Fractional-order control with second-order sliding mode algorithm and disturbance estimation for vibration suppression of marine riser

Abstract

Suppression of the vibration caused by environmental loads in marine risers is critical to prevent irreparable damages. This paper addresses this issue by proposing a novel boundary control for a flexible riser connected to a vessel at its top. In this regard, initially, a sliding mode observer (SMO)-based disturbance estimator is constructed to estimate the uncertainty of the vessel's dynamics. Next, using backstepping, a suitable virtual control along with the respective error dynamics are derived. A fractional-order error surface is defined to achieve Mittag-Leffler convergence for the control error variable. A second-order sliding mode (SOSM) control law is used to stabilize this error surface. The boundedness and ultimate boundedness of the riser's deflection under the proposed boundary control is shown by Lyapunov analysis. Comparative simulations demonstrate the robust vibration suppression performance of the proposed controller.