A Continuous Implementation of a Second-Variation Optimal Control Method for Space Trajectory Problems

The paper describes a continuous second-variation method to solve optimal control problems with terminal constraints where the control is defined on a closed set. The integration of matrix differential equations based on a second-order expansion of a Lagrangian provides linear updates of the control and a locally optimal feedback controller. The process involves a backward and a forward integration stage, which require storing trajectories. A method has been devised to store continuous solutions of ordinary differential equations and compute accurately the continuous expansion of the Lagrangian around a nominal trajectory. Thanks to the continuous approach, the method adapts implicitly the numerical time mesh and provides precise gradient iterates to find an optimal control. The method represents an evolution to the continuous case of discrete second-order techniques of optimal control. The novel method is demonstrated on bang–bang optimal control problems, showing its suitability to identify automatically optimal switching points in the control without insight into the switching structure or a choice of the time mesh. A complex space trajectory problem is tackled to demonstrate the numerical robustness of the method to problems with different time scales.     

A finite differences method for a two-dimensional nonlinear hyperbolic equation in a class of discontinuous functions

A numerical scheme is proposed for a scalar two-dimensional nonlinear first-order wave equation with both continuous and piecewise continuous initial conditions. It is typical of such problems to assume formal solutions with discontinuities at unknown locations, which justifies the search for a scheme that does not rely on the regularity of the solution. To this end, an auxiliary problem which is equivalent to, but has more advantages then, the original system is formulated and shown that regularity of the solution of the auxiliary problem is higher than that of the original system. An efficient numerical algorithm based on the auxiliary problem is derived. Furthermore, some results of numerical experiments of physical interest are presented.     

Optimal control of nonlinear hereditary systems

A function space Λ is introduced for the study of nonlinear hereditary differential equations. The properties of Λ include: it is a Banach space under the supremum norm, the continuous functions constitute a closed proper subspace, and the unit ball is sequentially compact in the weak-¹ topology. Existence, uniqueness, and continuous dependence results are obtained for solutions of a broad class of initial value problems. An optimization problem is formulated for systems which are affine in the control, and solutions are approximated by means of a sequence of problems which are finite-dimensional in the control.     

Solving elliptic control problems with interior point and SQP methods: control and state constraints

We study optimal control problems for semilinear elliptic equations subject to control and state inequality constraints. Both boundary control and distributed control problems are considered with boundary conditions of Dirichlet or Neumann type. By introducing suitable discretization schemes, the control problem is transcribed into a nonlinear programming problem. Necessary conditions of optimality are discussed both for the continuous and the discretized control problem. It is shown that the recently developed interior point method LOQO of [35] is capable of solving these problems even for high discretizations. Four numerical examples with Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions are provided that illustrate the performance of the algorithm for different types of controls including bang–bang controls.     

Invariant imbedding and optimal control theory

A method for directly converting an optimal control problem to a Cauchy problem is presented. No use is made of the Euler equations, Pontryagin's maximum principle, or dynamic programming in the derivation. The initial-value problem, in addition to being desirable from the computational point of view, possesses stable characteristics. The results are directly applicable in the study of guidance and control and are particularly useful for obtaining numerical solutions to control problems.     

Computational modeling of elastic and plastic multiple cracks by the fundamental solutions

The fundamental solutions of elasticity are used to establish a numerical method for elastic and plastic multiple crack problems in two dimensions. The continuous distributions of the point forces, dislocations, and the plastic sources are used systematically to model the crack, non-crack boundary, and the plastic deformation. Use of these singularities are guided strictly by the physical interpretation of the problem. We adopt Muskhelishvili's complex variable formalism that facilitate the analytical evaluation of the integrals representing the continuous distributions of the singularities. The resulting numerical method is concise and accurate enough to be used for elastic and plastic multiple crack problems.     

Numerical solution of Hopf bifurcation problems

We present two numerical methods for the solution of Hopf bifurcation problems involving ordinary differential equations. The first one consists in a discretization of the continuous problem by means of shooting or multiple shooting methods. Thus a finite-dimensional bifurcation problem of special structure is obtained. It may be treated by appropriate iterative algorithms. The second approach transforms the Hopf bifurcation problem into a regular nonlinear boundary value problem of higher dimension which depends on a perturbation parameter ?. It has isolated solutions in the ?-domain of interest, so that conventional discretization methods can be applied. We also consider a concrete Hopf bifurcation problem, a biological feedback inhibition control system. Both methods are applied to it successfully.     

