Implementations with generalized finite differences of the displacements and velocity-stress formulations of seismic wave propagation problem

This paper shows the displacements and velocity-stress formulations for the wave propagation problem with the aim of comparing its effectivity when they are implemented with the Generalized Finite Difference Method (GFDM). Schemes in GFD with approximations of the second and fourth order have been used and absorbing boundaries have been simulated with perfectly matched layers. The results obtained using both formulations are compared by using several examples in 2-D. The influence of the type of discretization of the clouds of nodes (regular and irregular) is studied.     

E-DEA: Enhanced data envelopment analysis

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) has enjoyed a wide range of acceptance by researchers and practitioners alike as an instrument of performance analysis and management since its introduction in 1978. Many formulations and thousands of applications of DEA have been reported in a considerable variety of academic and professional journals all around the world. Almost all of the formulations and applications have basically centered at the concept of “relative self-evaluation”, whether they are single or multi-stage applications. This paper suggests a framework for enhancing the theory of DEA through employing the concept of “relative cross-evaluation” in a multi-stage application context. Managerial situations are described where such enhanced-DEA (E-DEA) formulations had actually been used and could also be potentially most meaningful and useful.     

Shape sensitivity analysis of thin-shell structures

This paper presents explicit formulas for shape sensitivity analysis of thin shell structures. The curvature distribution is the design to be determined. The thin-shell theory employed is the general Koiter model in the Cartesian coordinates. For the shape sensitivity formulation, both the direct differentiation method and the material derivative concept have been used. The two formulations are shown to be equivalent. A computer program based on these formulations has been developed and applied to examples. The shape sensitivity results obtained have been compared to those obtained by finite differencing.     

Coefficient strengthening: a tool for reformulating mixed-integer programs

Providing a good formulation is an important part of solving a mixed-integer program.We suggest measuring the quality of a formulation by whether it is possible to strengthen the coefficients of the formulation. Sequentially strengthening coefficients can then be used as a tool for improving formulations.We believe this method could be useful for analyzing and producing tight formulations of problems that arise in practice.We illustrate the use of the approach on a problem in production scheduling. We also prove that coefficient strengthening leads to formulations with a desirable property: if no coefficient can be strengthened, then no constraint can be replaced by an inequality that dominates it. The effect of coefficient strengthening is tested on a number of problems in computational experiments. The strengthened formulations are compared to reformulations obtained by the preprocessor of a commercial software package. For several test problems, the formulations obtained by coefficient strengthening are substantially stronger than the formulations obtained by the preprocessor. In particular, we use coefficient strengthening to solve two difficult problems to optimality that have only recently been solved. This text presents research results of the Belgian Program on Interuniversity Poles of Attraction initiated by the Belgian State, Prime Minister's Office, Science Policy Programming. The scientific responsibility is assumed by the authors.     

On the equivalence of strong formulations for capacitated multi-level lot sizing problems with setup times

Several mixed integer programming formulations have been proposed for modeling capacitated multi-level lot sizing problems with setup times. These formulations include the so-called facility location formulation, the shortest route formulation, and the inventory and lot sizing formulation with (?, S) inequalities. In this paper, we demonstrate the equivalence of these formulations when the integrality requirement is relaxed for any subset of binary setup decision variables. This equivalence has significant implications for decomposition-based methods since same optimal solution values are obtained no matter which formulation is used. In particular, we discuss the relax-and-fix method, a decomposition-based heuristic used for the efficient solution of hard lot sizing problems. Computational tests allow us to compare the effectiveness of different formulations using benchmark problems. The choice of formulation directly affects the required computational effort, and our results therefore provide guidelines on choosing an effective formulation during the development of heuristic-based solution procedures.     

Una formulación de mínimo peso con restricciones en tensión en optimización topológica de estructuras

Optimum design of structures has been traditionally focused on the analysis of shape and dimensions optimization problems. However, more recently a new discipline has emerged: the topology optimization of the structures. This discipline states innovative models that allow to obtain optimal solutions without a previous definition of the type of structure being considered. These formulations obtain the optimal topology and the optimal shape and size of the resulting elements. The most usual formulations of the topology optimization problem try to obtain the structure of maximum stiffness. These approaches maximize the stiffness for a given amount of material to be used. These formulations have been widely analyzed and applied in engineering but they present considerable drawbacks from a numerical and from a practical point of view. In this paper the author propose a different formulation, as an alternative to maximum stiffness approaches, that minimizes the weight and includes stress constraints. The advantages of this kind of formulations are crucial since the cost of the structure is minimized, which is the most frequent objective in engineering, and they guarantee the structural feasibility since stresses are constrained. In addition, this approach allows to avoid some of the drawbacks and numerical instabilities related to maximum stiffness approaches. Finally, some practical examples have been solved in order to verify the validity of the results obtained and the advantages of the proposed formulation.     

