Global optimization of signomial geometric programming problems

This paper presents a global optimization approach for solving signomial geometric programming problems. In most cases nonconvex optimization problems with signomial parts are difficult, NP-hard problems to solve for global optimality. But some transformation and convexification strategies can be used to convert the original signomial geometric programming problem into a series of standard geometric programming problems that can be solved to reach a global solution. The tractability and effectiveness of the proposed successive convexification framework is demonstrated by seven numerical experiments. Some considerations are also presented to investigate the convergence properties of the algorithm and to give a performance comparison of our proposed approach and the current methods in terms of both computational efficiency and solution quality.     

On generalized geometric programming problems with non-positive variables

Generalized geometric programming (GGP) problems occur frequently in engineering design and management. Some exponential-based decomposition methods have been developed for solving global optimization of GGP problems. However, the use of logarithmic/exponential transformations restricts these methods to handle the problems with strictly positive variables. This paper proposes a technique for treating non-positive variables with integer powers in GGP problems. By means of variable transformation, the GGP problem with non-positive variables can be equivalently solved with another one having positive variables. In addition, we present some computationally efficient convexification rules for signomial terms to enhance the efficiency of the optimization approach. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed method in GGP problems with non-positive variables.     

Global optimization of signomial mixed-integer nonlinear programming problems with free variables

Mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problems involving general constraints and objective functions with continuous and integer variables occur frequently in engineering design, chemical process industry and management. Although many optimization approaches have been developed for MINLP problems, these methods can only handle signomial terms with positive variables or find a local solution. Therefore, this study proposes a novel method for solving a signomial MINLP problem with free variables to obtain a global optimal solution. The signomial MINLP problem is first transformed into another one containing only positive variables. Then the transformed problem is reformulated as a convex mixed-integer program by the convexification strategies and piecewise linearization techniques. A global optimum of the signomial MINLP problem can finally be found within the tolerable error. Numerical examples are also presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Range reduction techniques for improving computational efficiency in global optimization of signomial geometric programming problems

Many global optimization approaches for solving signomial geometric programming problems are based on transformation techniques and piecewise linear approximations of the inverse transformations. Since using numerous break points in the linearization process leads to a significant increase in the computational burden for solving the reformulated problem, this study integrates the range reduction techniques in a global optimization algorithm for signomial geometric programming to improve computational efficiency. In the proposed algorithm, the non-convex geometric programming problem is first converted into a convex mixed-integer nonlinear programming problem by convexification and piecewise linearization techniques. Then, an optimization-based approach is used to reduce the range of each variable. Tightening variable bounds iteratively allows the proposed method to reach an approximate solution within an acceptable error by using fewer break points in the linearization process, therefore decreasing the required CPU time. Several numerical experiments are presented to demonstrate the advantages of the proposed method in terms of both computational efficiency and solution quality.     

Necessary Optimality Conditions and New Optimization Methods for Cubic Polynomial Optimization Problems with Mixed Variables

Multivariate cubic polynomial optimization problems, as a special case of the general polynomial optimization, have a lot of practical applications in real world. In this paper, some necessary local optimality conditions and some necessary global optimality conditions for cubic polynomial optimization problems with mixed variables are established. Then some local optimization methods, including weakly local optimization methods for general problems with mixed variables and strongly local optimization methods for cubic polynomial optimization problems with mixed variables, are proposed by exploiting these necessary local optimality conditions and necessary global optimality conditions. A global optimization method is proposed for cubic polynomial optimization problems by combining these local optimization methods together with some auxiliary functions. Some numerical examples are also given to illustrate that these approaches are very efficient.     

Multi-parametric disaggregation technique for global optimization of polynomial programming problems

This paper discusses a power-based transformation technique that is especially useful when solving polynomial optimization problems, frequently occurring in science and engineering. The polynomial nonlinear problem is primarily transformed into a suitable reformulated problem containing new sets of discrete and continuous variables. By applying a term-wise disaggregation scheme combined with multi-parametric elements, an upper/lower bounding mixed-integer linear program can be derived for minimization/maximization problems. It can then be solved to global optimality through standard methods, with the original problem being approximated to a certain precision level, which can be as tight as desired. Furthermore, this technique can also be applied to signomial problems with rational exponents, after a few effortless algebraic transformations. Numerical examples taken from the literature are used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

Global solution of optimization problems with signomial parts

In this paper a new approach for the global solution of nonconvex MINLP (Mixed Integer NonLinear Programming) problems that contain signomial (generalized geometric) expressions is proposed and illustrated. By applying different variable transformation techniques and a discretization scheme a lower bounding convex MINLP problem can be derived. The convexified MINLP problem can be solved with standard methods. The key element in this approach is that all transformations are applied termwise. In this way all convex parts of the problem are left unaffected by the transformations. The method is illustrated by four example problems.     

