Feedforward control of open channel flow using differential flatness

Open channels are used to distribute water to large irrigated areas. In these systems, ensuring timely water delivery is essential to reduce operational water losses. This article derives a method for open-loop control of open channel flow, based on the Hayami model, a parabolic partial differential equation resulting from a simplification of the Saint-Venant equations. The openloop control is represented as infinite series using differential flatness, for which convergence is studied. A comparison is made with a similar problem available in the literature for thermal systems. Numerical simulations show the effectiveness of the approach by applying the open-loop controller to irrigation canals modeled by the full Saint-Venant equations.