This book reviews and discusses recent advances in the development of methods and algorithms for nonlinear optimization and its applications, focusing on the large-dimensional case, the current forefront of much research. Individual chapters, contributed by eminent authorities, provide an up-to-date overview of the field from different and complementary standpoints, including theoretical analysis, algorithmic development, implementation issues and applications.

Optimal design, optimal control, and parameter estimation of systems governed by partial differential equations (PDEs) give rise to a class of problems known as PDE-constrained optimization. The size and complexity of the discretized PDEs often pose significant challenges for contemporary optimization methods. With the maturing of technology for PDE simulation, interest has now increased in PDE-based optimization. The chapters in this volume collectively assess the state of the art in PDE-constrained optimization, identify challenges to optimization presented by modern highly parallel PDE simulation codes, and discuss promising algorithmic and software approaches for addressing them. These contributions represent current research of two strong scientific computing communities, in optimization and PDE simulation. This volume merges perspectives in these two different areas and identifies interesting open questions for further research.

With contributions by specialists in optimization and practitioners in the fields of aerospace engineering, chemical engineering, and fluid and solid mechanics, the major themes include an assessment of the state of the art in optimization algorithms as well as challenging applications in design and control, in the areas of process engineering and systems with partial differential equation models.

This book presents the theoretical details and computational performances of algorithms used for solving continuous nonlinear optimization applications imbedded in GAMS. Aimed toward scientists and graduate students who utilize optimization methods to model and solve problems in mathematical programming, operations research, business, engineering, and industry, this book enables readers with a background in nonlinear optimization and linear algebra to use GAMS technology to understand and utilize its important capabilities to optimize algorithms for modeling and solving complex, large-scale, continuous nonlinear optimization problems or applications. Beginning with an overview of constrained nonlinear optimization methods, this book moves on to illustrate key aspects of mathematical modeling through modeling technologies based on algebraically oriented modeling languages. Next, the main feature of GAMS, an algebraically oriented language that allows for high-level algebraic representation of mathematical optimization models, is introduced to model and solve continuous nonlinear optimization applications. More than 15 real nonlinear optimization applications in algebraic and GAMS representation are presented which are used to illustrate the performances of the algorithms described in this book. Theoretical and computational results, methods, and techniques effective for solving nonlinear optimization problems, are detailed through the algorithms MINOS, KNITRO, CONOPT, SNOPT and IPOPT which work in GAMS technology.

This volume contains the edited texts of the lectures presented at the Workshop on High Performance Algorithms and Software for Nonlinear Optimization held in Erice, Sicily, at the "G. Stampacchia" School of Mathematics of the "E. Majorana" Centre for Scientific Culture, June 30 - July 8, 2001. In the first year of the new century, the aim of the Workshop was to assess the past and to discuss the future of Nonlinear Optimization, and to highlight recent achieve ments and promising research trends in this field. An emphasis was requested on algorithmic and high performance software developments and on new computational experiences, as well as on theoretical advances. We believe that such goal was basically achieved. The Workshop was attended by 71 people from 22 countries. Although not all topics were covered, the presentations gave indeed a wide overview of the field, from different and complementary stand points. Besides the lectures, several formal and informal discussions took place. We wish to express our appreciation for the active contribution of all the participants in the meeting. The 18 papers included in this volume represent a significant selection of the most recent developments in nonlinear programming theory and practice. They show that there is plenty of exciting ideas, implementation issues and new applications which produce a very fast evolution in the field.

