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Title: Solving the infeasible trust-region problem using approximations.

Conference ·
OSTI ID:957262

The use of optimization in engineering design has fueled the development of algorithms for specific engineering needs. When the simulations are expensive to evaluate or the outputs present some noise, the direct use of nonlinear optimizers is not advisable, since the optimization process will be expensive and may result in premature convergence. The use of approximations for both cases is an alternative investigated by many researchers including the authors. When approximations are present, a model management is required for proper convergence of the algorithm. In nonlinear programming, the use of trust-regions for globalization of a local algorithm has been proven effective. The same approach has been used to manage the local move limits in sequential approximate optimization frameworks as in Alexandrov et al., Giunta and Eldred, Perez et al. , Rodriguez et al., etc. The experience in the mathematical community has shown that more effective algorithms can be obtained by the specific inclusion of the constraints (SQP type of algorithms) rather than by using a penalty function as in the augmented Lagrangian formulation. The presence of explicit constraints in the local problem bounded by the trust region, however, may have no feasible solution. In order to remedy this problem the mathematical community has developed different versions of a composite steps approach. This approach consists of a normal step to reduce the amount of constraint violation and a tangential step to minimize the objective function maintaining the level of constraint violation attained at the normal step. Two of the authors have developed a different approach for a sequential approximate optimization framework using homotopy ideas to relax the constraints. This algorithm called interior-point trust-region sequential approximate optimization (IPTRSAO) presents some similarities to the two normal-tangential steps algorithms. In this paper, a description of the similarities is presented and an expansion of the two steps algorithm is presented for the case of approximations.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
957262
Report Number(s):
SAND2004-3216C; TRN: US201007%%631
Resource Relation:
Conference: Proposed for presentation at the 10th AIAA/ISSMO Multidiscplinary Analysis and Optimization Conference held August 30-September 1, 2004 in Albany, NY.
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English