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Gradient-free optimization methods or zeroth-order methods are widely used in training neural networks, reinforcement learning, as well as in industrial tasks where only the values of a function at a point are available (working with non-analytical functions). In particular, the method of error back propagation in PyTorch works exactly on this principle. There is a well-known fact that computer calculations use heuristics of floating-point numbers, and because of this, the problem of finiteness of the mantissa arises.

In this paper, firstly, we reviewed the most popular methods of gradient approximation: Finite forward/central difference (FFD/FCD), Forward/Central wise component (FWC/CWC), Forward/Central randomization on $l_2$ sphere (FSSG2/CFFG2); secondly, we described current theoretical representations of the noise introduced by the inaccuracy of calculating the function at a point: adversarial noise, random noise; thirdly, we conducted a series of experiments on frequently encountered classes of problems, such as quadratic problem, logistic regression, SVM, to try to determine whether the real nature of machine noise corresponds to the existing theory. It turned out that in reality (at least for those classes of problems that were considered in this paper), machine noise turned out to be something between adversarial noise and random, and therefore the current theory about the influence of the mantissa limb on the search for the optimum in gradient-free optimization problems requires some adjustment.

The paper deals with a heat wave motion problem for a degenerate second-order nonlinear parabolic equation with power nonlinearity. The considered boundary condition specifies in a plane the motion equation of the circular zero front of the heat wave. A new numerical-analytical algorithm for solving the problem is proposed. A solution is constructed stepby- step in time using difference time discretization. At each time step, a boundary value problem for the Poisson equation corresponding to the original equation at a fixed time is considered. This problem is, in fact, an inverse Cauchy problem in the domain whose initial boundary is free of boundary conditions and two boundary conditions (Neumann and Dirichlet) are specified on a current boundary (heat wave). A solution of this problem is constructed as the sum of a particular solution to the nonhomogeneous Poisson equation and a solution to the corresponding Laplace equation satisfying the boundary conditions. Since the inhomogeneity depends on the desired function and its derivatives, an iterative solution procedure is used. The particular solution is sought by the collocation method using inhomogeneity expansion in radial basis functions. The inverse Cauchy problem for the Laplace equation is solved by the null field method as applied to a circular domain with a circular hole. This method is used for the first time to solve such problem. The calculation algorithm is optimized by parallelizing the computations. The parallelization of the computations allows us to realize effectively the algorithm on high performance computing servers. The algorithm is implemented as a program, which is parallelized by using the OpenMP standard for the C++ language, suitable for calculations with parallel cycles. The effectiveness of the algorithm and the robustness of the program are tested by the comparison of the calculation results with the known exact solution as well as with the numerical solution obtained earlier by the authors with the use of the boundary element method. The implemented computational experiment shows good convergence of the iteration processes and higher calculation accuracy of the proposed new algorithm than of the previously developed one. The solution analysis allows us to select the radial basis functions which are most suitable for the proposed algorithm.

A 2D numerical model of the immersion of a cold oceanic plate into the thickness of the Earth’s upper mantle has been developed, where the stage of the initial immersion of the plate is preceded by the establishment of a regime of thermogravitational convection of the mantle substance. The model approximation of the mantle is a two-dimensional image of an incompressible Newtonian quasi-liquid in a Cartesian coordinate system, where, due to the high viscosity of the medium, the equations of mantle convection are accepted in the Stokes approximation. It is assumed that seawater that has leaked here enters the first horizons of the mantle together with the plate. With depth, the increase in pressure and temperature leads to certain losses of its light fractions and fluids, losses of water and gases of water-containing minerals of the plate, restructuring of their crystal lattice and, as a consequence, phase transformations. These losses cause an increase in the plate density and an uneven distribution of stresses along the plate (the initial sections of the plate are denser), which subsequently, together with the effect of mantle currents on the plate, causes its fragmentation. The state of mantle convection is considered when the plate and its individual fragments have descended to the bottom of the upper mantle. Computational schemes for solving the model equations have been developed. Mantle convection calculations are performed in terms of the Stokes approximation for vorticity and the stream function, and SPH is used to calculate the state and subsidence of the plate. A number of computational experiments have been performed. It is shown that fragmentation of the plate occurs due to the effect of mantle convection on the plate and the development of inhomogeneous stress fields along the plate. Following the equations of the model, the time of the final stage of subduction is estimated, i.e. the time of the entire oceanic plate reaching the bottom of the upper mantle. In geodynamics, this process is determined by the collision of plates that immediately follows subduction and is usually considered as the final stage of the Wilson cycle (i. e., the cycle of development of folded belts).

