1. Introduction
Partial differential equations (PDEs) are employed to describe the behavior from heat transfer, fluid flows, electrostatic fields, vibrations or wave phenomena [
1] and also have been objects of study in novel areas concerned with traffic flow control, gas and oil extraction, neural networks, machine learning, neuroscience, information science and quantum systems [
2,
3,
4,
5]. Moreover, the modeling of soft robots by means of PDEs to the design of feedback controllers is still an open research topic [
6]. In accordance with its properties, the PDEs are classified into parabolic, elliptic and hyperbolic types. Due to the temporal and spatial interaction between their parameters and variables, such PDEs systems are also referred as distributed parameter systems (DPSs). A PDE in a domain together with a set of initial and/or boundary conditions (BCs) that retains the existence, uniqueness, and stability properties is said to be a well-posed problem [
7].
Burgers’ equation is used to describe wave phenomena in hydrodynamics and acoustics. Burgers was interested in the equation as a one-dimensional model of viscous compressible flow. It was derived originally as a prototype to provide analytic insight into the nature of turbulence and its modeling, and has found applications in the study of shock waves and wave transmission. Also, it is considered analogous to the Navier–Stokes equation. Moreover, it has been shown that Burgers’ equation with an external forcing term can be reduced to an one-dimensional heat equation plus a potential term via the Hopf–Cole transformation. It should be noted that in the case of radiation or Neumann BCs, this latter transformation is not of great help since these conditions are transformed into quadratically nonlinear conditions. So, this fact does not allow us to treat the above mentioned linear heat equation by standard methods. Besides, the Burgers’ equation can be linked with the linear heat equation via Bäcklund transformation. Furthermore, it is well-known that the uncontrolled problem for the Burgers’ equation with homogeneous Neumann BCs is not asymptotically stable. Additionally, Burgers’ equation is not globally controllable, and under certain conditions it can be neutrally stable [
8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13].
Generally, finding exact solutions for nonlinear PDEs and the practical problem may be hard. Due to such a reason, many numerical methods are frequently applied to achieve this goal [
14,
15,
16,
17]. The solution of the general Burgers equation is quite complex, and few researchers study the theoretical solution of this equation. Instead, many other researchers have considered various numerical discretization methods to solve it. In [
14], a robust implicit difference scheme was proposed in order to compensate the singular behavior of the exact solution at the initial time introducing graded meshes. The Galerkin method, based on piece-wise linear test functions, was used to handle the nonlinear convection term, whereas the Taylor expansion, with an integral remainder, was used to deal with fourth- and second-order terms. Existence, stability, convergence and uniqueness properties of the numerical solutions were proved. Also, two nonlinear iterative methods, namely the linearized iterative algorithm and the Newton iterative method, were introduced to solve the nonlinear system. Most of the existing approximate methods for solving fourth-order partial integro-differential equations (PIDEs) with a weakly singular kernel (WSK) are unbalanced, i.e., a low order scheme, such as finite difference methods; for integrating the temporal variable and a high-order numerical structure, such as the spectral-like method, the discretization of space variables are used. The Sinc-collocation method is an effective technique against the singularities of the equations. In [
15], a fully space–time Sinc-collocation method was developed for a fourth-order heat model arising in viscoelasticity, which is a family of fourth-order PIDEs involving weak singularity. The Sinc method for the Volterra integral term was constructed. Exponential convergence simultaneously in space and time for the proposed method was proved. As a general form of PIDEs, the nonlocal evolution equations with a WSK are recognized as an efficient tool to describe the properties of complex dynamical processes more accurately than the integer derivatives and integrals. The application of the nonlocal evolution equations encompasses a wide spectrum of topics. The three-dimensional nonlocal evolution equation with the WSK is in a preliminary stage of development, and its potential remains to be fully explored. In [
16], a backward Euler alternating direction implicit (ADI) finite difference method for the three-dimensional nonlocal evolution equation with the WSK was devised, which significantly reduces the computational cost. The ADI method is an effective numerical method for high dimensional PIDEs, which reduce the high dimensional problem to sets of independent one-dimensional problems. Stability and convergence analysis were proven when introducing two new inner products and norms. A first-order fractional convolution quadrature scheme and the backward Euler ADI method were proposed to approximate a Riemann–Liouville fractional integral term and to discretize the temporal derivative, respectively. In [
17], an orthogonal spline collocation (OSC) method for approximating a multi-term fourth-order subdiffusion equation with non-smooth solutions was developed. The multi-term fourth-order subdiffusion equation is an effective tool for modeling anomalous phenomena and complex systems in engineering and natural science, having some advantages over integer-order PDEs in describing real processes or phenomena with memory. The graded meshes method to handle the initial weak singularity of the unknown solution at the initial time was employed in the temporal direction, whereas the OSC method was used in the spatial direction.
