in this simulation study. In the process considered
for simulation study, an irreversible, exothermic reaction A B
occurs in constant volume reactor that is cooled by a single coolant
stream. The process is modeled by the following equations:
q(t )


E
=
(35)
(CA0 (t ) CA (t )) k0 CA (t ) exp
dt
V
RT (t )


dT (t )
q(t )
(1H )k0 CA (t )
E
=
(T0 (t ) T (t ))
exp
dt
V
Cp
RT (t )



c Cpc
hA
+
qc (t ) 1 exp
(Tc0 (t ) T (t )) . (36)
Cp V
qc (t ) Cp
The state x(t ) and input u(t ) vectors are given by x(t ) = [CA ; T ]
and u(t ) = [qc ].

Operating point: 3 (qc = 103, C A = 0.0989 and T = 438.7763)

2.2479e001
3 =
1.3333e+002

3.4252e003
1.5012


1.3074e004
3 =
.
9.2643e002


y yc (k + j/k) y
L

dCA (t )

1.7133e001
2 =
1.4362e+002

j =0

uL u(k + j/k) uH

Operating point: 4 (qc = 106, C A = 0.1110 and T = 436.3091)

2.8071e001
4 =
1.2254e+002

3.5731e003
1.5270


1.3038e004
4 =
.
9.0506e002


Operating point: 5 (qc = 109, C A = 0.1254 and T = 433.6921)

3.3941e001
5 =
1.1123e+002

3.7084e003
1.5504


1.2913e004
5 =
.
8.8085e002


1 0
C =
.


For the CSTR process considered for the simulation study Senthil
et al. [13] has shown that the linear dynamic model is not able
to capture the dynamic behavior of the CSTR process, whereas the
fuzzy dynamic model is able to capture the dynamic nonlinearity
adequately.
7.2. Nonlinear PID controller (N-PID) design for CSTR process

7. Simulation studies
In all the simulation runs, the process is simulated using the
nonlinear first principle model (Eqs. (35) and (36)). The true
state variables are computed by solving the nonlinear differential
equations using differential equation solver in Matlab 6.5.

In this work, we have intended to interpolate five PID controller

outputs. That is, for each local linear model described in the
previous subsection, a PID controller has been designed. In order
to prevent a sharp spike in the controller output, at the time
of step change in the setpoint, the derivative of the measured

J. Prakash, K. Srinivasan / ISA Transactions 48 (2009) 273282

277

Fig. 1. Servo response of CSTR with F-NMPC, N-PID, and A-NMPC (a) Process output (b) Controller output.

Fig. 2. Histogram of computation time per sampling instant.

output has been used in the control law instead of a derivative

of the error. That is, PV derivative type PID controller form has
been implemented in this work (P and I on setpoint error and
D on Process Variable). Further, the tuning parameters of each
PID controller have been determined using the IMC [23] tuning
rules proposed by Morari and Zafiriou, [24]. The process transfer
function relating the reactor concentration to the coolant flow rate
at all operating points has been found to be of the form:
Gi (s) =

Ki
s2 + 2i n,i s + n2,i

i = 1 : 5.

Table 2 provides the values of the second-order transfer

function model parameters such as process gain, damping factor
and un-damped natural frequency at different operating points.
The IMC based PID tuning procedure will yield the following
controller parameters:
K c ,i =

2i
;
n,i Ki

Tr ,i =

2i
;
n,i

Td,i =

1
2i n,i

It should be noted that using the model parameters reported in

Table 2, we have obtained the controller parameters of each local
PID controller. The PID controllers parameters at five different

278

J. Prakash, K. Srinivasan / ISA Transactions 48 (2009) 273282

Table 2
Damping factor and un-damped natural frequency at different operating points.
Operating point

Damping factor

Freq. (rad/s)

At qc = 97, C A = 0.0795, T = 443.4566

0.661

3.93

Process gain
0.0028

At qc = 100, C A = 0.0885, T = 441.1475

0.540

3.64

0.0032

At qc = 103, C A = 0.0989, T = 438.7763

0.416

3.34

0.0037

At qc = 106, C A = 0.1110, T = 436.3091

0.285

3.03

0.0043

At qc = 109, C A = 0.1254, T = 433.6921

0.141

2.71

0.0052

Table 3
PID controllers parameters at different operating points.
Operating point

Kc ,i

At qc = 97, C A = 0.0795, T = 443.4566

119.4321

At qc = 100, C A = 0.0885, T = 441.1475

92.6928

At qc = 103, C A = 0.0989, T = 438.7763

67.4294

At qc = 106, C A = 0.1110, T = 436.3091

43.2812

At qc = 109, C A = 0.1254, T = 433.6921

19.1813

Table 4
ISE values of F-NMPC, N-PID, and A-NMPC for setpoint tracking.
Sampling instants interval

A-NMPC

F-NMPC

N-PID

10 k 49
50 k 79
80 k 120

2.52e05
8.84e05
1.55e05

3.68e05
9.42e05
2.67e05

5.07e05
1.47e04
3.10e05

Table 5
ISE values of A-NMPC, F-NMPC and N-PID in the presence of setpoint change and
load change.
Sampling instants interval