Traditional methods for solving the traveling salesman problem are not effective for high-dimensional problems due to their high computational complexity. One of the most effective ways to solve this problem is the decomposition approach, which includes three main stages: clustering vertices, solving subproblems within each cluster and then merging the obtained solutions into a final solution. This article focuses on the third stage — merging cycles of solving subproblems — since this stage is not always given sufficient attention, which leads to less accurate final solutions of the problem. The paper proposes a new modified Sigal algorithm for merging cycles. To evaluate its effectiveness, it is compared with two algorithms for merging cycles — the method of connecting midpoints of edges and an algorithm based on closeness of cluster centroids. The dependence of quality of solving subproblems on algorithms used for merging cycles is investigated. Sigal’s modified algorithm performs pairwise clustering and minimizes total distance. The centroid method focuses on connecting clusters based on closeness of centroids, and an algorithm using mid-points estimates the distance between mid-points of edges. Two types of clustering — k-means and affinity propagation — were also considered. Numerical experiments were performed using the TSPLIB dataset with different numbers of cities and topologies to test effectiveness of proposed algorithm. The study analyzes errors caused by the order in which clusters were merged, the quality of solving subtasks and number of clusters. Experiments show that the modified Sigal algorithm has the smallest median final distance and the most stable results compared to other methods. Results indicate that the quality of the final solution obtained using the modified Sigal algorithm is more stable depending on the sequence of merging clusters. Improving the quality of solving subproblems usually results in linear improvement of the final solution, but the pooling algorithm rarely affects the degree of this improvement.

The results of verification carried out for investigations of hydrodynamic effect on reentry conicalsegmental space vehicle are presented in the paper. The program complex Flow Vision is used for this analysis. The purpose of the study is verification of using Flow Vision program complex for problem solving mentioned above on the base of comparison between calculated and experimental data, obtained on the Apollo landing models and new development reentry spacecraft of manned transporting spaceship designed by RSC Energia. The comparison was carried out through the data of pressure values on spacecraft model surfaces during its water landing and inertia center motion parameters.

The results of study show good agreement between experimental and calculated data of force effects on vehicle construction during water landing and its motion parameters in the water medium. Computer simulation sufficiently well reproduces influence of initial velocities & water entry angles variations on water landing process.

Using of computer simulation provides simultaneous acquisition of all data information needed for investigation of water landing peculiarities during construction design, notably, hydrodynamic effects for structural strength calculations, parameters and dynamics of center mass motion and vehicle revolution around center mass for estimation water landing conditions, as well as vehicle stability after landing.

Obtained results confirm suitability of using Flow Vision program complex for water landing vehicle investigations and investigations of influence of different landing regimes through wide initial condition change range, that permits considerably decrease extent of expensive experimental tests and realize landing conditions which are sufficiently complicated for realizing in model physical experiments.

In the last decades, the development of methods for increasing the efficiency of hydrocarbon extraction in fields with unconventional reserves containing large amounts of gas condensate is of great importance. This makes important the development of methods of mathematical modeling that realistically describe physical processes in a gas-condensate mixture in a porous medium.

In the paper, a mathematical model which describes the dynamics of the pressure, velocity and concentration of the components of a two-component two-phase mixture entering a laboratory model of plast filled with a porous substance with known physicochemical properties is considered. The mathematical model is based on a system of nonlinear spatially one-dimensional partial differential equations with the corresponding initial and boundary conditions. Laboratory experiments show that during a finite time the system stabilizes, what gives a basis to proceed to the stationary formulation of the problem.

