Physics-informed recurrent neural network modeling for predictive control of nonlinear processes

In this work, we present a physics-informed recurrent neural network (PIRNN) modeling approach, and a PIRNN-based predictive control scheme for a general class of nonlinear dynamic systems. Specifically, we first develop a hybrid data-driven and physics-guided modeling framework that integrates measurement data and mechanistic mathematical models to construct high-fidelity RNN models. Then, we derive a generalization error bound of the PIRNN model based on a nominal system model via the Rademacher complexity technique from statistical machine learning theory. Subsequently, the PIRNN model is utilized in Lyapunov-based model predictive controllers and applied to a chemical reactor example with Gaussian measurement noise to demonstrate its improved noise rejection and generalization performance in comparison to the purely data-driven and the purely physics-guided RNN-based predictive control schemes.