Control structure design, i.e. the selection and pairing of manipulated inputs and controlled outputs, is a classic problem in control that has received a lot of attention in the literature. In process control in particular, this problem has been studied extensively in the context of plant-wide control design. Traditionally, control structure design problems are considered once steady state process design is fixed. However, optimal process design does not always translate into the ease of process operation and control. It rather makes process operation and control more challenging since optimal process design generally has very small process margins. Thus, it is important to consider the process design problem and control structure design problem simultaneously. Our research aims to address this problem by developing graph-theoretic methods which can identify promising process design configurations with corresponding control structures in an automated fashion.

Associated members: Ji Hee Kim