Nonlinear Optimisation in CHP-Applications

At the Fraunhofer Institute UMSICHT a nonlinear model has been developed facilitating the dynamic optimisation of combined heat and power production systems. The strategy called “dynamic supply temperature optimisation” is a very promising approach to use the DH-network itself as a large heat storage causing no additional investment cost. The pipeline system of a district … Read more

An Active-Set Algorithm for Nonlinear Programming Using Linear Programming and Equality Constrained Subproblems

This paper describes an active-set algorithm for large-scale nonlinear programming based on the successive linear programming method proposed by Fletcher and Sainz de la Maza. The step computation is performed in two stages. In the first stage a linear program is solved to estimate the active set at the solution. The linear program is obtained … Read more

Transparent optical network design with sparse wavelength conversion

We consider the design of transparent optical networks from a practical perspective. Network operators aim at satisfying the communication demands at minimum cost. Such an optimization involves three interdependent planning issues: the dimensioning of the physical topology, the routing of lightpaths, and the wavelength assignment. Further topics include the reliability of the configuration and sparse … Read more

A Primal-Dual Trust Region Algorithm for Nonlinear Optimization

This paper concerns general (nonconvex) nonlinear optimization when first and second derivatives of the objective and constraint functions are available. The proposed method is based on finding an approximate solution of a sequence of unconstrained subproblems parameterized by a scalar parameter. The objective function of each unconstrained subproblem is an augmented penalty-barrier function that involves … Read more

Hard equality constrained integer knapsacks

We consider the following integer feasibility problem: “Given positive integer numbers $a_0,a_1,\dots,a_n,$ with $\gcd(a_1,\dots,a_n)=1$ and $\va=(a_1,\dots,a_n)$, does there exist a vector $\vx\in\bbbz^n_{\ge \zero}$ satisfying $\va\vx = a_0$?” Some instances of this type have been found to be extremely hard to solve by standard methods such as branch-and-bound, even if the number of variables is as … Read more

Optimal Magnetic Shield Design with Second-Order Cone Programming

In this paper, we consider a continuous version of the convex network flow problem which involves the integral of the Euclidean norm of the flow and its square in the objective function. A discretized version of this problem can be cast as a second-order cone program, for which efficient primal-dual interior-point algorithms have been developed … Read more

A Conic Programming Approach to Generalized Tchebycheff Inequalities

Consider the problem of finding optimal bounds on the expected value of piece-wise polynomials over all measures with a given set of moments. We show that this problem can be studied within the framework of conic programming. Relying on a key approximation result for conic programming, we show that these bounds can be numerically computed … Read more

A new iteration-complexity bound for the MTY predictor-corrector algorithm

In this paper we present a new iteration-complexity bound for the Mizuno-Todd-Ye predictor-corrector (MTY P-C) primal-dual interior-point algorithm for linear programming. The analysis of the paper is based on the important notion of crossover events introduced by Vavasis and Ye. For a standard form linear program $\min\{c^Tx : Ax=b, \, x \ge 0\}$ with decision … Read more

Using selective orthonormalization to update the analytic center after the addition of multiple cuts

We study the issue of updating the analytic center after multiple cutting planes have been added through the analytic center of the current polytope in Euclidean n-space. This is an important issue that arises at every `stage’ in a cutting plane algorithm. If q cuts are to be added, with q no larger than n, … Read more

A hybrid genetic algorithm for manufacturing cell formation

Cellular manufacturing emerged as a production strategy capable of solving the problems of complexity and long manufacturing lead times in batch production. The fundamental problem in cellular manufacturing is the formation of product families and machine cells. This paper presents a new approach for obtaining machine cells and product families. The approach combines a local … Read more