Adaptive finite‐time recoil control of deepwater drilling riser systems with nonlinear forces and saturation input using switched event‐triggered scheme

Abstract This article investigates the finite‐time recoil control problem of deepwater drilling riser systems with nonlinear friction force, tension force and saturation input. For the friction force, a new approximation model based on radial basis function neural networks is presented, which not only can ensure a better approximation effect than the sine‐function type and exponential‐polynomial‐function type computational models, but also can be easily used for control design. Different from the existing linear optimal control methods, a neural‐network‐based adaptive backstepping control method is proposed to deal with the nonlinear friction and tension forces, which can achieve better recoil control responses. An auxiliary system combining with the change of coordinates is employed to compensate the saturation input effect. To prolong the average release interval of control input while preserving satisfied control performance, a new switched event‐triggered control (ETC) scheme is developed, in which the triggering conditions are switched between the fixed and relative thresholds based on the strength of control signal. With the event‐triggered controller, the practical finite‐time stability condition of recoil control system is derived and the Zeno behavior is avoided. Numerical results are given to show the advantages of the proposed methods in handling the model nonlinearities, finite‐time stability and ETC performance of riser‐tension systems.