Sequential quadratic programming (SQP) methods have proved highly effective for solving constrained optimization problems with smooth nonlinear functions in the objective and constraints. Here we consider problems with general inequality constraints (linear and nonlinear). We assume that first derivatives are available, and that the constraint gradients are sparse.

Jorge Nocedal z An algorithm for minimizing a nonlinear function subject to nonlinear inequality constraints is described. It applies sequential quadratic programming techniques to a sequence of barrier problems, and uses trust regions to ensure the robustness of the iteration and to allow the direct use of second order derivatives. This framework permits primal and primal-dual steps, but the paper focuses on the primal version of the new algorithm. An analysis of the convergence properties of this method is presented. Key words: constrained optimization, interior point method, large-scale optimization, nonlinear programming, primal method, primal-dual method, SQP iteration, barrier method, trust region method.

The design and implementation of a new algorithm for solving large nonlinear programming problems is described. It follows a barrier approach that employs sequential quadratic programming and trust regions to solve the subproblems occurring in the iteration. Both primal and primal-dual versions of the algorithm are developed, and their performance is illustrated in a set of numerical tests. Key words: constrained optimization, interior point method, large-scale optimization, nonlinear programming, primal method, primal-dual method, successive quadratic programming, trust region method.

Abstract. This paper describes a software implementation of Byrd and Omojokun’s trust region algorithm for solving nonlinear equality constrained optimization problems. The code is designed for the efficient solution of large problems and provides the user with a variety of linear algebra techniques for solving the subproblems occurring in the algorithm. Second derivative information can be used, but when it is not available, limited memory quasi-Newton approximations are made. The performance of the code is studied using a set of difficult test problems from the CUTE collection.

We introduce a new model algorithm for solving nonlinear programming problems. No slack variables are introduced for dealing with inequality constraints. Each iteration of the method proceeds in two phases. In the first phase, feasibility of the current iterate is improved and in second phase the objective function value is reduced in an approximate feasible set. The point that results from the second phase is compared with the current point using a nonsmooth merit function that combines feasibility and optimality. This merit function includes a penalty parameter that changes between different iterations. A suitable updating procedure for this penalty parameter is included by means of which it can be increased or decreased along different iterations. The conditions for feasibility improvement at the first phase and for optimality improvement at the second phase are mild, and large-scale implementations of the resulting method are possible. We prove that under suitable conditions, that ...

. A new Inexact-Restoration method for Nonlinear Programming is introduced. The iteration of the main algorithm has two phases. In Phase 1, feasibility is explicitly improved and in Phase 2 optimality is improved on a tangent approximation of the constraints. Trust regions are used for reducing the step when the trial point is not good enough. The trust region is not centered in the current point, as in many Nonlinear Programming algorithms, but in the intermediate "more feasible" point. Therefore, in this semifeasible approach, the more feasible intermediate point is considered to be essentially better than the current point. This is the first method in which intermediate-point-centered trust regions are combined with the decrease of the Lagrangian in the tangent approximation to the constraints. The merit function used in this paper is also new: it consists of a convex combination of the Lagrangian and the (non-squared) norm of the constraints. The Euclidean norm is used for simplicity but other norms for measuring infeasibility are admissible. Global convergence theorems are proved, a theoretically justified algorithm for the first phase is introduced and some numerical insight is given. Key Words: Nonlinear Programming, trust regions, GRG methods, SGRA methods, restoration methods, global convergence. 1

A slack-based feasible interior point method is described which can be derived as a modification of infeasible methods. The modification is minor for most line search methods, but trust region methods require special attention. It is shown how the Cauchy point, which is often computed in trust region methods, must be modified so that the feasible method is effective for problems containing both equality and inequality constraints. The relationship between slack-based methods and traditional feasible methods is discussed. Numerical results showing the relative performance of feasible versus infeasible interior point methods are presented.

We propose and analyze a class of penalty-function-free nonmonotone trust-region methods for nonlinear equality constrained optimization problems. The algorithmic framework yields global convergence without using a merit function and allows nonmonotonicity independently for both, the constraint violation and the value of the Lagrangian function. Similar to the Byrd--Omojokun class of algorithms, each step is composed of a quasinormal and a tangential step. Both steps are required to satisfy a decrease condition for their respective trust-region subproblems. The proposed mechanism for accepting steps combines nonmonotone decrease conditions on the constraint violation and/or the Lagrangian function, which leads to a flexibility and acceptance behavior comparable to filter-based methods. We establish the global convergence of the method. Furthermore, transition to quadratic local convergence is proved. Numerical tests are presented that confirm the robustness and efficiency of the approach.

We analyze the properties that optimization algorithms must possess in order to prevent convergence to non-stationary points for the merit function. We show that demanding the exact satisfaction of constraint linearizations results in difficulties in a wide range of optimization algorithms. Feasibility control is a mechanism that prevents convergence to spurious solutions by ensuring that sufficient progress towards feasibility is made, even in the presence of certain rank deficiencies. The concept of feasibility control is studied in this paper in the context of Newton methods for nonlinear systems of equations and equality constrained optimization, as well as in interior methods for nonlinear programming. This work was supported by National Science Foundation grant CDA-9726385 and by Department of Energy grant DE-FG02-87ER25047-A004. y To appear in the proceedings of the Foundations of Computational Mathematics Meeting held in Oxford, England, in July 1999 z Department o...

A series of numerical experiments with interior point (LOQO, KNITRO) and active-set sequential quadratic programming (SNOPT, filterSQP) codes are reported and analyzed. The tests were performed with small, medium-size and moderately large problems, and are examined by problem classes. Detailed observations on the performance of the codes, and several suggestions on how to improve them are presented. Overall, interior methods appear to be strong competitors of active-set SQP methods, but all codes show much room for improvement. 1