CAREER: Control of a Long and Curved String for Deep Underground Exploration

这项由教师早期职业发展计划（CAREER）资助的研究将为具有长而弯曲的弦状几何形状的大型系统的建模和控制提供新的基础知识。这将导致深地下定向钻井系统的进步，影响国家战略领域，包括能源，环境和外层空间探索。在能源方面，它将实现自动定向钻井，以增强地热能系统和非常规天然气生产。这将大大降低可再生能源和清洁能源的能源生产成本，更重要的是，可以减少对环境的影响，提高生产安全性。在环境研究方面，该项目将解决获取南极古代冰芯的关键技术障碍，以评估大规模气候模式并预测未来气候变化，如全球变暖的演变。在外太空探测中，它将为控制钻探机器人到达火星上潜在的微生物生命和水资源迹象，完成火星探测的最终使命奠定基础。在这些应用中的定向钻井控制是具有挑战性的，因为由于振动和地下深处的井筒地层相互作用而导致的潜在不期望的工作条件是难以避免的。现有的定向钻井控制研究不能确保避免这些不希望的操作条件。地质挑战和对更环保的生产工艺的需求共同推动了更安全、更深、更准确和更可靠的钻井工艺。沿着该研究，本项目将通过新课程开发、教师教育、远程实验室设施开发和推广活动，鼓励代表性不足的学生群体参与控制工程。本项目的研究目标是创建一个新的框架，用于控制具有长、弯曲弦状几何形状的大规模系统，以避免深层地下勘探中不希望的操作条件。结果包括一个新的控制导向的模型，利用独特的字符串的几何形状，和一个新的方法，状态障碍避免控制，可以解决复杂的障碍。对于建模，一种新的混合方案，可以集成的解析方法与数值解的研究，并可以实现计算效率和高保真度，使控制设计。在控制方面，研究了一种级联避障的新方法。该方法首次系统地解决了形状复杂的状态障碍，并将状态障碍回避控制的应用范围扩大到更多类型的障碍和系统（特别是高阶动力学）。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The research funded by this Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) grant will contribute new fundamental knowledge related to modeling and control of a large-scale system with a long, curved string-like geometry. This will lead to advances in deep underground directional drilling systems impacting national strategic areas including energy, the environment and outer space exploration. In energy, it will enable automated directional drilling for enhanced geothermal energy systems and unconventional natural gas production. This will significantly reduce the cost of energy production of renewables and clean energy, and more importantly, can reduce environmental impact and enhance production safety. In environmental research, the project will address a critical technical barrier to accessing ancient ice cores in the South Pole, to evaluate large-scale climate patterns and predict future climate changes such as the evolution of global warming. In outer space exploration, it will build the fundamental foundation to control a drilling robot to reach potential signs of microbial life and water resources on Mars, to fulfill the ultimate mission of the Mars exploration. Directional drilling control in these applications is challenging, because potentially undesirable working conditions due to vibrations and wellbore formation interaction in the deep underground are difficult to avoid. Existing studies on the directional drilling control cannot ensure avoiding these undesired operating conditions. The geological challenge and the need for a more environment-friendly production process together urge safer, deeper, more accurate and reliable drilling process. Along with the research, this project will encourage controls engineering among underrepresented student groups through new curriculum development, teacher education, remote lab facilities development and outreach activities.The research goal of this project is to create a new framework of controlling a large-scale system with a long, curved string-like geometry to avoid undesired operating conditions for deep underground exploration. The outcome includes a novel control-oriented model by leveraging the unique string geometry, and a new method for state-barrier avoidance control that can address complex barriers. For modeling, a new hybrid scheme that can integrate an analytical approach with a numerical solution is researched , and can achieve both computation-efficiency and high fidelity to enable control design. For control, a novel method that resolves the barrier avoidance in a cascade fashion is researched. This method enables addressing state barriers with complex shape in a systematic way for the first time, and can broaden the range of applications of state-barrier avoidance control to more types of barriers and systems (especially with high order dynamics).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.