New Sequential Quadratically-Constrained Quadratic Programming Method of Feasible Directions and Its Convergence Rate

This paper discusses optimization problems with nonlinear inequality constraints and presents a new sequential quadratically-constrained quadratic programming (NSQCQP) method of feasible directions for solving such problems. At each iteration. the NSQCQP method solves only one subproblem which consists of a convex quadratic objective function, convex quadratic equality constraints, as well as a perturbation variable and yields a feasible direction of descent (improved direction). The following results on the NSQCQP are obtained: the subproblem solved at each iteration is feasible and solvable: the NSQCQP is globally convergent under the Mangasarian-Fromovitz constraint qualification (MFCQ); the improved direction can avoid the Maratos effect without the assumption of strict complementarity; the NSQCQP is superlinearly and quasiquadratically convergent under some weak assumptions without thestrict complementarity assumption and the linear independence constraint qualification (LICQ). Research supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China Project 10261001 and Guangxi Science Foundation Projects 0236001 and 0249003. The author thanks two anonymous referees for valuable comments and suggestions on the original version of this paper.     

An SQP algorithm with cautious updating criteria for nonlinear degenerate problems

An efficient SQP algorithm for solving nonlinear degenerate problems is proposed in the paper. At each iteration of the algorithm, a quadratic programming subproblem, which is always feasible by introducing a slack variable, is solved to obtain a search direction. The steplength along this direction is computed by employing the 1∞ exact penalty function through Armijo-type line search scheme. The algorithm is proved to be convergent globally under mild conditions.     

A Superlinearly Convergent Implicit Smooth SQP Algorithm for Mathematical Programs with Nonlinear Complementarity Constraints

This paper discusses a special class of mathematical programs with nonlinear complementarity constraints, its goal is to present a globally and superlinearly convergent algorithm for the discussed problems. We first reformulate the complementarity constraints as a standard nonlinear equality and inequality constraints by making use of a class of generalized smoothing complementarity functions, then present a new SQP algorithm for the discussed problems. At each iteration, with the help of a pivoting operation, a master search direction is yielded by solving a quadratic program, and a correction search direction for avoiding the Maratos effect is generated by an explicit formula. Under suitable assumptions, without the strict complementarity on the upper-level inequality constraints, the proposed algorithm converges globally to a B-stationary point of the problems, and its convergence rate is superlinear.AMS Subject Classification: 90C, 49MThis work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation (10261001) and the Guangxi Province Science Foundation (0236001, 0249003) of China.     

A GENERALIZED PROJECTION-SUCCESSIVE LINEAREQUATIONS ALGORITHM FOR NONLINEARLY EQUALITy AND INEQUALITY CONSTRAINED OPTIMIZATION AND ITS RATE OF CONVERGENCE

In this paper, a new superlinearly convergent algorithm is presented for optimization problems with general nonlineer equality and inequality Constraints, Comparing with other methods for these problems, the algorithm has two main advantages. First, it doesn‘t solve anyquadratic programming (QP), and its search directions are determined by the generalized projection technique and the solutions of two systems of linear equations. Second, the sequential points generated by the algoritbh satisfy all inequity constraints and its step-length is computed by the straight line search,The algorithm is proved to possesa global and auperlinear convergence.     

A quadratically approximate framework for constrained optimization,global and local convergence

This paper presents a quadratically approximate algorithm framework （QAAF） for solving general constrained optimization problems, which solves, at each iteration, a subproblem with quadratic objective function and quadratic equality together with inequality constraints. The global convergence of the algorithm framework is presented under the Mangasarian-Fromovitz constraint qualification （MFCQ）, and the conditions for superlinear and quadratic convergence of the algorithm framework are given under the MFCQ, the constant rank constraint qualification （CRCQ） as well as the strong second-order sufficiency conditions （SSOSC）. As an incidental result, the definition of an approximate KKT point is brought forward, and the global convergence of a sequence of approximate KKT points is analysed.     

An improved sequential quadratic programming algorithm for solving general nonlinear programming problems

In this paper, a class of general nonlinear programming problems with inequality and equality constraints is discussed. Firstly, the original problem is transformed into an associated simpler equivalent problem with only inequality constraints. Then, inspired by the ideals of the sequential quadratic programming (SQP) method and the method of system of linear equations (SLE), a new type of SQP algorithm for solving the original problem is proposed. At each iteration, the search direction is generated by the combination of two directions, which are obtained by solving an always feasible quadratic programming (QP) subproblem and a SLE, respectively. Moreover, in order to overcome the Maratos effect, the higher-order correction direction is obtained by solving another SLE. The two SLEs have the same coefficient matrices, and we only need to solve the one of them after a finite number of iterations. By a new line search technique, the proposed algorithm possesses global and superlinear convergence under some suitable assumptions without the strict complementarity. Finally, some comparative numerical results are reported to show that the proposed algorithm is effective and promising.     

