Experimental Study on Adaptive Backstepping Synchronous following Control and Thrust Allocation for a Dynamic Positioning Vessel
Cargo transfer vessels (CTVs) are designed to transfer cargo from a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit into conventional tankers. The dynamic positioning system allows the CTV to maintain a safe position relative to the FPSO unit using a flexible cargo transmission pipe, and the...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of Marine Science and Engineering |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/12/2/203 |
| _version_ | 1797297793701773312 |
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| author | Changde Liu Yufang Zhang Min Gu Longhui Zhang Yanbin Teng Fang Tian |
| author_facet | Changde Liu Yufang Zhang Min Gu Longhui Zhang Yanbin Teng Fang Tian |
| author_sort | Changde Liu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Cargo transfer vessels (CTVs) are designed to transfer cargo from a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit into conventional tankers. The dynamic positioning system allows the CTV to maintain a safe position relative to the FPSO unit using a flexible cargo transmission pipe, and the CTV tows the tanker during operating conditions. The operation mode can be considered a synchronization tracking control problem. In this paper, a synchronization control strategy is presented based on the virtual leader–follower configuration and an adaptive backstepping control method. The position and heading of the following vessel are proven to be able to globally exponentially converge to the virtual ship by the contraction theorem. Then, the optimization problem of the desired thrust command from the controller is solved through an improved firefly algorithm, which fully considers the physical characteristics of the azimuth thruster and the thrust forbidden zone caused by hydrodynamic interference. To validate the effectiveness of the presented synchronous following strategy and thrust allocation algorithm, a scale model experiment is carried out under a sea state of 4 in a seakeeping basin. The experimental results show that the CTV can effectively maintain a safe distance of 100 m with a maximum deviation of 3.78 m and an average deviation of only 0.99 m in the wave heading 180°, which effectively verifies that the control strategy proposed in this paper can achieve safe and cooperative operation between the CTV and the FPSO unit. To verify the advantages of the SAF algorithm in the thrust allocation, the SQP algorithm and PSO algorithm are used to compare the experimental results. The SAF algorithm outperforms the SQP and PSO algorithms in longitudinal and lateral forces, with the R-squared (R<sup>2</sup>) values of 0.9996 (yaw moment), 0.9878 (sway force), and 0.9596 (surge force) for the actual thrusts and control commands in the wave heading 180°. The experimental results can provide technical support to improve the safe operation of CTVs. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T22:25:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-41c451e202d74fab9e190cb0656c23ae |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-1312 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T22:25:32Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Marine Science and Engineering |
| spelling | doaj.art-41c451e202d74fab9e190cb0656c23ae2024-02-23T15:22:58ZengMDPI AGJournal of Marine Science and Engineering2077-13122024-01-0112220310.3390/jmse12020203Experimental Study on Adaptive Backstepping Synchronous following Control and Thrust Allocation for a Dynamic Positioning VesselChangde Liu0Yufang Zhang1Min Gu2Longhui Zhang3Yanbin Teng4Fang Tian5China Ship Scientific Research Center, Wuxi 214082, ChinaSchool of Control Technology, Wuxi Institute of Technology, Wuxi 214121, ChinaChina Ship Scientific Research Center, Wuxi 214082, ChinaChina Ship Scientific Research Center, Wuxi 214082, ChinaChina Ship Scientific Research Center, Wuxi 214082, ChinaChina Ship Scientific Research Center, Wuxi 214082, ChinaCargo transfer vessels (CTVs) are designed to transfer cargo from a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit into conventional tankers. The dynamic positioning system allows the CTV to maintain a safe position relative to the FPSO unit using a flexible cargo transmission pipe, and the CTV tows the tanker during operating conditions. The operation mode can be considered a synchronization tracking control problem. In this paper, a synchronization control strategy is presented based on the virtual leader–follower configuration and an adaptive backstepping control method. The position and heading of the following vessel are proven to be able to globally exponentially converge to the virtual ship by the contraction theorem. Then, the optimization problem of the desired thrust command from the controller is solved through an improved firefly algorithm, which fully considers the physical characteristics of the azimuth thruster and the thrust forbidden zone caused by hydrodynamic interference. To validate the effectiveness of the presented synchronous following strategy and thrust allocation algorithm, a scale model experiment is carried out under a sea state of 4 in a seakeeping basin. The experimental results show that the CTV can effectively maintain a safe distance of 100 m with a maximum deviation of 3.78 m and an average deviation of only 0.99 m in the wave heading 180°, which effectively verifies that the control strategy proposed in this paper can achieve safe and cooperative operation between the CTV and the FPSO unit. To verify the advantages of the SAF algorithm in the thrust allocation, the SQP algorithm and PSO algorithm are used to compare the experimental results. The SAF algorithm outperforms the SQP and PSO algorithms in longitudinal and lateral forces, with the R-squared (R<sup>2</sup>) values of 0.9996 (yaw moment), 0.9878 (sway force), and 0.9596 (surge force) for the actual thrusts and control commands in the wave heading 180°. The experimental results can provide technical support to improve the safe operation of CTVs.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/12/2/203dynamic positioningvirtual leader–followerbacksteppingsynchronizationcontraction theorycontrol allocation |
| spellingShingle | Changde Liu Yufang Zhang Min Gu Longhui Zhang Yanbin Teng Fang Tian Experimental Study on Adaptive Backstepping Synchronous following Control and Thrust Allocation for a Dynamic Positioning Vessel Journal of Marine Science and Engineering dynamic positioning virtual leader–follower backstepping synchronization contraction theory control allocation |
| title | Experimental Study on Adaptive Backstepping Synchronous following Control and Thrust Allocation for a Dynamic Positioning Vessel |
| title_full | Experimental Study on Adaptive Backstepping Synchronous following Control and Thrust Allocation for a Dynamic Positioning Vessel |
| title_fullStr | Experimental Study on Adaptive Backstepping Synchronous following Control and Thrust Allocation for a Dynamic Positioning Vessel |
| title_full_unstemmed | Experimental Study on Adaptive Backstepping Synchronous following Control and Thrust Allocation for a Dynamic Positioning Vessel |
| title_short | Experimental Study on Adaptive Backstepping Synchronous following Control and Thrust Allocation for a Dynamic Positioning Vessel |
| title_sort | experimental study on adaptive backstepping synchronous following control and thrust allocation for a dynamic positioning vessel |
| topic | dynamic positioning virtual leader–follower backstepping synchronization contraction theory control allocation |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/12/2/203 |
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