Stick-slip stabilization in oil well drill-strings via optimal hybrid fractional order fuzzy logic control scheme

Stick-slip vibration is regarded as one of the major factors that negatively influence the efficiency of the drilling processes. Therefore, it would be highly preferable to overcome the stick-slip vibration challenge through an effective control scheme. This study aims to address the stick-slip vibration problem in oil well drill-strings through a novel concept of an optimal hybrid fractional order fuzzy logic control (OH-FOFLC) scheme. By combining the robustness of fuzzy logic with the convergence speed of the fractional order method, the proposed scheme may enhance tracking performance in drill-strings under various operating conditions. In addition, the fuzzy logic controller for the OH-FOFLC scheme was designed by considering the minimum rules to decrease the computational burden as well as to reduce the controller’s cost. Furthermore, a particle swarm optimization algorithm was implemented for optimizing the coefficients of the OH-FOFLC scheme. To illustrate the overall performance and effectiveness of the OH-FOFLC, four different controllers, including proportional–integral–derivative (PID), fractional order PID, sliding mode control, and optimal hybrid fuzzy logic control approaches, are considered. The validity of the suggested OH-FOFLC was demonstrated through numerical simulations and comprehensive comparative studies which demonstrated that the OH-FOFLC scheme performs better than the four other controllers under various operating conditions.