AN EFFECTIVE SEQUENTIAL QUADRATIC PROGRAMMING ALGORITHM FOR NONLINEAR OPTIMIZATION PROBLEMS

In this paper,a new globally convergent algorithm for nonlinear optimization prablems with equality and inequality constraints is presented. The new algorithm is of SQP type which determines a search direction by solving a quadratic programming subproblem per itera-tion. Some revisions on the quadratic programming subproblem have been made in such a way that the associated constraint region is nonempty for each point x generated by the algorithm, i. e. , the subproblems always have optimal solutions. The new algorithm has two important properties. The computation of revision parameter for guaranteeing the consistency of quadratic sub-problem and the computation of the second order correction step for superlinear convergence use the same inverse of a matrix per iteration, so the computation amount of the new algorithm will not be increased much more than other SQP type algorithms; Another is that the new algorithm can give automatically a feasible point as a starting point for the quadratic subproblems pe     

A sequential quadratically constrained quadratic programming method with an augmented Lagrangian line search function

Based on an augmented Lagrangian line search function, a sequential quadratically constrained quadratic programming method is proposed for solving nonlinearly constrained optimization problems. Compared to quadratic programming solved in the traditional SQP methods, a convex quadratically constrained quadratic programming is solved here to obtain a search direction, and the Maratos effect does not occur without any other corrections. The “active set” strategy used in this subproblem can avoid recalculating the unnecessary gradients and (approximate) Hessian matrices of the constraints. Under certain assumptions, the proposed method is proved to be globally, superlinearly, and quadratically convergent. As an extension, general problems with inequality and equality constraints as well as nonmonotone line search are also considered.     

A method combining norm-relaxed QP subproblems with systems of linear equations for constrained optimization

Based on the ideas of norm-relaxed sequential quadratic programming (SQP) method and the strongly sub-feasible direction method, we propose a new SQP algorithm for the solution of nonlinear inequality constrained optimization. Unlike the previous work, at each iteration, the norm-relaxed quadratic programming subproblem (NRQPS) in our algorithm only consists of the constraints corresponding to an estimate of the active set, and the high-order correction direction (used to avoid the Maratos effect) is obtained by solving a system of linear equations (SLE) which also only consists of such a subset of constraints and gradients. Moreover, the line search technique can effectively combine the initialization process with the optimization process, and therefore (if the starting point is not feasible) the iteration points always get into the feasible set after a finite number of iterations. The global convergence is proved under the Mangasarian–Fromovitz constraint qualification (MFCQ), and the superlinear convergence is obtained without assuming the strict complementarity. Finally, the numerical experiments show that the proposed algorithm is effective and promising for the test problems.     

Simple Sequential Quadratically Constrained Quadratic Programming Feasible Algorithm with Active Identification Sets for Constrained Minimax Problems

In this paper, the nonlinear minimax problems with inequality constraints are discussed. Based on the idea of simple sequential quadratically constrained quadratic programming algorithm for smooth constrained optimization, an alternative algorithm for solving the discussed problems is proposed. Unlike the previous work, at each iteration, a feasible direction of descent called main search direction is obtained by solving only one subprogram which is composed of a convex quadratic objective function and simple quadratic inequality constraints without the second derivatives of the constrained functions. Then a high-order correction direction used to avoid the Maratos effect is computed by updating the main search direction with a system of linear equations. The proposed algorithm possesses global convergence under weak Mangasarian–Fromovitz constraint qualification and superlinear convergence under suitable conditions with the upper-level strict complementarity. At last, some preliminary numerical results are reported.     

非线性约束条件下一个超线性收敛的可行方法

在本文中，我们对非线性不等式约束条件下的非线性优化问题给出了一个新的ＳＱＰ类可行方法．此算法不但结构简单、易于计算，并且在适当的假设条件下，我们证明了算法具有全局收敛性及超线性收敛性     

A superlinearly and quadratically convergent SQP type feasible method for constrained optimization

A new SQP type feasible method for inequality constrained optimization is presented, it is a combination of a master algorithm and an auxiliary algorithm which is taken only in finite iterations. The directions of the master algorithm are generated by only one quadratic programming, and its step-size is always one, the directions of the auxiliary algorithm are new “secondorder“ feasible descent. Under suitable assumptions, the algorithm is proved to possess global and strong convergence, superlinear and quadratic convergence.     

An improved SQP algorithm for inequality constrained optimization

In this paper, the feasible type SQP method is improved. A new algorithm is proposed to solve nonlinear inequality constrained problem, in which a new modified method is presented to decrease the computational complexity. It is required to solve only one QP subproblem with only a subset of the constraints estimated as active per single iteration. Moreover, a direction is generated to avoid the Maratos effect by solving a system of linear equations. The theoretical analysis shows that the algorithm has global and superlinear convergence under some suitable conditions. In the end, numerical experiments are given to show that the method in this paper is effective.This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation (No. 10261001) and Guangxi Science Foundation (No. 0236001 and 0249003) of China. Acknowledgement.We would like to thank one anonymous referee for his valuable comments and suggestions, which greatly improved the quality of this paper.     