Under a nonlinear feedback linearizing transformation approach and using the backstepping boundary control (BBC) method for PDEs [
18,
19], a full state feedback law was designed in order to stabilize shock profiles from the viscous Burgers’ equation actuated at its boundaries. Then, the design of a nonlinear observer, output feedback stabilization and trajectory tracking for the viscous Burgers’ equation were addressed in [
20,
21,
22].
Although not in a direct way, the adaptive control approach for ordinary differential equations (ODEs) from finite dimension has been spread to the control of PDEs of infinite dimension, successfully contributing to the parametric estimation of its ideal parameters. The adaptive control technique has been studied in some classes of DPSs. A review can be found in [
10,
23]. In [
10], the problem of global asymptotic stability, when considering Neumann and Dirichlet boundary control, was solved for the viscous and inviscid Burgers’ equations through the design of nonlinear boundary control laws under the control Lyapunov function approach. In this latter work, the viscosity parameter was considered as uncertain, and the control of their respective stochastic versions was also addressed. Moreover, an observer-based version was developed for the Dirichlet boundary control of the viscous Burgers’ equation for which measurement in the interior of the domain is required, but it may be impossible to obtain [
24]. In [
23], an adaptive regulator for a viscous Burgers’ equation was designed under a high-gain nonlinear output feedback approach ensuring global asymptotic stability. Also, it was shown that his proposal can be generalized to higher-order nonlinear PDEs systems. In [
25], the trajectory tracking problem and disturbance attenuation to the viscous Burgers’ equation was addressed under the geometric regulation theory approach.
In [
26,
27,
28], early studies on estimation error convergence in DPSs were conducted. In such works, the model reference adaptive control (MRAC) approach for PDEs was examined. Designs of robust adaptive controllers for the Burgers’ equation, regarding unknown viscosity, under Lyapunov’s direct method were reported in [
10,
29]. An adaptive version for a boundary controller of a parabolic PDE, this latter including an unknown parameter that destabilizes the system, was proposed in [
30]. In [
31,
32], under the output feedback approach, adaptive boundary controllers for unstable infinite relative degree parabolic type PDEs were developed. In [
33], adaptive controllers for parabolic type PDEs with spatially-varying parameters as well as with actuation in the boundary were introduced. Convergence of the estimation and parametric errors was guaranteed under Lyapunov’s framework. Adaptive boundary controllers designed for unstable parabolic PDEs under the backstepping control framework were reported in [
34,
35,
36]. Moreover, the adaptive control problem for hyperbolic PDEs, namely one-dimensional systems of coupled linear hyperbolic PDEs, relying on the backstepping approach was treated in [
4].
Adaptive BBC approach for PDEs has become a useful constructive design method for both state and unknown parameter estimation with control signal actuation in the boundary, offering the advantage of neglecting the placement of actuators and sensors in the domain [
37]. In [
19], adaptive BBC design schemes for PDEs based on Lyapunov’s method, swapping and passive identifiers, the latter being inspired on the basis of the certainty equivalence principle, were addressed.
