Optimization Techniques for Tree-Structured Nonlinear Problems

Robust model predictive control approaches and other applications lead to nonlinear optimization problems defined on (scenario) trees. We present structure-preserving Quasi-Newton update formulas as well as structured inertia correction techniques that allow to solve these problems by interior-point methods with specialized KKT solvers for tree-structured optimization problems. The same type of KKT solvers could be … Read more

BFGS-like updates of constraint preconditioners for sequences of KKT linear systems

We focus on efficient preconditioning techniques for sequences of KKT linear systems arising from the interior point solution of large convex quadratic programming problems. Constraint Preconditioners (CPs), though very effective in accelerating Krylov methods in the solution of KKT systems, have a very high computational cost in some instances, because their factorization may be the … Read more

An inexact potential reduction method for linear programming

A class of interior point methods using inexact directions is analysed. The linear system arising in interior point methods for linear programming is reformulated such that the solution is less sensitive to perturbations in the right-hand side. For the new system an implementable condition is formulated that controls the relative error in the solution. Based … Read more

Implementation of Interior-point Methods for LP based on Krylov Subspace Iterative Solvers with Inner-iteration Preconditioning

We apply novel inner-iteration preconditioned Krylov subspace methods to the interior-point algorithm for linear programming (LP). Inner-iteration preconditioners recently proposed by Morikuni and Hayami enable us to overcome the severe ill-conditioning of linear equations solved in the final phase of interior-point iterations. The employed Krylov subspace methods do not suffer from rank-deficiency and therefore no … Read more

On geometrical properties of preconditioners in IPMs for classes of block-angular problems

One of the most efficient interior-point methods for some classes of block-angular structured problems solves the normal equations by a combination of Cholesky factorizations and preconditioned conjugate gradient for, respectively, the block and linking constraints. In this work we show that the choice of a good preconditioner depends on geometrical properties of the constraints structure. … Read more

A Distributed Interior-Point KKT Solver for Multistage Stochastic Optimization

Multistage stochastic optimization leads to NLPs over scenario trees that become extremely large when many time stages or fine discretizations of the probability space are required. Interior-point methods are well suited for these problems if the arising huge, structured KKT systems can be solved efficiently, for instance, with a large scenario tree but a moderate … Read more

Constrained Optimization with Low-Rank Tensors and Applications to Parametric Problems with PDEs

Low-rank tensor methods provide efficient representations and computations for high-dimensional problems and are able to break the curse of dimensionality when dealing with systems involving multiple parameters. We present algorithms for constrained nonlinear optimization problems that use low-rank tensors and apply them to optimal control of PDEs with uncertain parameters and to parametrized variational inequalities. … Read more

A branch-price-and-cut algorithm for the vehicle routing problem with time windows and multiple deliverymen

We address a variant of the vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW) that includes the decision of how many deliverymen should be assigned to each vehicle. In this variant, the service time at each customer depends on the size of the respective demand and on the number of deliverymen assigned to visit this customer. … Read more

Regularized Interior Proximal Alternating Direction Method for Separable Convex Optimization Problems

In this article we present a version of the proximal alternating direction method for a convex problem with linear constraints and a separable objective function, in which the standard quadratic regularizing term is replaced with an interior proximal metric for those variables that are required to satisfy some additional convex constraints. Moreover, the proposed method … Read more

A polynomial primal-dual affine scaling algorithm for symmetric conic optimization

The primal-dual Dikin-type affine scaling method was originally proposed for linear optimization and then extended to semidefinite optimization. Here, the method is generalized to symmetric conic optimization using the notion of Euclidean Jordan algebras. The method starts with an interior feasible but not necessarily centered primal-dual solution, and it features both centering and reducing the … Read more