An Application of a Relative Gain Array and

Singular Value Decomposition for the Synthesis

of Control Systems for Multivariable Processes
Ivan B. Tsekhmestruk Roman L. Barashkin Vladimir E. Popadko
2023 XXVI International Conference on Soft Computing and Measurements (SCM) | 979-8-3503-2248-4/23/$31.00 ©2023 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/SCM58628.2023.10159045

Department of Automation of Department of Automation of Department of Automation of

Technological Processes Technological Processes Technological Processes
Gubkin Russian State University of Gubkin Russian State University of Gubkin Russian State University of
Oil and Gas (National Research Oil and Gas (National Research Oil and Gas (National Research
University) University) University)
Moscow, Russia Moscow, Russia Moscow, Russia
tsekh.v@mail.ru barashkin.r@gubkin.ru pve@gubkin.ru

Abstract—In this paper, a control system for a
multivariable object is developed using the example of a
distillation column using singular value decomposition and
relative gain array. A model was built in the simulation
package for the plant. On the basis of numerical experiments
with the simulation model of the object, time series was
obtained to identify the parameters of the transfer function
matrix. With the help of singular value decomposition, the
direction of the largest and smallest amplification was
determined by the input and output vectors of variables. The
singular value decomposition made it possible to answer the
question of the expediency of the chosen composition of input
and output vectors of variables. For the selected vectors,
relative gain array matrix was calculated, which was used to
select a decentralized control system. The calculation of the
relative gain array, and the visualization of the singular value
decomposition were performed in the MatLab mathematical
modeling environment. Based on the results of applying the
methods, the structure of the control system of the
multivariable control object was proposed and the quality
indices of regulation was determined.
Keywords—dynamic modeling, multivariable control ,
relative gain array, singular value decomposition, synthesis of
control system, distillation column
The paper considers one of the most commonly used
methods for the analysis of technological processes: singular
value decomposition (SVD) of matrices [7] and a relative
gain array (RGA) [8].
With the help of singular value decomposition, the plant
was analyzed, the characteristic directions of the object were
obtained, which determine the direction of the largest and
smallest amplification, and the analysis of the interaction
between input and output vectors was carried out.
With the help of RGA [9], the degree of interaction of
input and output variables, the possibility of synthesizing a
decentralized control system and choosing paired variables
were evaluated.
The considered methods are applied to the synthesis of
the control system of a typical object of the oil and gas
industry - a distillation column. With the help of SVD, the
choice of input and output vectors of variables was evaluated
and the characteristic directions were determined. Based on
the obtained results, paired variables were determined and a
decentralized control system was proposed using RGA.
II. METHODOLOGY

I. INTRODUCTION A. Singular value decomposition of transfer function

matrices
The modernization of present oil and gas industry
production is associated with the tightening of requirements When analyzing a technological object in this work, a
for ensuring the safety of the operation of technological singular value decomposition was used, which allows any
processes and reducing the cost of production [1]. Changes in matrix of dimension to be reduced to the form (1):
technological processes, the use of recuperative lines that
lead to the formation of positive feedback require the use of = , (1)
appropriate techniques for the synthesis of control systems.
At the present stage of development of methods for the where – a matrix of left-singular vectors, – a
synthesis of control systems for complex technological diagonal matrix of singular values, – a matrix of right-
processes, a number of approaches have been developed that singular vectors.
can be grouped as follows: heuristic methods based on the Applying SVD to a multivariable control object, which
experience of previous researchers [2], and methods based on can be represented as a gain matrix (GM), it is possible to
the mathematical apparatus [3, 4]. solve the following problems [4]:
The rigor of the formulation of the problem being solved • Determine the characteristic directions of the control
and the uniqueness of the solution obtained, in terms of object.
applied use, give an advantage to mathematical methods in
solving problems of synthesis of control systems (CS). • Evaluate the correctness of the choice of input and
Widely used mathematical methods: methods for calculating output vectors of variables.
control degrees of freedom [5], rules for PID controller
tuning [6], etc. • Evaluate the robustness of the proposed control
system.

