Robust reduced-order control of combustion instabilities

Thermoacoustic instabilities in combustion processes can have adverse effects on system performance. In this paper we formulate the problem of active control of combustion instabilities in a form that lends itself to the application of robust feedback control design. Using the uncertain state-space system model, the parameter-dependent Lyapunov function framework for robust fixed-order controller design developed by Haddad and Bernstein (1995) is used to design high performance reduced-order robust controllers for suppressing thermoacoustic oscillations in combustion chambers.