Alternative formulations of a combined trip generation,trip distribution,modal split,and trip assignment model

The traditional four-step model has been widely used in travel demand forecasting by considering trip generation, trip distribution, modal split and traffic assignment sequentially in a fixed order. However, this sequential approach suffers from the inconsistency among the level-of-service and flow values in each step of the procedure. In the last two decades, this problem has been addressed by many researchers who have sought to develop combined (or integrated) models that can consider travelers’ choice on different stages simultaneously and give consistent results. In this paper, alternative formulations, including mathematical programming (MP) formulation and variational inequality (VI) formulations, are provided for a combined travel demand model that integrates trip generation, trip distribution, modal split, and traffic assignment using the random utility theory framework. Thus, the proposed alternative formulations not only allow a systematic and consistent treatment of travel choice over different dimensions but also have behavioral richness. Qualitative properties of the formulations are also given to ensure the existence and uniqueness of the solution. Particularly, the model is analyzed for a special but useful case where the probabilistic travel choices are assumed to be a hierarchical logit model. Furthermore, a self-adaptive Goldstein–Levitin–Polyak (GLP) projection algorithm is adopted for solving this special case.     

New formulations for the uncapacitated multiple allocation hub location problem

In this paper we review the integer linear formulations of the uncapacitated multiple allocation hub location problem, we study the scope of validity of these formulations and give new ones that generalize the older formulations. Our formulations allow one or two visits to hubs and include a more general cost structure that needs not satisfy the triangle inequality. We prove that the constraints defined by cliques of a related (intersection) graph are tighter constraints than the classical ones. We also discuss a pre-processing of the problem, which is very useful for reducing its size. Finally, we check the strength of the new formulations and compare them with others in the literature by solving instances of two commonly used data sets: the CAB (Civil Aeronautics Board) and AP (Australian Post), and also randomly generated instances. Our computational results clearly show that our formulations outperform all others previously used for small and medium problems.     

Mathematical programming in subsistence agriculture

This paper examines the use of mathematical programming models in subsistence agriculture as an example of the use of operational research in developing countries. Differences from developed agriculture are described, and five mathematical programming formulations to cater for the major differences are given. Examples of the use of such models in published literature to produce policy oriented conclusions are summarised. This exemplified a more general point that mathematical O.R. formulations are relevant to policy issues in developing countries providing they are modifications of formulations used in developed countries.     

Assessment of structural analysis technology for static collapse of elastic cylindrical shells

The prediction of the ultimate load-carrying capability for compressively loaded shell structures is a challenging nonlinear analysis problem. Selected areas of finite element technology research and nonlinear solution technology are assessed. Herein, a finite element analysis procedure is applied to four cylindrical shell collapse problems which have been used by computational structural mechanics researchers in the past. This assessment will focus on a number of different shell element formulations and on different approaches used to account for geometric nonlinearities. The results presented confirm that these aspects of nonlinear shell analysis can have a significant effect on the predicted nonlinear structural response. All analyses were performed using a single software system which allowed a convenient assessment of different element formulations with a consistent approach to solving the discretized nonlinear equations.     

Evaluation of mathematical models for flexible job-shop scheduling problems

With the rapid development in computer technologies, mathematical programming-based technique to solve scheduling problems is significantly receiving attention from researchers. Although, it is not efficient solution method due to the NP-hard structure of these problems, mathematical programming formulation is the first step to develop an effective heuristic. Numerous comparative studies for variety scheduling problems have appeared over the years. But in our search in literature there is not an entirely review for mathematical formulations of flexible job shop scheduling problems (FJSP). In this paper, four the most widely used formulations of the FJSP are compiled from literature and a time-indexed model for FJSP is proposed. These formulations are evaluated under three categories that are distinguished by the type of binary variable that they rely on for using of sequencing operations on machines. All five formulations compared and results are presented.     

Extended formulations for the A-cut problem

LetG=(V, E) be an undirected graph andA⊆V. We consider the problem of finding a minimum cost set of edges whose deletion separates every pair of nodes inA. We consider two extended formulations using both node and edge variables. An edge variable formulation has previously been considered for this problem (Chopra and Rao (1991), Cunningham (1991)). We show that the LP-relaxations of the extended formulations are stronger than the LP-relaxation of the edge variable formulation (even with an extra class of valid inequalities added). This is interesting because, while the LP-relaxations of the extended formulations can be solved in polynomial time, the LP-relaxation of the edge variable formulation cannot. We also give a class of valid inequalities for one of the extended formulations. Computational results using the extended formulations are performed.     

Nonlinear electroelastostatics: a variational framework

Different formulations of the constitutive laws and governing equations for nonlinear electroelastic solids are reviewed and two new variational principles for electroelastostatics are introduced. One is based on use of the electrostatic scalar potential and one on the vector potential, combined with the deformation function. In each case Lagrangian forms of the electric variables are used. Their connections with several formulations of nonlinear electroelasticity in the literature are established and some differences highlighted.     

Nonlinear electroelastostatics: a variational framework

Different formulations of the constitutive laws and governing equations for nonlinear electroelastic solids are reviewed and two new variational principles for electroelastostatics are introduced. One is based on use of the electrostatic scalar potential and one on the vector potential, combined with the deformation function. In each case Lagrangian forms of the electric variables are used. Their connections with several formulations of nonlinear electroelasticity in the literature are established and some differences highlighted.      