979-8-3503-2248-4/23/$31.00©2023 IEEE
49
Authorized licensed use limited to: Universität Ulm - kiz. Downloaded on February 03,2024 at 20:29:10 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 # = ∆) /∆( .
Characteristic directions can be written in the following
mathematical formulation: (5)
∗ = ∗ ,
∗ = ∗ ,
As a result, from the obtained gains, a gain matrix of the
form:
( ) is a statement of the direction with the
# ⋯ #
where
= ⋮ ⋱ ⋮ ".
largest (smallest) gain, which characterizes the following: if
# ⋯ #
the GM of the control object is controlled in the direction (6)
of the maximum (minimum) gain ( ) , then the
output vector will change in the direction of the maximum
(minimum) gain ( ), and the very change (gain) in Later, the matrix (6) is used to obtain RGA and SVD, and
the length of the vector will correspond to the maximum further analysis of the technological process.
(minimum) singular value ( ). D. Normalization of the gain matrix
Then, examining the obtained values of singular values In the general case, to ensure the quantitative
for the matrix of the object , we can conclude that it is correspondence of the description of the real technological
expedient to further study the CS based on the selected input process using the GM, it should be normalized. In this work,
and output vectors of variables. normalization is necessary for analysis using SVD; for RGA,
due to the properties of this technique [8], normalization is
B. Relative gain array not necessary.
The theory of relative gain arrays is based on the relative
Normalization of the GM was carried out to the range
[0,1] using the normalization coefficient / = −
gain (RG) , which is determined in accordance with the
,
expression: based on the minimum and maximum allowable values of the
controlled and manipulated variables.
= / , (2) The resulting normalization formula is as follows:

Δx
= .
where – «open-loop» gain, – «closed- / (7)

loop» gain.
The result of the calculation of the RG will be the RGA, III. OBTAINING MATRICES OF THE STUDIED TECHNOLOGICAL
presented in the form (3). PROCESS

…
A. Studied technological process
, ,
Λ= … … … ".
As a control object in this work, one of the typical
…
(3) technological processes in the oil and gas industry, the
, , rectification column, was studied. Which is widely used in
various industries. The paper considers a tray column shown
Thus, based on the calculated RG (2) and RGA (3), we in Fig. 1.
can obtain the following characteristics of the technological
object:
• A measure of process interaction. Qcond
Condenser
• A recommendation concerning the most effective
pairing of controlled and manipulated variables.
R D
RGA is calculated based on the transfer function matrix
# by the formula (4). Column xd

Λ = # ⊗ (# % )& . (4)
F
Nf

C. Obtaining the gain matrix V

As part of the study, at the first stage, the GM was Qreb Reboiler
determined using a simulation model of the control object.
The GM was defined as follows [4]:
1. Step action is applied with the help of the control
variable ( to the controlled variable ) . The rest of
B
xb
the control variables remain unchanged. Such Fig. 1. Scheme of the ditillation column
influence will lead to the response of all controlled
process variables ) , )* … ) . B. Obtaining the gain matrix
2. Repeat first step for all other manipulated variables. To study the technological process, using RGA and SVD,
3. The gain for each pair will be calculated using next we will compose a gain matrix for a distillation column with
formula: the following input and output variables, with a dimension of
2 x 2.

50
Authorized licensed use limited to: Universität Ulm - kiz. Downloaded on February 03,2024 at 20:29:10 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 Input variables:
• – Reflux mass flow R, [34/ℎ].
• * – Vapor phase mass flow at the reboiler exit V,
[34/ℎ].
Output variables:
• ) – Mole fraction of propane in distillate D, 6,
[моль/моль].
• )* – Mole fraction of propane in bottom product B,
; , [моль/моль].

Then, using the developed simulation model, an

experiment was carried out and an unnormalized gain matrix
presented in (8) was obtained:

= <8.945A %B −4.305A %B G.
%B

1.493A −8.211A %B (8) Fig. 2. Characteristic directions and change in the gain along the directions
of the input vector
For analysis using SVD, it is necessary to normalize the
B. Object analysis with telative gain array
matrix (8). For normalization, the following normalizing
coefficients were defined for the vectors of input and output Based on the results of the calculation of SVD using the
variables: developed script for displaying SVD, based on the GM (8),
the following RGA was built:
5300 34/ℎ
=J K< G, 1.0959 −0.0959
норм
2000 34/ℎ Λ=J K.
−0.0959 1.0959 (11)
1 LMNA/LMNA
)норм = J K < G.
(9)
1 LMNA/LMNA
After analyzing the RG in the RGA (11), the following
decoupled decentralized CS was proposed with the following
contours:
As a result, using (7), the following normalized gain
matrix was obtained: • Reflux mass flow R ↔ Mole fraction of propane in
distillate 6 .
0.4741 −0.0861
=J K. Vapor phase mass flow at the reboiler exit V ↔
норм
0.0791 −0.1642 (10) •
Mole fraction of propane in bottom product ; .