A-NMPC

F-NMPC

N-PID

10 k 69
70 k 119
120 k 175

1.16e05
1.17e04
5.51-06

1.18e05
1.43e04
2.77e06

1.66e05
2.03e04
1.11e05

Fig. 3. Variation in feed temperature of CSTR.

operating points have been reported in Table 3. It should be noted

that the controller gain has been found to be the function of the
filter time constant lamda ().
7.3. Nonlinear model predictive controller for CSTR process
A simple model predictive control for CSTR has been developed
using the local linear models (Refer Section 7.1). F-NMPC and A-

Tr , i

Td , i

0.3367

0.1926

0.2973

0.2546

0.2491

0.3601

0.1876

0.5792

0.1037

1.3124

NMPC schemes for CSTR have been developed with the sampling
time of 0.083 min, prediction horizon of NP = 5, and control
horizon of Nc = 1.The error weighting matrix and the controller
weighting matrix used in the N-MPC formulation are WE =
1e4 and WU = 0. The following constraints on the manipulated
input (coolant flow rate) are imposed 95 < qc < 108.
7.4. Servo performance
The setpoint variations as shown in Fig. 1(a) have been
introduced for assessing the tracking capability of the proposed (i)
F-NMPC formulation using the local linear models, (ii) proposed
N-PID control scheme using multiple-linear PID controllers and
(iii) analytical/first principle model based NMPC(A-NMPC). From
the response, it can be inferred that, the F-NMPC formulation
based on local linear models, N-PID control scheme using multiplelinear PID controllers and A-NMPC scheme are able to maintain
the reactor concentration at the setpoint. The ISE values of FNMPC, N-PID and A-NMPC are reported in Table 4. From Table 4,
it can be inferred that the ISE values of A-NMPC and F-NMPC have
been found to be considerably less than N-PID. The variation in
the controller outputs is presented in Fig. 1(b). The observations
(qualitative) of the above simulation study are as follows:
Both the proposed controllers and A-NMPC are able to maintain
the setpoint at the desired value. However, the performances of
F-NMPC and A-NMPC at all the operating points are found to be
better than N-PID, as there is less overshoot and settles to the
setpoint faster. The F-NMPC provides performance comparable to
that of A-NMPC.
Fig. 2 presents histograms of computation time at each
sampling instant obtained using A-NMPC and F-MPC. It can be
concluded that the computation time per iteration (Matlab 7.0,
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor-2.13 GHz) of the proposed F-NMPC
algorithm is in the range 0.010.7 s, whereas, for the A-NMPC
algorithm, the value is in the range of 0.251.6 s. For the N-PID the
computation time per iteration has been found to be in the range
0.0010.0016 s.
The proposed F-NMPC helps to reduce the number of computations needed, compared to the rigorous model based NMPC (ANMPC). Also, in the A-NMPC, the nonlinear differential equations
have to be numerically integrated to obtain the predicted estimates
of the output variables. On the other hand, in the F-NMPC, although
more matrices are needed, all of them have constant values, which
limit the calculation to (i) the determination of weights, which will

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279

Fig. 4. Servo and regulatory responses of CSTR with F-NMPC, A-NMPC and N-PID (a) Process output (b) Controller output.

Fig. 5. Servo response of CSTR with N-PID for various values of filter time constant (a) Process output (b) Controller output.

be provided by the operating region membership functions, and

(ii) state propagation calculations of each model using the appropriate matrices and a weighted average of the local linear model
outputs. Since, it is not necessary to carry out numerical integration of nonlinear differential equations; the proposed F-NMPC approach has better implementation capabilities than the A-NMPC
approach. Note that the computation time of the F-NMPC for even
higher-order problems will be always less demanding, in comparison to that of the rigorous model based NMPC(A-NMPC).

7.5. Servo-regulatory performance

Simulation studies have been carried out to demonstrate
the disturbance rejection capability of the proposed F-NMPC
formulation based on local linear models, analytical model based
NMPC (A-NMPC) and N-PID Controller at nominal and at shifted
operated points.
A step change in the feed temperature of magnitude 2 K (from
350 K to 352 K) has been introduced at the 10th sampling

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Fig. 6. Servo response of CSTR with F-NMPC for various values of prediction horizon (a) Process output (b) Controller output.

Fig. 7. Performance of N-PID in the presence of measurement noise (a) Process output (b) Controller output.

instants and the value has been maintained upto the 110th
sampling instants and is then brought back to 350 K. (Refer Fig. 3).
The ISE values are computed for A-NMPC, F-NMPC and N-PID and
are reported in Table 5. The ISE value of F-NMPC and A-NMPC have
been found to be considerably less than that of N-PID for the servoregulatory performance case also. The following observation can be
drawn from the simulation studies
From 10th sampling instants to 70th sampling instants of
Fig. 4(a), it can be inferred that the controllers (A-NMPC, N-

PID and F-NMPC) are able to reject the disturbance quickly and
bring the reactor concentration back to the nominal value of
the setpoint. This part of the simulation demonstrates that the
controllers are able to reject the disturbance at the nominal
operating point.