线性约束三次规划问题的全局最优性必要条件和最优化算法

讨论了带线性不等式约束三次规划问题的最优性条件和最优化算法. 首先, 讨论了带有线性不等式约束三次规划问题的 全局最优性必要条件. 然后, 利用全局最优性必要条件, 设计了解线性约束三次规划问题的一个新的局部最优化算法(强局部最优化算法). 再利用辅助函数和所给出的新的局部最优化算法, 设计了带有线性不等式约束三 规划问题的全局最优化算法. 最后, 数值算例说明给出的最优化算法是可行的、有效的.     

带自由变量的广义几何规划全局求解的新算法

带自由变量的广义几何规划(FGGP)问题广泛出现在证券投资和工程设计等实际问题中.利用等价转换及对目标函数和约束函数的凸下界估计,提出一种求(FGGP)问题全局解的凸松弛方法.与已有方法相比,方法可处理符号项中含有更多变量的(FGGP)问题,且在最后形成的凸松弛问题中含有更少的变量和约束,从而在计算上更容易实现.最后数值实验表明文中方法是可行和有效的.     

Global optimality conditions and optimization methods for quadratic assignment problems

In this paper some global optimality conditions for general quadratic {0, 1} programming problems with linear equality constraints are discussed and then some global optimality conditions for quadratic assignment problems (QAP) are presented. A local optimization method for (QAP) is derived according to the necessary global optimality conditions. A global optimization method for (QAP) is presented by combining the sufficient global optimality conditions, the local optimization method and some auxiliary functions. Some numerical examples are given to illustrate the efficiency of the given optimization methods.     

Nonlinear coordinate transformations for unconstrained optimization II. Theoretical background

In this two-part article, nonlinear coordinate transformations are discussed in order to simplify global unconstrained optimization problems and to test their unimodality on the basis of the analytical structure of the objective functions. If the transformed problems can be quadratic in some or all the variables, then the optimum can be calculated directly, without an iterative procedure, or the number of variables to be optimized can be reduced. Otherwise, the analysis of the structure can serve as a first phase for solving global unconstrained optimization problems.The first part treats real-life problems where the presented technique is applied and the transformation steps are constructed. The second part of the article deals with the differential geometrical background and the conditions of the existence of such transformations.The paper was presented at the II. IIASA Workshop on Global Optimization, Sopron (Hungary), December 9–14, 1990.     

Nonlinear coordinate transformations for unconstrained optimization I. Basic transformations

In this two-part article, nonlinear coordinate transformations are discussed to simplify unconstrained global optimization problems and to test their unimodality on the basis of the analytical structure of the objective functions. If the transformed problems are quadratic in some or all the variables, then the optimum can be calculated directly, without an iterative procedure, or the number of variables to be optimized can be reduced. Otherwise the analysis of the structure can serve as a first phase for solving unconstrained global optimization problems.The first part treats real-life problems where the presented technique is applied and the transformation steps are constructed. The second part of the article deals with the differential geometrical background and the conditions of the existence of such transformations.The paper was presented at the II. IIASA Workshop on Global Optimization, Sopron (Hungary), December 9–14, 1990.     

On the mixed integer signomial programming problems

This paper proposes an approximate method to solve the mixed integer signomial programming problem, for which the objective function and the constraints may contain product terms with exponents and decision variables, which could be continuous or integral. A linear programming relaxation is derived for the problem based on piecewise linearization techniques, which first convert a signomial term into the sum of absolute terms; these absolute terms are then linearized by linearization strategies. In addition, a novel approach is included for solving integer and undefined problems in the logarithmic piecewise technique, which leads to more usefulness of the proposed method. The proposed method could reach a solution as close as possible to the global optimum.     