IV. ANALYSIS OF THE TECHNOLOGICAL PROCESS C. Synthesis of a control system for the studied
technological process
A. Singular value decomposition of the gain matrix As a result of the analysis, two control systems of the
Using the calculation and display script developed in multivariable control object - a distillation column were
MatLab, for the obtained normalized GM of the distillation synthesized: CS1 based on the results of RGA (11) and an
column (10), SVD was calculated, the results of which are alternative CS2 with the following structure
Vapor phase mass flow at the reboiler exit V ↔
given in Table. 1.
•
TABLE I. RESULTS OF THE SINGULAR VALUE DECOMPOSITION Mole fraction of propane in distillate 6 .
Reflux mass flow R ↔ Mole fraction of propane in
CALCULATION
•
Characteristic directions and singular values bottom product ; .
Input direction Singular value Output direction
−0.96882 −0.24775
J K J K To test the control systems, the regulators were set to the
Largest
0.24775 −0.96882
0.49476
amplification following setpoints:
−0.97148 −0.23711
J K J K
0.969619 LMNA/LMNA
Smallest
−0.23711 0.97148 6
J K=J K< G.
0.14358
amplification
; 0.078890 LMNA/LMNA
The difference of gains from zero makes it expedient to As a result, the following transient responses were
further analyze the distillation column on the selected input obtained:
and output vectors of variables.
Fig. 2 shows the characteristic directions of maximum
and minimum gain, as well as a diagram of the change in the
gain in the directions of the input vector, built using the
developed script. The proposed diagram allows you to
determine the proximity of the control to the characteristic
directions.

51
Authorized licensed use limited to: Universität Ulm - kiz. Downloaded on February 03,2024 at 20:29:10 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

Fig. 3. CS1 transient responses of a distillation column, based on RGA
(11)
Fig. 4. The alternative CS2 transient responses of a distillation column
The analysis of transient responses in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4
shows that CS1, synthesized using the considered
mathematical methods, brings the controlled parameters of
the distillation column to the setpoints, unlike CS2, with the
following quality indices (Table 2), which proves the
efficiency the chosen method for the synthesis of CS.
52
Authorized licensed use limited to: Universität Ulm - kiz. Downloaded on February 03,2024 at 20:29:10 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
TABLE II. CS2 QUALITY INDIXES
CS1 controlled variable
RS RT
Quality index
Overshoot, % 2.25 35
Setting time, мин - 2507
V. CONCLUSION
In the work, a control system was synthesized for a
typical technological object – a distillation column using a
singular value decomposition and a relative gain array. The
degree of interaction is estimated and the correctness of the
choice of the input and output vectors of variables is checked
using the singular value decomposition. With the help of a
relative gain array, a decentralized structure of the control
system with a minimum degree of interaction was
determined.
In the simulation package, a model of a distillation
column was developed and the proposed structure of the
control system (CS1) and alternative (CS2) were
implemented. Comparative analysis of the operation of the
CS1 and CS2 structures showed that the proposed CS1
brought the controlled parameters to the setpoints, in contrast
to the alternative one. This confirms the operability of the
considered methods for solving the problems of synthesizing
control systems of multivariable control objects.
In further studies, a detailed PID tuning will be carried
out and an analysis of the robustness of the proposed control
system structure for the considered technological process will
be performed.
REFERENCES
[1] Baidoo M.F., Snarvold K.S., Hodneland S., Brodtkorb T.W. (2011).
Process design and economical investigation of natural gas
dehydration plants.
[2] T. Larsson and S. Skogestad, Model Ident Control, 21 (2000) 209.
[3] Skogestad I. Postlethwaite: Multivariable Feedback Control; Analysis
and Design, 2nd edn. (Wiley-Interscience, Chichester 2005).
[4] Seborg D.E., Edgar T.F., and Mellichamp D.A. Process Dynamics
and Control. Wiley, New York, NY, 1989.
[5] Murthy Konda, N.V.S.N., Rangaiah, G.P., Krishnaswamy, P.R.
(2006) A simple and effective procedure for control degrees of
freedom.
[6] Skogestad S.: Simple analytic rules for model reduction and PID
controller tuning. J. Process Control 13, 291–309 (2003).
[7] Nguyen T.C., Barton G.W., Perkins J.D., & Johnston R.D. (1988).
Condition Number Scaling Policy for Stability Robustness Analysis.
AICHE Journal, 34(7), 1200–1206.
[8] Bristol E.H. (1966). On a new measure of interaction for multi-
variable process control. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control
AC-11, 1: 133–134.
[9] Tsekhmestruk I.B., Barashkin R.L. and Popadko V.E. “Relative Gain
Array Application for Typical Chemical Process,” 2022 IEEE
International Multi-Conference on Engineering, Computer and
Information Sciences (SIBIRCON), Yekaterinburg, Russian
Federation, 2022, pp. 1770-1773, doi:
10.1109/SIBIRCON56155.2022.10017013.