1 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Multidisciplinary System
Design Optimization (MSDO)
Numerical Optimization II
Lecture 7
25 February 2004
Karen Willcox
2 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Today’s Topics
? Sequential Linear Programming
? Penalty and Barrier Methods
? Sequential Quadratic Programming
? Mixed Integer Programming
3 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Technique Overview
Steepest Descent
Conjugate Gradient
Quasi-Newton
Newton
Simplex – linear
SLP – often not effective
SQP – nonlinear, expensive, common in engineering applications
Exterior Penalty – nonlinear, discontinuous design spaces
Interior Penalty – nonlinear
Generalized Reduced Gradient – nonlinear
Method of Feasible Directions – nonlinear
Mixed Integer Programming
UNCONSTRAINED
CONSTRAINED
4 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Standard Problem Definition
1
2
min ( )
s.t. ( ) 0 1,..,
( ) 0 1,..,
1,..,
j
k
u
iii
J
gjm
hkm
xxxi n
≤=
==
≤≤ =
x
x
x
null
For now, we consider a single objective function, J(x).
There are n design variables, and a total of m
constraints (m=m
1
+m
2
).
For now we assume all x
i
are real and continuous.
5 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Optimization Process
x
0
, q=0
Calculate ?J(x
q
)
Calculate S
q
Perform 1-D search
x
q
= x
q-1
+ α S
q
Converged?
q=q+1
no
yes
Done
6 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Constrained Optimization
Definitions:
? Feasible design: a design that satisfies all
constraints
? Infeasible design: a design that violates one or
more constraints
? Optimum design: the choice of design variables
that minimizes the objective function while
satisfying all constraints
In general, constrained optimization algorithms try to cast
the problem as an unconstrained optimization and then
use one of the techniques we looked at in Lecture 6.
7 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Linear Programming
Most engineering problems of interest are nonlinear
? Can often simplify nonlinear problem by linearization
? LP is often the basis for developing more
complicated NLP algorithms
Standard LP problem:
All LP problems can be converted to this form.
=
=
=
==
≥=
∑
∑
1
1
min ( )
1,..,
0 1,...,
n
ii
i
n
ij i j
i
i
Jcx
ax b j m
xi n
x min ( )
01,.,
T
i
J
xi n
=
=
≥=
xcx
Ax b
8 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Linear Programming
To convert inequality constraints to equality constraints,
use additional design variables:
where x
n+1
≥ 0
x
n+1
is called a slack variable
e.g. the constraint
x
1
+x
2
≤1
can be written
x
1
+x
2
-x
3
=1
x
i
≥0, i=1,2,3
1
11
becomes
nn
jii j jii n j
ax b ax x b
+
==
≤+=
∑∑
if x
3
=0, this
constraint is
active
9 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Simplex Method
Solutions at the “vertices” of the design space are called basic
feasible solutions.
The Simplex algorithm moves from BFS to BFS so that the
objective always improves.
feasible
region
basic
feasible
solution
10 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Sequential Linear Programming
Consider a general nonlinear problem linearized via first order
Taylor series:
00
00
00
min ( ) ( ) ( )
s.t. ( ) ( ) ( ) 0
( ) ( ) ( ) 0
T
T
jj j
T
kk k
u
ii ii
JJ J
gg g
hh h
xx xx
δ
δ
δ
δ
≈+?
≈ +? ≤
≈ +? =
≤+ ≤
xx xx
xx xx
xx xx
null
0
δ = ?xxx
where
This is an LP problem with the design variables contained in δx. The
functions and gradients evaluated at x
0
are constant coefficients.
11 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Sequential Linear Programming
1. Initial guess x
0
2. Linearize about x
0
using first-order Taylor series
3. Solve resulting LP to find δx
4. Update: x
1
= x
0
+ δx
5. Linearize about x
1
and repeat:
x
q
= x
q-1
+ δx
where δx is the solution of an LP (model linearized
about x
q-1
).
12 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Sequential Linear Programming
? Linearization approximation is only valid close
to x
0
? Need to restrict size of update δx
? Not considered to be a good method
13 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Nonlinear vs. Linear Constraints
Linear constraints:
? start from initial feasible point, then all
subsequent iterates are feasible
? can construct search direction & step
length so that constraints are satisfied
? improvement from x
k
to x
k+1
based on J(x)
Nonlinear constraints:
? not straightforward to generate a
sequence of feasible iterates
? if feasibility is not maintained, then need to
decide whether x
k+1
is “better” than x
k
feasible
region
14 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Merit Function
Is objective
reduced?
merit
function
Are constraints
satisfied?
merit function = f(J(x), g(x), h(x))
examples: penalty function methods, barrier function methods
15 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Subproblems
? Many optimization algorithms get to the optimum by generating and
solving a sequence of subproblems that are somehow related to the
original problem.