/homepage/sac/cam/na2000/index.html7-Volume Set now available at special set price ! In one of the papers in this collection, the remark that "nothing at all takes place in the universe in which some rule of maximum of minimum does not appear" is attributed to no less an authority than Euler. Simplifying the syntax a little, we might paraphrase this as Everything is an optimization problem. While this might be something of an overstatement, the element of exaggeration is certainly reduced if we consider the extended form: Everything is an optimization problem or a system of equations. This observation, even if only partly true, stands as a fitting testimonial to the importance of the work covered by this volume. Since the 1960s, much effort has gone into the development and application of numerical algorithms for solving problems in the two areas of optimization and systems of equations. As a result, many different ideas have been proposed for dealing efficiently with (for example) severe nonlinearities and/or very large numbers of variables. Libraries of powerful software now embody the most successful of these ideas, and one objective of this volume is to assist potential users in choosing appropriate software for the problems they need to solve. More generally, however, these collected review articles are intended to provide both researchers and practitioners with snapshots of the 'state-of-the-art' with regard to algorithms for particular classes of problem. These snapshots are meant to have the virtues of immediacy through the inclusion of very recent ideas, but they also have sufficient depth of field to show how ideas have developed and how today's research questions have grown out of previous solution attempts. The most efficient methods for local optimization, both unconstrained and constrained, are still derived from the classical Newton approach. As well as dealing in depth with the various classical, or neo-classical, approaches, the selection of papers on optimization in this volume ensures that newer ideas are also well represented. Solving nonlinear algebraic systems of equations is closely related to optimization. The two are not completely equivalent, however, and usually something is lost in the translation. Algorithms for nonlinear equations can be roughly classified as locally convergent or globally convergent. The characterization is not perfect. Locally convergent algorithms include Newton's method, modern quasi-Newton variants of Newton's method, and trust region methods. All of these approaches are well represented in this volume.

This book has two main objectives: • to provide a concise introduction to nonlinear optimization methods, which can be used as a textbook at a graduate or upper undergraduate level; • to collect and organize selected important topics on optimization algorithms, not easily found in textbooks, which can provide material for advanced courses or can serve as a reference text for self-study and research. The basic material on unconstrained and constrained optimization is organized into two blocks of chapters: • basic theory and optimality conditions • unconstrained and constrained algorithms. These topics are treated in short chapters that contain the most important results in theory and algorithms, in a way that, in the authors’ experience, is suitable for introductory courses. A third block of chapters addresses methods that are of increasing interest for solving difficult optimization problems. Difficulty can be typically due to the high nonlinearity of the objective function, ill-conditioning of the Hessian matrix, lack of information on first-order derivatives, the need to solve large-scale problems. In the book various key subjects are addressed, including: exact penalty functions and exact augmented Lagrangian functions, non monotone methods, decomposition algorithms, derivative free methods for nonlinear equations and optimization problems. The appendices at the end of the book offer a review of the essential mathematical background, including an introduction to convex analysis that can make part of an introductory course.

The latest practical applications of electricity market equilibrium models in analyzing electricity markets Electricity market deregulation is driving the power energy production from a monopolistic structure into a competitive market environment. The development of electricity markets has necessitated the need to analyze market behavior and power. Restructured Electric Power Systems reviews the latest developments in electricity market equilibrium models and discusses the application of such models in the practical analysis and assessment of electricity markets. Drawing upon the extensive involvement in the research and industrial development of the leading experts in the subject area, the book starts by explaining the current developments of electrical power systems towards smart grids and then relates the operation and control technologies to the aspects in electricity markets. It explores: The problems of electricity market behavior and market power Mathematical programs with equilibrium constraints (MPEC) and equilibrium problems with equilibrium constraints (EPEC) Tools and techniques for solving the electricity market equilibrium problems Various electricity market equilibrium models State-of-the-art techniques for computing the electricity market equilibrium problems The application of electricity market equilibrium models in assessing the economic benefits of transmission expansions for market environments, forward and spot markets, short-term power system security, and analysis of reactive power impact Also featured are computational resources to allow readers to develop algorithms on their own, as well as future research directions in modeling and computational techniques in electricity market analysis. Restructured Electric Power Systems is an invaluable reference for electrical engineers and power system economists from power utilities and for professors, postgraduate students, and undergraduate students in electrical power engineering, as well as those responsible for the design, engineering, research, and development of competitive electricity markets and electricity market policy.

These Proceedings provide valuable information on the exchange of ideas between scientists who apply nonlinear programming and optimization to real world control problems and those who develop new methods, algorithms and software. The papers deal with windshear problems, optimization of aircraft and spacecraft trajectories, optimal control for robots, the optimization of urban traffic control, general mechanical systems, multilevel inventory systems and robust control.