The backstepping design method has shown to have great potential in the control of nonlinear PDEs. In some PDEs, the nonlinearity appears in a manner that does not affect the stability; thus, as for the Burgers’ equation in [
29,
38,
39,
40], the selection of a Lyapunov function is very simple. In fact, the experience has shown that the addition of viscosity yields smooth solutions for a nonlinear equation, and that the addition of a nonlinearity can stabilize a linear equation.
In our work, we try with the control of a one-dimensional parabolic type modified Burgers’ equation via adaptive BBC methodology under the criteria of parametric uncertainties to the reactive and viscosity terms, BCs of Robin and Neumann, and actuation of the control signal on this latter BC.
This paper is arranged as follows. Function space properties are summarized in
Section 2. In
Section 3, the design of a BBC for a Reaction–Advection–Diffusion (RAD) equation is shown. The modified Burgers’ system is described in
Section 4. The identifier PDE is given in
Section 5. In
Section 6, the estimation error PDE is given.
Section 7 summarizes the design of the parametric update (adaptive) laws. Dynamics from the boundary control are exhibited in
Section 8. In
Section 9, interpretation of the results and research directions are given. Conclusions are drawn at the end.
2. Function Spaces
Let be an open set of with boundary . Consider that either is , for , or is Lipschitz. Let be the generic point of ; so, denotes the Lebesgue measure on . denotes the space of real continuous functions on , denotes the space of real continuous functions on . or denotes the space for functions k times continuously differentiable on , denotes the space for functions k times continuously differentiable on . denotes the spaces of real functions on with compact support in .
Let us consider
a Hilbert space for the scalar product
with norm given by
The space of bounded and measurable real functions on
is represented by
, a Banach space for the norm
The space of real functions on
, which are
for the Lebesgue measure, is represented by
, for
, a Banach space for the norm
The Sobolev space of functions
u in
is denoted by
,
, whose derivatives of order equal to or less than
s are in
, a Banach space for the norm
with
,
, denoting partial differential derivatives of
u,
,
and
.
is a Hilbert space.
Consider the Sobolev spaces comprising and . The closure of in is denoted by . The closure of in is denoted by .
For the scalar product
and
are Hilbert spaces.
The Poincaré inequality
for all
, for a bounded
, implies that for the scalar product
with norm given by
is a Hilbert space equivalent to
[
41].
3. BBC Design Methodology for PDEs
The BBC design methodology for PDEs consists of introducing a Volterra integral transformation with a integration kernel along with a control law that maps the PDE system into a stable objective system. So, the PDE system is stabilized due to the invertibility of the transformation since the equivalence of norms between both PDE and objective systems holds. In this section, we show the design procedure of a BBC for a RAD equation [
42].
In our analysis, all functions are dependant on the spatial variable x and time t. For easy of notation, only those functions for which the argument is highlighted are those for which its BC is particularly referred to or .
Consider the RAD system
with
u a function with domain
and
in the spatial variable and time, respectively, with
b,
as constant parameters, Neumann BCs and actuation (Neumann actuation) signal
, diffusion term
, advection term
and reaction term
. Let us define
as a change of variables. From (
16), the temporal derivative results
while its spatial derivatives as
and
So, under the change of variables (
16), the term
is removed from the linear PDE (
13) which becomes
with
. The BCs are inferred by deriving (
16), i.e.,
which, for
results
Now, evaluating (
21) for
results
Later, Equation (
20) has the form of a Reaction–Diffusion (RD) equation, i.e., it is a reduced model from (
13), with BCs (
22)–(
23).
3.1. Stable Objective System
The desirable behavior to be performed by (
20) should be defined through a stable objective system. So, let us take the heat equation
as objective system, with Neumann BCs to the function
w with domain
and
. Next, we must demonstrate exponential stability of the system (
24)–(26) in the
-norm, namely,
Let us consider the Lyapunov function
with time derivative
which, from (
24), can be written as
By applying integration by parts we have
which, from BCs (25)–(26), is reduced to
The linkage between -norms of w and is established in the following lemma.