? Typically there are two tasks at each iteration:
1. Calculate search direction
2. Calculate the step length
? Sometimes, the initial formulation of a subproblem may be defective
i.e. the subproblem has no solution or the solution is
unbounded
? A valid subproblem is one for which a solution exists and is well
defined
? The option to abandon should be available if the subproblem
appears defective
? It is possible that a defective subproblem is an accurate reflection of
the original problem having no valid solution
16 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Penalty and Barrier Methods
General Approach:
– minimize objective as unconstrained function
– provide penalty to limit constraint violations
– magnitude of penalty varies throughout optimization
– called sequential unconstrained minimization
techniques (SUMT)
– create pseudo-objective:
(, ) () ()
pp
rJ rPΦ =+xxx
J(x) = original objective function
P(x) = imposed penalty function
r
p
= scalar multiplier to determine penalty magnitude
p = unconstrained minimization number
17 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Penalty Methods
Four basic methods:
(i) Exterior Penalty Function Method
(ii) Interior Penalty Function Method
(Barrier Function Method)
(iii) Log Penalty Function Method
(iv) Extended Interior Penalty Function Method
Effect of penalty function is to create a local minimum of
unconstrained problem “near” x*.
Penalty function adds a penalty for infeasibility, barrier
function adds a term that prevents iterates from becoming
infeasible.
18 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Exterior Penalty Function Method
(, ) () ()
pp
JPρ ρΦ =+xxx
{}
[]
12
2
2
11
() max0, () ()
mm
jk
jk
Pgh
==
??=+
??
∑∑
xxx
? if all constraints are satisfied, then P(x)=0
? ρ
p
= penalty parameter; starts as a small number and
increases
?if ρ
p
is small, Φ(x,ρ
p
) is easy to minimize but yields large
constraint violations
?if ρ
p
is large, constraints are all nearly satisfied but
optimization problem is numerically ill-conditioned
? if optimization stops before convergence is reached, the
design will be infeasible
19 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Quadratic Penalty Function
[]
12
?
2
2
11
?
(, ) () () ()
mm
Qp p j k
jk
Jghρρ
==
??
??
Φ=+ +
??
??
??
∑∑
xx x x
? contains those inequality constraints that are
violated at x.
? It can be shown that
? Φ
Q
(x,ρ
p
) is well-defined everywhere
?
()
j
g x
lim ( )
p
p
ρ
ρ
→∞
=x* x*
Algorithm: -choose ρ
0
, set k=0
-find min Φ
Q
(x,ρ
k
) x
k
*
-if not converged, set ρ
k+1
> ρ
k
, k←k+1 and repeat
?
Note: x
k
* could be infeasible wrt the original problem
20 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Quadratic Penalty Function Example
Φ
Q
(x, r
p
)
10
J(x)
2
min ( )
s.t. 1 0
Jx x
x
=
?=
ρ = 1
*
ρ = 10
*
ρ = 5
*
ρ = 2
*
Φ
Q
(x,ρ)=x
2
+ ρ(1-x)
2
x
21 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Absolute Value Penalty Function
12
?
11
?
(, ) () () ()
mm
Ap p j k
jk
Jghρρ
==
??
Φ=+ +
??
??
∑∑
xx x x
?
()
j
g x
where contains those inequality constraints which
are violated at x.
? Φ
A
has discontinuous derivatives at points where
or are zero.
? The crucial difference between Φ
Q
and Φ
A
is that we
do not require ρ
p
→∞ for x* to be a minimum of Φ
A
, so
we can avoid ill-conditioning
? Instead, for some threshold , x* is a minimum of Φ
A
for any
? Sometimes called exact penalty functions
?
()
j
g x
()
k
h x
p
ρ
p p
ρ ρ>
22 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Absolute Value Penalty Function Example
Φ
A
(x,ρ)
1
0
J(x)
ρ = 2
ρ = 5
ρ = 10
x
2
min ( )
s.t. 1 0
Jx x
x
=
?=
*
ρ = 1
ρ = 1.5
*
Φ
Α
(x,ρ)=x
2
+ ρ |1-x|
23 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Interior Penalty Function Method
(Barrier Function Method)
1
?