With the disturbance being persistent, a step change in the

setpoint has been introduced at 70th sampling instant and it
can be noted that both the controllers are able to maintain the

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281

Fig. 8. Performance of F-NMPC in the presence of measurement noise (a) Process output (b) Controller output.
Table 6
Mean and standard deviation of the true value of the controlled variable for various values of alpha.
Alpha

Sampling instants interval

F-NMPC ( )

N-PID ( )

0.25

51 k 100
251 k 300
451 k 500
51 k 100
251 k 300
451 k 500
51 k 100
251 k 300
451 k 500

0.0989(3.28e04)
0.1107(7.15e04)
0.0989(3.57e04)
0.0988(4.31e04)
0.1107(8.09e04)
0.0988(4.48e04)
0.0988(4.58e04)
0.1107(7.15e04)
0.0988(3.59e04)

0.0989(2.32e04)
0.1108(4.24e04)
0.0989(2.64e04)
0.0989(2.93e04)
0.1108(4.31e04)
0.0989(2.61e04)
0.0989(3.09e04)
0.1108(4.23e04)
0.0989(2.72e04)

0.5

0.75

concentration at the setpoint, as evident from 70th sampling

instants to 110th sampling instants of Fig. 4(a).
At 110th sampling instants a simultaneous step change in the
setpoint (Refer Fig. 4(a)) as well as a step change in the feed
temperature (Fig. 3) has been introduced and it can be inferred
that the performance of the controllers has been found to be
satisfactory. This part of the simulation demonstrates that the
controllers are able to reject the disturbance as well as maintain
the process variable at the setpoint. It should be noted that the
performance of F-NMPC is found to be better than A-NMPC and
N-PID.
7.6. Performance of N-PID for various values of filter time constant
In order to show the tradeoff between performance and
robustness of the proposed nonlinear PID control scheme, we
performed simulation studies for various values of filter time
constant (lamda). The closed loop responses for step changes in
the setpoint for various values of lamda are shown in Fig. 5(a).
The manipulated variable profiles for various values of filter time
constants are shown in Fig. 5(b). It should be noted that we have
used single tuning parameter (lamda) for all the local controllers.
However, for each local controller appropriate values of filter
constant can be chosen. As we increase the value of lamda, it was
observed that the responses have been found to be of over-damped

type (lamda 0.5 and 1.5). For lamda value equal to 0.25, it can
be observed that controller output was found to be aggressive, as
compared to other values of lamda (Refer Fig. 5(b)).
7.7. Performance of F-NMPC for various values of prediction horizon
In order to assess the effect of the prediction horizon, we
have performed simulation studies for various values of prediction
horizon. The closed loop responses to step changes in the setpoint
and for various values of prediction horizon are shown in Fig. 6.
In all the simulation runs, a control horizon of 1 is used. For the
process considered for simulation study the prediction horizon
seems not to have appreciable effect as shown in Fig. 6. The
setpoint tracking performance has been found to be almost the
same for all the values of prediction horizon.
7.8. Performance of N-PID and F-NMPC in the presence of measurement noise
The performances of the proposed N-PID and F-NMPC control
schemes in the presence of measurement noise are shown in
Figs. 7 and 8 respectively. In both the control schemes, Gaussian
white noise of mean zero and standard deviation of 0.0012 mol/l
has been added to the true value of the process variable (reactor
concentration). A digital first order filter has been used to filter
the noisy process measurement and the control calculations are

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J. Prakash, K. Srinivasan / ISA Transactions 48 (2009) 273282

performed based on the filtered value of the process variable, in

case of N-PID and F-NMPC. From the Figs. 7 and 8, the performance
of both the control schemes has been found to be satisfactory.
The mean and the standard deviation of the true value of the
measured variable (concentration) for various values of alpha have
been reported in Table 6. As we reduce the value of alpha, the
controller action of both the control schemes has been found to be
smooth and the standard deviation of the controlled variable has
been found to be less.
8. Conclusions
In this paper, the authors have proposed a simple and
straightforward procedure for designing a Nonlinear PID control
(N-PID) scheme and Nonlinear Model Predictive Control scheme
(F-NMPC) using local linear models for the CSTR process, which
exhibits significant variation in the damping factor and undamped natural frequency. From the extensive simulation studies,
it can be concluded that the proposed controllers have good
setpoint tracking, disturbance rejection capabilities at nominal
and shifted operated points and robustness properties. Further,
the performance of the proposed nonlinear model predictive
control scheme using local linear models, has been compared
with nonlinear model predictive control using an analytical model.
From the extensive simulation study, it can be concluded that the
proposed F-NMPC helps to reduce the number of computations
needed, compared to the analytical model based NMPC. The
proposed model based control scheme (F-NMPC) can be considered
as an alternative to analytical model based control scheme (ANMPC).
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