Convexification and Global Optimization of Nonlinear Programs

Mohit Tawarmalani, Purdue University

We develop a framework of convex extensions that allows us to construct convex envelopes of many nonlinear functions. In particular, we construct relaxation schemes for fractional terms and for polynomial terms over a general hypercube and compare them with the relaxations used in the literature. We develop polyhedral relaxations for nonconvex programs and automatically exploit convexity in constructing relaxations without explicitly identifying it. We discuss modeling features that can enhance performance of global optimization algorithms. Finally, we present computational results on a variety of application problems.


Chemnitz Workshop

Last modified: Wed Nov 3 08:46:51 CEST 2004