Adjustable Robust Nonlinear Network Design under Demand Uncertainties

We study network design problems for nonlinear and nonconvex flow models under demand uncertainties. To this end, we apply the concept of adjustable robust optimization to compute a network design that admits a feasible transport for all, possibly infinitely many, demand scenarios within a given uncertainty set. For solving the corresponding adjustable robust mixed-integer nonlinear … Read more

On Coupling Constraints in Linear Bilevel Optimization

It is well-known that coupling constraints in linear bilevel optimization can lead to disconnected feasible sets, which is not possible without coupling constraints. However, there is no difference between linear bilevel problems with and without coupling constraints w.r.t. their complexity-theoretical hardness. In this note, we prove that, although there is a clear difference between these … Read more

Using Column Generation in Column-and-Constraint Generation for Adjustable Robust Optimization

Adjustable robust optimization (ARO) is a powerful tool to model problems that have uncertain data and that feature a two-stage decision making process. Computationally, they are often addressed using the column-and-constraint generation (CCG) algorithm introduced by Zhao and Zeng in 2012. While it was empirically shown that the algorithm scales well if all second-stage decisions … Read more

Learning the Follower’s Objective Function in Sequential Bilevel Games

We consider bilevel optimization problems in which the leader has no or only partial knowledge about the objective function of the follower. The studied setting is a sequential one in which the bilevel game is played repeatedly. This allows the leader to learn the objective function of the follower over time. We focus on two … Read more

Connections and Reformulations between Robust and Bilevel Optimization

Robust and bilevel optimization share the common feature that they involve a certain multilevel structure. Hence, although they model something rather different when used in practice, they seem to have a similar mathematical structure. In this paper, we analyze the connections between different types of robust problems (strictly robust problems with and without decision-dependence of … Read more

An Exact Method for Nonlinear Network Flow Interdiction Problems

We study network flow interdiction problems with nonlinear and nonconvex flow models. The resulting model is a max-min bilevel optimization problem in which the follower’s problem is nonlinear and nonconvex. In this game, the leader attacks a limited number of arcs with the goal to maximize the load shed and the follower aims at minimizing … Read more

On a Computationally Ill-Behaved Bilevel Problem with a Continuous and Nonconvex Lower Level

It is well known that bilevel optimization problems are hard to solve both in theory and practice. In this paper, we highlight a further computational difficulty when it comes to solving bilevel problems with continuous but nonconvex lower levels. Even if the lower-level problem is solved to ɛ-feasibility regarding its nonlinear constraints for an arbitrarily … Read more

A Bilevel Optimization Approach to Decide the Feasibility of Bookings in the European Gas Market

The European gas market is organized as a so-called entry-exit system with the main goal to decouple transport and trading. To this end, gas traders and the transmission system operator (TSO) sign so-called booking contracts that grant capacity rights to traders to inject or withdraw gas at certain nodes up to this capacity. On a … Read more

Global Optimization for the Multilevel European Gas Market System with Nonlinear Flow Models on Trees

The European gas market is implemented as an entry-exit system, which aims to decouple transport and trading of gas. It has been modeled in the literature as a multilevel problem, which contains a nonlinear flow model of gas physics. Besides the multilevel structure and the nonlinear flow model, the computation of so-called technical capacities is … Read more

Deciding the Feasibility of a Booking in the European Gas Market is coNP-hard

We show that deciding the feasibility of a booking (FB) in the European entry-exit gas market is coNP-hard if a nonlinear potential-based flow model is used. The feasibility of a booking can be characterized by polynomially many load flow scenarios with maximum potential-difference, which are computed by solving nonlinear potential-based flow models. We use this … Read more