Lemma 1 (
Poincaré Inequality [
43]).
For any (Sobolev space) the following relations hold So, multiplying (
31) by a constant we have
From Lemma 1, Equation (
33) is simplified to
Thus, considering (
28), this latter inequality can be rewritten as
Solving this last relation by integration we arrive at
Later, from the property for logarithms
which is equivalent to
Then, evaluating (
37) for
results
Next, it should be proved that
. So, from the desirable property
integrating and evaluating limits it yields
Also, from (
37) and (
38),
Moreover, from (
28) and (
27),
At last,
where
is for
. In the manner given above, exponential stability of the PDE system (
24)–(26) has been proved.
3.2. Backstepping Transformation
Following the BBC methodology for PDEs [
18], the coordinate (Volterra integral) transformation
is exploited to convert the reduced model (
20), with BCs (
22) and (
23), into the stable objective system (
24)–(26). From the invertibility property of the Volterra integral transformation, the smoothness of the kernel (kernel gain)
of the direct and inverse transformation sets the equality between norms from
and
spaces. So, a kernel gain should be found to achieve that the RAD system behaves like the objective system. Also, from the stability property of the heat Equations (
24)–(26) can be inferred exponential stability for the closed-loop system in
and
.
Let us assume
as a continuous function whose partial derivative is also continuous in
for
. By invoking the Leibniz rule [
44],
with
and
From (
43), its temporal derivative results
Recalling (
20), the temporal derivative (
48) is rewritten as
From the left term inside the integral, using integration by parts twice yields
From (
43), the spatial derivatives invoking (
44) are given as
and
Subtracting (
49) and (
50) from (
52), when considering (
24), results
From the term inside the integral in (
53),
Also, from (
53), by fixing
then
Moreover, from (
53), by fixing the left term
taking into account (
47), thus
Subtracting
and integrating it yields
Consequently, to zeroing (
53), for all
v in
, the identities (
54), (
56) and (
59) must be satisfied.
By inspecting (
54) and (
56), the kernel gain
will be the solution of such a hyperbolic PDE system. The kernel can be met by the conversion of (
54) and (
56) into an integral equation. So, consider the change in variables
and let us denote
From (
61), its derivatives with regard to the
x and
y variables are given in the form
Substituting (
62)–(65) into (
54) it yields
By applying the change of variables (
60) to (
56) it results
Then, by applying (
67) into (
59) it results
In this manner, we get the PDE (
66) with BCs (
67) and (
68).
By integrating (
66) with regard to
, from limits 0 to
, thus
By evaluating the integral from the left side of (
69) it yields
From (
67), calculating the derivative with regard to
and replacing it in (
70) yields
Then, by integrating (
71) with regard to
, from limits
to
, we have
From both simple integrals in (
72), evaluating limits it yields
Now, we need to write in terms of an integral function.
From the relation (
47), Equation (
74) becomes
By integrating (
76) with regard to
, from limits 0 to
, we get
By evaluating the integral on the left side from (
77) we get
From (
67), for
then
. By the identity (
68), for
we can assure that both map into the same domain. So, we write (
78) as
From (
71), the integral term is given as
So, substituting (
80) in (
79) and expanding,
Also, evaluating limits for the integral on the left yields
Moreover, by substituting (
82) into (
73) it yields
which, adding similar terms, is rewritten as
At last, we arrived at (
84) which is equivalent to the PDE (
54) with BCs (
56) and (
59).