The Arc-Item-Load and Related Formulations for the Cumulative Vehicle Routing Problem

The Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP) consists of finding the cheapest way to serve a set of customers with a fleet of vehicles of a given capacity. While serving a particular customer, each vehicle picks up its demand and carries its weight throughout the rest of its route. While costs in the classical CVRP are measured in terms of a given arc distance, the Cumulative Vehicle Routing Problem (CmVRP) is a variant of the problem that aims to minimize total energy consumption. Each arc’s energy consumption is defined as the product of the arc distance by the weight accumulated since the beginning of the route.The purpose of this work is to propose several different formulations for the CmVRP and to study their Linear Programming (LP) relaxations. In particular, the goal is to study formulations based on combining an arc-item concept (that keeps track of whether a given customer has already been visited when traversing a specific arc) with another formulation from the recent literature, the Arc-Load formulation (that determines how much load goes through an arc).Both formulations have been studied independently before – the Arc-Item is very similar to a multi-commodity-flow formulation in Letchford and Salazar-González (2015) and the Arc-Load formulation has been studied in Fukasawa et al. (2016) – and their LP relaxations are incomparable. Nonetheless, we show that a formulation combining the two (called Arc-Item-Load) may lead to a significantly stronger LP relaxation, thereby indicating that the two formulations capture complementary aspects of the problem. In addition, we study how set partitioning based formulations can be combined with these formulations. We present computational experiments on several well-known benchmark instances that highlight the advantages and drawbacks of the LP relaxation of each formulation and point to potential avenues of future research.     

Generalized variational calculus in terms of multi-parameters fractional derivatives

In this paper, we briefly introduce two generalizations of work presented a few years ago on fractional variational formulations. In the first generalization, we consider the Hilfer’s generalized fractional derivative that in some sense interpolates between Riemann–Liouville and Caputo fractional derivatives. In the second generalization, we develop a fractional variational formulation in terms of a three parameter fractional derivative. We develop integration by parts formulas for the generalized fractional derivatives which are key to developing fractional variational calculus. It is shown that many derivatives used recently and their variational formulations can be obtained by setting different parameters to different values. We also define fractional generalized momenta and provide fractional Hamiltonian formulations in terms of the new generalized derivatives. An example is presented to show applications of the formulations presented here. Some possible extensions of this research are also discussed.     

Green's function-based integral approaches to nonlinear transient boundary-value problems (II)

Two Green's function-based numerical formulations are used to solve the time-dependent nonlinear heat conduction (diffusion) equation. These formulations, which are an extension of the first paper, utilize two fundamental solutions and the Green's second identity to achieve integral replications of the governing partial differential equation. The integral equations thus derived are discretized in space and time and aggregated in a finite element sense to give a system of nonlinear discrete equations that are solved by the Newton–Raphson algorithm. The mathematical simplicity of the Green's function of the first formulation facilitates its numerical implementation. The performance of the formulations is assessed by comparing their results with available numerical and analytical solutions. In all cases satisfactory and physically realistic results are obtained.     

Copositivity and constrained fractional quadratic problems

We provide Completely Positive and Copositive Optimization formulations for the Constrained Fractional Quadratic Problem (CFQP) and Standard Fractional Quadratic Problem (StFQP). Based on these formulations, Semidefinite Programming relaxations are derived for finding good lower bounds to these fractional programs, which can be used in a global optimization branch-and-bound approach. Applications of the CFQP and StFQP, related with the correction of infeasible linear systems and eigenvalue complementarity problems are also discussed.     

Pattern-based models and a cooperative parallel metaheuristic for high school timetabling problems

High school timetabling problems consist in building periodic timetables for class-teacher meetings considering compulsory and non-compulsory requirements. This family of problems has been widely studied since the 1950s, mostly via mixed-integer programming and metaheuristic techniques. However, the efficient search of optimal or near-optimal solutions is still a challenge for many problems of practical size. In this paper, we investigate mixed-integer programming formulations and a parallel metaheuristic based algorithm for solving high school timetabling problems with compactness and balancing requirements. We propose two pattern-based formulations and a solution algorithm that simultaneously exploits column generation and a team of metaheuristics to build and improve solutions. Extensive computational experiments conducted with real-world instances demonstrate that our formulations are competitive with the best existing high school timetabling formulations, while our parallel algorithm presents superior performance to alternative methods available in the literature.     

Generalized Nonlinear Lagrangian Formulation for Bounded Integer Programming

Several nonlinear Lagrangian formulations have been recently proposed for bounded integer programming problems. While possessing an asymptotic strong duality property, these formulations offer a success guarantee for the identification of an optimal primal solution via a dual search. Investigating common features of nonlinear Lagrangian formulations in constructing a nonlinear support for nonconvex piecewise constant perturbation function, this paper proposes a generalized nonlinear Lagrangian formulation of which many existing nonlinear Lagrangian formulations become special cases.