Optimal tracking control with feedforward compensation for offshore steel jacket platforms with active mass damper mechanisms

This paper presents the optimal tracking control methodology for an offshore steel jacket platform subject to external wave force. Based on a dynamic model of an offshore steel jacket platform with an active mass damper mechanism and a linear exogenous system model of the external wave force on the offshore platform, an optimal tracking control scheme with feedforward compensation is proposed to attenuate the wave-induced vibration of the offshore platform. A feedforward and feedback optimal tracking controller (FFOTC) can be obtained by solving an algebraic Riccati equation and a Sylvester equation, respectively. It is demonstrated that the wave-induced vibration amplitudes of the offshore platform under the FFOTC are much smaller than the ones under the feedback optimal tracking controller (FOTC) and the feedforward and feedback optimal controller (FFOC). Furthermore, the required control force under the FFOTC is smaller than the ones under the FOTC and the FFOC. © The Author(s) 2014.