A reformulation framework for global optimization

In this paper, we present a global optimization method for solving nonconvex mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problems. A convex overestimation of the feasible region is obtained by replacing the nonconvex constraint functions with convex underestimators. For signomial functions single-variable power and exponential transformations are used to obtain the convex underestimators. For more general nonconvex functions two versions of the so-called αBB-underestimator, valid for twice-differentiable functions, are integrated in the actual reformulation framework. However, in contrast to what is done in branch-and-bound type algorithms, no direct branching is performed in the actual algorithm. Instead a piecewise convex reformulation is used to convexify the entire problem in an extended variable-space, and the reformulated problem is then solved by a convex MINLP solver. As the piecewise linear approximations are made finer, the solution to the convexified and overestimated problem will form a converging sequence towards a global optimal solution. The result is an easily-implementable algorithm for solving a very general class of optimization problems.     

Limit vector variational inequality problems via scalarization

This paper presents a global optimization approach for solving signomial geometric programming (SGP) problems. We employ an accelerated extended cutting plane (ECP) approach integrated with piecewise linear (PWL) approximations to solve the global optimization of SGP problems. In this approach, we separate the feasible regions determined by the constraints into convex and nonconvex ones in the logarithmic domain. In the nonconvex feasible regions, the corresponding constraint functions are converted into mixed integer linear constraints using PWL approximations, while the other constraints with convex feasible regions are handled by the ECP method. We also use pre-processed initial cuts and batched cuts to accelerate the proposed algorithm. Numerical results show that the proposed approach can solve the global optimization of SGP problems efficiently and effectively.     

Global Optimization by Monotonic Transformation

This paper addresses the problem of global optimization by means of a monotonic transformation. With an observation on global optimality of functions under such a transformation, we show that a simple and effective algorithm can be derived to search within possible regions containing the global optima. Numerical experiments are performed to compare this algorithm with one that does not incorporate transformed information using several benchmark problems. These results are also compared to best known global search algorithms in the literature. In addition, the algorithm is shown to be useful for several neural network learning problems, which possess much larger parameter spaces.     

Hidden Convex Minimization

A class of nonconvex minimization problems can be classified as hidden convex minimization problems. A nonconvex minimization problem is called a hidden convex minimization problem if there exists an equivalent transformation such that the equivalent transformation of it is a convex minimization problem. Sufficient conditions that are independent of transformations are derived in this paper for identifying such a class of seemingly nonconvex minimization problems that are equivalent to convex minimization problems. Thus, a global optimality can be achieved for this class of hidden convex optimization problems by using local search methods. The results presented in this paper extend the reach of convex minimization by identifying its equivalent with a nonconvex representation.     

Global optimality conditions and optimization methods for quadratic integer programming problems

In this paper, we first establish some sufficient and some necessary global optimality conditions for quadratic integer programming problems. Then we present a new local optimization method for quadratic integer programming problems according to its necessary global optimality conditions. A new global optimization method is proposed by combining its sufficient global optimality conditions, local optimization method and an auxiliary function. The numerical examples are also presented to show that the proposed optimization methods for quadratic integer programming problems are very efficient and stable.     

Global Quadratic Minimization over Bivalent Constraints: Necessary and Sufficient Global Optimality Condition

In this paper, we establish global optimality conditions for quadratic optimization problems with quadratic equality and bivalent constraints. We first present a necessary and sufficient condition for a global minimizer of quadratic optimization problems with quadratic equality and bivalent constraints. Then we examine situations where this optimality condition is equivalent to checking the positive semidefiniteness of a related matrix, and so, can be verified in polynomial time by using elementary eigenvalues decomposition techniques. As a consequence, we also present simple sufficient global optimality conditions, which can be verified by solving a linear matrix inequality problem, extending several known sufficient optimality conditions in the existing literature.     

符号几何规划的一种分解方法

针对符号几何规划提出了一种直接的分解方法,将难于求解的符号几何规划问题等价地转化为一个非线性程度很低的可分离规划,为寻求困难度高且规模较大的符号几何规划问题的求解提供了一种方法,特别是经此方法分解后的每个子问题均易于求解,最后给出了数值实例,验证了此方法的有效性．