3.3. Integral Equation Solution
Let us find the solution for the integral Equation (
84). So, from the initial guess
and by using the successive approximations approach, a recursive formula is established to approximate the step ahead solution
. This formula is set up as
Let us denote the difference between two consecutive terms as
so,
Assuming that (
86) tends to a limit, the solution
can be written as
or, by using (
87), in the form
From considering (
85)–(
88) and setting
we get
Thus, using (
88) we arrive at
At this stage, we are obtaining (
88) for every new
n value. For
then we need
since
is calculated for
. So,
Then, for
it results
Accordingly, from (
91)–(
96), for any
n the pattern to follow is formulated as
Then, the solution (
90) can be defined by
Let us consider the use of a first-order modified Bessel function, namely,
in order to simplify (
98) for software implementation. By setting
, from (
99) we get
To express (
100) in the form (
98), rearranging terms in (
98) it can be written as
Moreover, separating terms in (
100) it is rewritten as
From (
101) and (
102), matching the terms
we get
By the knowledge of (
103), the Bessel function is rewritten as
Now, all the terms appearing in (
104) must appear in (
98). Then, by describing (
100) in the form (
98),
Taking into account (
60) we get
so, substituting (
107) and (108) into (
106) yields the kernel gain
3.4. Neumann Controller
From the coordinate transformation (
43) and the spatial derivative (
51), setting
we have
Separating
, taking into account (26) and (
43), from (
110) we get
From considering (
59) and from knowing
, simplifying (
111) it results as
For this last equation, we can get
from (
109). As it can be seen from the kernel gain (
109), the Bessel function depends from two variables. Then, we need to represent the Bessel function in terms of one variable to get
. Consider the change of variables
So, Equation (
109) can be rewritten as
with
. For a Bessel function its derivative is given by
Thus, the derivative of (
114) results
By using the chain rule,
where
and
Substituting (
117) and (
118) into (
116) results
and going back to the original variables
we get
Setting
in (
109) and (
119), and replacing them in (
112) we arrive at
For
, from the change of variables (
16) and spatial derivative (
18)
respectively. Substituting (
120) and (
121) into (122) we get the Neumann controller
4. Modified Burgers’ Equation
Let us consider the modified Burgers’ equation
with
u being a function defined inside the domain
for all
, and constant parameters
b and
. This is a nonlinear PDE containing a convective term
, and the term
could describe a viscosity correction [
11]. Equations with convective terms appear in applied mathematics and theoretical physics, e.g., traffic flow and gas dynamics [
45]. As it can be seen, the system (
124)–(126) has a Robin BC (125), also called a Steklov BC, in addition to an actuated Neumann BC (126). The term
is an instability term to the system for
. Otherwise, the system will behaves as a stable one. It should be noted that the Burgers’ equation is not globally controllable and that it can be neutrally stable under certain conditions. Boundary value problems try with finding solutions that match given surfaces, curves, or points. Typically, solutions are wanted to satisfy certain imposed BCs. BCs required to specify a unique solution will depend on the equation class. For Poisson’s equation with a closed surface, Dirichlet conditions lead to a unique stable solution. Neumann conditions, independent of the Dirichlet conditions, also lead to a unique stable solution independent of the Dirichlet solution. So, a combination of BCs could lead to an inconsistency, or nontrivial solutions can exist [
11,
46].
Also, consider the Neumann controller (
123) designed for the RAD (linear PDE) system (
13)–(15), and whose structure from this latter is similar to that from (
124)–(126), when considering the linear heat Equations (
24)–(26) as an objective system and
a given parameter, and
,
modified Bessel functions of the first and second kind, respectively.
In this work, as in the MRAC strategy for finite-dimensional systems, under the assumption that the (nominal) controller (
123) applied in (126) assures the stabilization of the system for large enough values of
, our goal is to design an adaptive BBC from the structure of such nominal controllers (
123) to be applied on the modified Burgers’ system. This last assumption arises from considering that the structure for the RAD Equations (
13)–(15) is, in a certain sense, similar to that for the modified Burgers’ Equations (
124)–(126), differing from the convective and advection terms, with the same disposal for the BCs. It must be taken into account that the adaptive control strategy for finite-dimensional systems cannot be extended in a straightforward way to the adaptive control of infinite-dimensional systems.