1
1
()
?
()
m
j
j
P
g
=
?
=
∑
x
x
P
j
(x)
g
j
(x)
[]
12
?
2
11
1
(, , ) () ()
?
()
mm
pp p p k
jk
j
rJr h
g
ρρ
==
?
Φ=+ +
∑∑
xx x
x
? r
p
= barrier parameter; starts as a large positive number
and decreases
? barrier function for inequality constraints only
? sequence of improving feasible designs
? Φ(x,r
p
,ρ
p
) discontinuous at constraint boundaries
24 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Barrier Function Method
1
1
() ln ()
m
j
j
Pg
=
? ?=??
? ?
∑
xx
? often better numerically conditioned than
? penalty function has a positive singularity at the
boundary of the feasible region
? penalty function is undefined for g
i
(x)>0
?
1
()
j
g
?
x
()
1
?
1
?
(, , ) () ln ()
m
Lpp p j
j
rJr gρ
=
Φ=??
∑
xx x
0
p
r
lim ( )
p
r
→
=x* x*
25 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Barrier Function Example
J(x)
r = 5
r = 1
r = 0.5
r = 0.1
Φ
L
(x,r)
2
min ( )
s.t. 1 0
Jx x
x
=
?≥
1
0
10
Φ
L
(x,r)=x
2
-r ln(x-1)
x
26 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Extended Interior Penalty Function Method
Combine features of interior/exterior methods
1
1
2
() ()
1
where ( ) if ( )
()
2()
if ( )
m
j
j
jj
j
j
j
Pg
gg
g
g
g
ε
ε
ε
ε
=
=
?
=≤
?
= ?>
∑
xx
xx
x
x
x
null
null
-linear extended
penalty function
-ε is a small negative number, and marks transition from interior
penalty to extended penalty
-ε must be chosen so that Φ has positive slope at constraint
boundary
-can also use quadratic extended and variable penalty functions
27 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Sequential Quadratic Programming
? Create a quadratic approximation to the Lagrangian
? Create linear approximations to the constraints
? Solve the quadratic problem to find the search
direction, S
? Perform the 1-D search
? Update the approximation to the Lagrangian
28 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Sequential Quadratic Programming
Create a subproblem
with quadratic objective function:
T
1
min ( ) ( ) ( )
2
kk kkT
QJ J=+? +Sx xSSBS
and linear constraints
T
1
T
2
s.t. () ()0 1,,
() ()0 1,,
kk k
jj
kk k
ggjm
hhk
?+≤=
?+==
xS x
xS x
…
…
? Design variables are the components of S
? B=I initially, then is updated to approximate H
(as in quasi-Newton)
29 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Incompatible Constraints
? The constraints of the subproblem can be incompatible,
even if the original problem has a well-posed solution
? For example, two linearized constraints could be linearly
dependent
? This is a common occurrence in practice
? Likelihood of incompatible constraints reduced by allowing
flexibility in RHS (e.g. allow scaling factors in front of g
j
(x
k
)
term)
? Typically γ=0.9 if constraint is violated and γ=1 otherwise
? Doesn’t affect convergence, since specific form of
constraint is only crucial when x
k
is close to x*
T
1
() ()0 1,,
kk k
jjj
ggjmγ?+≤=xS x …
30 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Sequential Quadratic Programming
? Widely used in engineering applications
e.g. NLOpt
? Considered to be the best gradient-based
algorithm
? Strong theoretical basis
31 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Mixed Integer Programming
? Rounding
– unlikely to achieve optimum discrete solution
– rounded solution may be infeasible
? Branch and Bound
– create tree with several optimization branches
– continuous solution is a lower bound on the
mixed solution
– usually solve a large number of optimization
problems
– expensive
32 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Lecture Summary
We have seen the following nonlinear techniques:
? Penalty and Barrier Methods
? Sequential Quadratic Programming
It is important to understand
? when it is appropriate to use these methods
? the basics of how the method works
? why the method might fail
? what your results mean (numerically vs. physically)
33 ? Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Prof. de Weck and Prof. Willcox
Engineering Systems Division and Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
References
Practical Optimization, P.E. Gill, W. Murray and M.H.
Wright, Academic Press, 1986.
Numerical Optimization Techniques for Engineering
Design, G.N. Vanderplaats, Vanderplaats R&D, 1999.
Optimal Design in Multidisciplinary Systems, AIAA
Professional Development Short Course Notes,
September 2002.