Non-anticipative risk-averse analysis with effective scenarios applied to long-term hydrothermal scheduling

In this paper, we deal with long-term operation planning problems of hydrothermal power systems by considering scenario analysis and risk aversion. This is a stochastic sequential decision problem whose solution must be non-anticipative, in the sense that a decision at a stage cannot use a perfect knowledge of the future. We propose strategies to reduce … Read more

Convergence properties of an Objective-Function-Free Optimization regularization algorithm, including an $\mathcal{O}(\epsilon^{-3/2})$ complexity bound

An adaptive regularization algorithm for unconstrained nonconvex optimization is presented in which the objective function is never evaluated, but only derivatives are used. This algorithm belongs to the class of adaptive regularization methods, for which optimal worst-case complexity results are known for the standard framework where the objective function is evaluated. It is shown in … Read more

Adaptive Nonlinear Optimization of District Heating Networks Based on Model and Discretization Catalogs

We propose an adaptive optimization algorithm for operating district heating networks in a stationary regime. The behavior of hot water flow in the pipe network is modeled using the incompressible Euler equations and a suitably chosen energy equation. By applying different simplifications to these equations, we derive a catalog of models. Our algorithm is based … Read more

A Trust Region Method for the Optimization of Noisy Functions

Classical trust region methods were designed to solve problems in which function and gradient information are exact. This paper considers the case when there are bounded errors (or noise) in the above computations and proposes a simple modification of the trust region method to cope with these errors. The new algorithm only requires information about … Read more

Worst-Case Complexity of an SQP Method for Nonlinear Equality Constrained Stochastic Optimization

A worst-case complexity bound is proved for a sequential quadratic optimization (commonly known as SQP) algorithm that has been designed for solving optimization problems involving a stochastic objective function and deterministic nonlinear equality constraints. Barring additional terms that arise due to the adaptivity of the monotonically nonincreasing merit parameter sequence, the proved complexity bound is … Read more

Using an Analytical Computational-Geometry Library to Model Nonoverlap and Boundary-Distance Constraints and their Application to Packing Poly-Bézier Shapes

In this paper we will show how to model nonoverlap as well as uniform and nonuniform boundary-distance constraints between poly-Bézier shapes using an analytical computational-geometry library. We then use this capability to develop, implement and analyze analytical-optimization solutions to minimum-area rectangular-boundary packing-problems as well as minimum-area one- and two-dimensional puzzle-piece packing-problems. In the process, we … Read more

A sequential adaptive regularisation using cubics algorithm for solving nonlinear equality constrained optimization

The adaptive regularisation algorithm using cubics (ARC) is initially proposed for unconstrained optimization. ARC has excellent convergence properties and complexity. In this paper, we extend ARC to solve nonlinear equality constrained optimization and propose a sequential adaptive regularisation using cubics algorithm inspired by sequential quadratic programming (SQP) methods. In each iteration of our method, the … Read more

OPM, a collection of Optimization Problems in Matlab

OPM is a small collection of CUTEst unconstrained and bound-constrained nonlinear optimization problems, which can be used in Matlab for testing optimization algorithms directly (i.e. without installing additional software). ArticleDownload View PDF

Adaptive Finite-Difference Interval Estimation for Noisy Derivative-Free Optimization

A common approach for minimizing a smooth nonlinear function is to employ finite-difference approximations to the gradient. While this can be easily performed when no error is present within the function evaluations, when the function is noisy, the optimal choice requires information about the noise level and higher-order derivatives of the function, which is often … Read more

Constrained Optimization in the Presence of Noise

The problem of interest is the minimization of a nonlinear function subject to nonlinear equality constraints using a sequential quadratic programming (SQP) method. The minimization must be performed while observing only noisy evaluations of the objective and constraint functions. In order to obtain stability, the classical SQP method is modified by relaxing the standard Armijo … Read more