Approximate Optimal Control of Nonlinear Fredholm Integral Equations

In this article, a numerical scheme on the basis of the measure theoretical approach for extracting approximate solutions of optimal control problems governed by nonlinear Fredholm integral equations is presented. The problem is converted to a linear programming in which its solution leads to construction of approximate solutions of the original problem. Finally, some numerical examples are given to demonstrate the efficiency of the approach.     

Numerical methods for coupled systems of quasilinear elliptic equations with nonlinear boundary conditions

This paper is concerned with numerical solutions of a coupled system of arbitrary number of quasilinear elliptic equations under combined Dirichlet and nonlinear boundary conditions. A finite difference system for a transformed system of the quasilinear equations is formulated, and three monotone iterative schemes for the computation of numerical solutions are given using the method of upper and lower solutions. It is shown that each of the three monotone iterations converges to a minimal solution or a maximal solution depending on whether the initial iteration is a lower solution or an upper solution. A comparison result among the three iterative schemes is given. Also shown is the convergence of the minimal and maximal discrete solutions to the corresponding minimal and maximal solutions of the continuous system as the mesh size tends to zero. These results are applied to a heat transfer problem with temperature dependent thermal conductivity and a Lotka-Volterra cooperation system with degenerate diffusion. This degenerate property leads to some interesting distinct property of the system when compared with the non-degenerate semilinear systems. Numerical results are given to the above problems, and in each problem an explicit continuous solution is constructed and is used to compare with the computed solution     

A Survey of Methods Available for the Numerical Optimization of Continuous Dynamic Systems

There has been significant progress in the development of numerical methods for the determination of optimal trajectories for continuous dynamic systems, especially in the last 20 years. In the 1980s, the principal contribution was new methods for discretizing the continuous system and converting the optimization problem into a nonlinear programming problem. This has been a successful approach that has yielded optimal trajectories for very sophisticated problems. In the last 15–20 years, researchers have applied a qualitatively different approach, using evolutionary algorithms or metaheuristics, to solve similar parameter optimization problems. Evolutionary algorithms use the principle of “survival of the fittest” applied to a population of individuals representing candidate solutions for the optimal trajectories. Metaheuristics optimize by iteratively acting to improve candidate solutions, often using stochastic methods. In this paper, the advantages and disadvantages of these recently developed methods are described and an attempt is made to answer the question of what is now the best extant numerical solution method.     

Conjugate gradient techniques for the optimal control evolution dam problem

This paper considers the numerical simulation of optimal control evolution dam problem by using conjugate gradient method.The paper considers the free boundary value problem related to time dependent fluid flow in a homogeneous earth rectangular dam.The dam is taken to be sufficiently long that the flow is considered to be two dimensional.On the left and right walls of the dam there is a reservoir of fluid at a level dependent on time.This problem can be transformed into a variational inequality on a fixed domain.The numerical techniques we use are based on a linear finite element method to approximate the state equations and a conjugate gradient algorithm to solve the discrete optimal control problem.This algorithm is based on Armijo's rule in the unconstrained optimization theory.The convergence of the discrete optimal solutions to the continuous optimal solutions,and the convergence of the conjugate gradient algorithm are proved.A numerical example is given to determine the location of the minimum surface     

Nash Equilibria for the Multiobjective Control of Linear Partial Differential Equations

This article is concerned with the numerical solution of multiobjective control problems associated with linear partial differential equations. More precisely, for such problems, we look for the Nash equilibrium, which is the solution to a noncooperative game. First, we study the continuous case. Then, to compute the solution of the problem, we combine finite-difference methods for the time discretization, finite-element methods for the space discretization, and conjugate-gradient algorithms for the iterative solution of the discrete control problems. Finally, we apply the above methodology to the solution of several tests problems.     

入水冲击问题变分原理及其它

首先建立入水前后两个衔接阶段的较为严密的场方程.再得到与之对应的各类变分原理,界限定理,第二阶段问题的边界积分方程.证明了解的存在性并提供了求解实施方案.最后以船舶兴波阻力问题的算例,论证了第二阶段问题的一种特殊应用及其正确性.从而为求取较为精确的入水冲击问题基本方程的变分有限元及边界元方法奠定了严密的理论基础.     