Superlinearly Convergent Norm-Relaxed SQP Method Based on Active Set Identification and New Line Search for Constrained Minimax Problems

In this paper, the minimax problems with inequality constraints are discussed, and an alternative fast convergent method for the discussed problems is proposed. Compared with the previous work, the proposed method has the following main characteristics. First, the active set identification which can reduce the scale and the computational cost is adopted to construct the direction finding subproblems. Second, the master direction and high-order correction direction are computed by solving a new type of norm-relaxed quadratic programming subproblem and a system of linear equations, respectively. Third, the step size is yielded by a new line search which combines the method of strongly sub-feasible direction with the penalty method. Fourth, under mild assumptions without any strict complementarity, both the global convergence and rate of superlinear convergence can be obtained. Finally, some numerical results are reported.     

A superlinearly convergent norm-relaxed SQP method of strongly sub-feasible directions for constrained optimization without strict complementarity

In this paper, a kind of optimization problems with nonlinear inequality constraints is discussed. Combined the ideas of norm-relaxed SQP method and strongly sub-feasible direction method as well as a pivoting operation, a new fast algorithm with arbitrary initial point for the discussed problem is presented. At each iteration of the algorithm, an improved direction is obtained by solving only one direction finding subproblem which possesses small scale and always has an optimal solution, and to avoid the Maratos effect, another correction direction is yielded by a simple explicit formula. Since the line search technique can automatically combine the initialization and optimization processes, after finite iterations, the iteration points always get into the feasible set. The proposed algorithm is proved to be globally convergent and superlinearly convergent under mild conditions without the strict complementarity. Finally, some numerical tests are reported.     

A B-differentiable equation-based,globally and locally quadratically convergent algorithm for nonlinear programs,complementarity and variational inequality problems

This paper presents a globally convergent, locally quadratically convergent algorithm for solving general nonlinear programs, nonlinear complementarity and variational inequality problems. The algorithm is based on a unified formulation of these three mathematical programming problems as a certain system of B-differentiable equations, and is a modification of the damped Newton method described in Pang (1990) for solving such systems of nonsmooth equations. The algorithm resembles several existing methods for solving these classes of mathematical programs, but has some special features of its own; in particular, it possesses the combined advantage of fast quadratic rate of convergence of a basic Newton method and the desirable global convergence induced by one-dimensional Armijo line searches. In the context of a nonlinear program, the algorithm is of the sequential quadratic programming type with two distinct characteristics: (i) it makes no use of a penalty function; and (ii) it circumvents the Maratos effect. In the context of the variational inequality/complementarity problem, the algorithm provides a Newton-type descent method that is guaranteed globally convergent without requiring the F-differentiability assumption of the defining B-differentiable equations.This work was based on research supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. ECS-8717968.     

An efficient sequential quadratic programming algorithm for nonlinear programming

In this paper, a new feasible sequential quadratic programming (FSQP) algorithm is proposed to solve the nonlinear programming, where a feasible descent direction is obtained by solving only one QP subproblem. In order to avoid Maratos effect, a high-order revised direction is computed by solving a linear system with involving some “active” constraints. The theoretical analysis shows that global and superlinear convergence can be deduced.     

A feasible descent SQP algorithm for general constrained optimization without strict complementarity

In this paper, a class of optimization problems with equality and inequality constraints is discussed. Firstly, the original problem is transformed to an associated simpler problem with only inequality constraints and a parameter. The later problem is shown to be equivalent to the original problem if the parameter is large enough (but finite), then a feasible descent SQP algorithm for the simplified problem is presented. At each iteration of the proposed algorithm, a master direction is obtained by solving a quadratic program (which always has a feasible solution). With two corrections on the master direction by two simple explicit formulas, the algorithm generates a feasible descent direction for the simplified problem and a height-order correction direction which can avoid the Maratos effect without the strict complementarity, then performs a curve search to obtain the next iteration point. Thanks to the new height-order correction technique, under mild conditions without the strict complementarity, the globally and superlinearly convergent properties are obtained. Finally, an efficient implementation of the numerical experiments is reported.     

解不等式约束优化的新的序列线性方程组方法

提出一种新的序列线性方程组(SSLE)算法解非线性不等式约束优化问题.在算法的每步迭代,子问题只需解四个简化的有相同的系数矩阵的线性方程组.证明算法是可行的,并且不需假定聚点的孤立性、严格互补条件和积极约束函数的梯度的线性独立性得到算法的全局收敛性.在一定条件下,证明算法的超线性收敛率.