求连续minimax问题整体解的区间算法

1 引 言 Minimax问题是一类重要的数学规划问题,它来源于实际并有极广泛的应用([1],[2]).用区间数学方法求解 minimax问题已取得了一些成果.文[1]对由 C2类函数构成的无约束连续 minimax问题进行了研究,建立了相应的区间算法,文[6]～[11]分别讨论和建立了无约束和不等式约束的离散minimax问题的区间算法.文[12]、[13]则讨论了最坏     

An existence and monotonicity theorem for the discrete algebraic matrix Riccati equation

Maximal hermitian solutions of the discrete algebraic matrix Riccati equation play an important role in least squares optimal control problems for discrete linear systems. We prove an existence and comparison theorem concerning maximal hermitian solutions. This theorem is inspired by known results for the algebraic Riccati equation arising in the least squares optimal control problem in continuous linear systems.     

An explicit procedure for discretizing continuous,optimal control problems

An explicit procedure for obtaining discrete approximations to general, nonlinear, fixed-time, continuous, optimal control problems with no intermediate trajectory constraints is presented. It is proved that, if the associated system of differential equations is linear in the control variable, then the optimal solutions of these approximationsconverge to extremals of the original continuous problem.     

On the control of time discretized dynamic contact problems

We consider optimal control problems with distributed control that involve a time-stepping formulation of dynamic one body contact problems as constraints. We link the continuous and the time-stepping formulation by a nonconforming finite element discretization and derive existence of optimal solutions and strong stationarity conditions. We use this information for a steepest descent type optimization scheme based on the resulting adjoint scheme and implement its numerical application.     

随机线性二次最优控制:从离散到连续时间模型

在一般情形下,分析了离散时间LQ问题与连续时间情形两者之间的自然联系.首先回顾了连续时间和离散时间随机LQ问题及对应Riccati微分/差分方程的相关结论.接下来在假设Riccati微分方程有解的前提下,证明了离散化步长足够小时,Riccati差分方程有解.然后针对连续和离散时间模型,采用配对问题最优控制的反馈形式,分别构造了一个辅助反馈控制,并证明该控制可驱使对应模型的性能指标逼近于配对问题的值函数,以此得到了关于两个模型之间联系的初步结论.最后藉由前述结论以及控制问题的特性,揭晓了连续时间和离散时间模型之间的自然联系,并给出了Riccati差分方程和微分方程的解之间的误差估计.由此联系,可构造相应离散系统和LQ问题,以适当的阶估计连续时间LQ问题的解,抑或为离散时间模型构造一个近似最优控制.无论哪种思路,都旨在降低直接求解原问题的难度和复杂性.     

SQP-methods for solving optimal control problems with control and state constraints: adjoint variables, sensitivity analysis and real-time control

Parametric nonlinear optimal control problems subject to control and state constraints are studied. Two discretization methods are discussed that transcribe optimal control problems into nonlinear programming problems for which SQP-methods provide efficient solution methods. It is shown that SQP-methods can be used also for a check of second-order sufficient conditions and for a postoptimal calculation of adjoint variables. In addition, SQP-methods lead to a robust computation of sensitivity differentials of optimal solutions with respect to perturbation parameters. Numerical sensitivity analysis is the basis for real-time control approximations of perturbed solutions which are obtained by evaluating a first-order Taylor expansion with respect to the parameter. The proposed numerical methods are illustrated by the optimal control of a low-thrust satellite transfer to geosynchronous orbit and a complex control problem from aquanautics. The examples illustrate the robustness, accuracy and efficiency of the proposed numerical algorithms.     

On a Fourier Method of Embedding Domains Using an Optimal Distributed Control

We propose a domain embedding method to solve second order elliptic problems in arbitrary two-dimensional domains. This method can be easily extended to three-dimensional problems. The method is based on formulating the problem as an optimal distributed control problem inside a rectangle in which the arbitrary domain is embedded. A periodic solution of the equation under consideration is constructed easily by making use of Fourier series. Numerical results obtained for Dirichlet problems are presented. The numerical tests show a high accuracy of the proposed algorithm and the computed solutions are in very good agreement with the exact solutions.