The numerical solution of the formulated system of ordinary differential equations is realized in the Maple environment on the basis of the Runge–Kutta procedure. It is shown that the physical parameters of the gascondensate mixture, which characterize the modeled system in the stabilization regime, obtained on this basis, are in good agreement with the available experimental data. This confirms the correctness of the chosen approach and the validity of its further application and development for computer modeling of physical processes in gas-condensate mixtures in a porous medium. The paper presents a mathematical formulation of the system of partial differential equations and of respective system stationary equations, describes the numerical approach, and discusses the numerical results obtained in comparison with experimental data.

In this paper, we introduce a new version of Gauss–Newton method for solving a system of nonlinear equations based on ideas of the residual upper bound for a system of nonlinear equations and a quadratic regularization term. The introduced Gauss–Newton method in practice virtually forms the whole parameterized family of the methods solving systems of nonlinear equations and regression problems. The developed family of Gauss–Newton methods completely consists of iterative methods with generalization for cases of non-euclidean normed spaces, including special forms of Levenberg–Marquardt algorithms. The developed methods use the local model based on a parameterized proximal mapping allowing us to use an inexact oracle of «black–box» form with restrictions for the computational precision and computational complexity. We perform an efficiency analysis including global and local convergence for the developed family of methods with an arbitrary oracle in terms of iteration complexity, precision and complexity of both local model and oracle, problem dimensionality. We present global sublinear convergence rates for methods of the proposed family for solving a system of nonlinear equations, consisting of Lipschitz smooth functions. We prove local superlinear convergence under extra natural non-degeneracy assumptions for system of nonlinear functions. We prove both local and global linear convergence for a system of nonlinear equations under Polyak–Lojasiewicz condition for proposed Gauss– Newton methods. Besides theoretical justifications of methods we also consider practical implementation issues. In particular, for conducted experiments we present effective computational schemes for the exact oracle regarding to the dimensionality of a problem. The proposed family of methods unites several existing and frequent in practice Gauss–Newton method modifications, allowing us to construct a flexible and convenient method implementable using standard convex optimization and computational linear algebra techniques.

A model of combustion of premixed mixture of gases with one global chemical reaction is considered, the model includes equations of the second order for temperature of mixture and concentrations of fuel and oxidizer, and the right-hand sides of these equations contain the reaction rate function. This function depends on five unknown parameters of the global reaction and serves as approximation to multistep reaction mechanism. The model is reduced, after replacement of variables, to one equation of the second order for temperature of mixture that transforms to a first-order equation for temperature derivative depending on temperature that contains a parameter of flame propagation velocity. Thus, for computing the parameter of burning velocity, one has to solve Dirichlet problem for first-order equation, and after that a model dependence of burning velocity on mixture equivalence ratio at specified reaction rate parameters will be obtained. Given the experimental data of dependence of burning velocity on mixture equivalence ratio, the problem of optimal selection of reaction rate parameters is stated, based on minimization of the mean square deviation of model values of burning velocity on experimental ones. The aim of our study is analysis of uniqueness of this problem solution. To this end, we apply computational experiment during which the problem of global search of optima is solved using multistart of gradient descent. The computational experiment clarifies that the inverse problem in this statement is underdetermined, and every time, when running gradient descent from a selected starting point, it converges to a new limit point. The structure of the set of limit points in the five-dimensional space is analyzed, and it is shown that this set can be described with three linear equations. Therefore, it might be incorrect to tabulate all five parameters of reaction rate based on just one match criterion between model and experimental data of flame propagation velocity. The conclusion of our study is that in order to tabulate reaction rate parameters correctly, it is necessary to specify the values of two of them, based on additional optimality criteria.

Main theoretical considerations of dynamical changes of forest vegetation are discussed. It is shown that vegetation dynamics (succession) and soil dynamics are linked, and common dynamics is a result of biological turnover of nutrition elements. Main modelling approaches are examined and unsolved problems are formulated. An example of computer experiment on comparison of forest growth at stationary and global warming scenario is considered.

Статья представляет собой пример компьютерного моделирования в области инженерной механики. Численным методом находятся поля скорости в гидроциклоне, которые недоступны прямому измерению. Рассматривается численное моделирование трехмерной гидродинамики на основе k-ε RNG модели турбулентности в гидроциклоне со встроенным инжектором, содержащим 5 тангенциально направленных сопла. Показано, что направление движения инжектируемой жидкости зависит от расхода жидкости через инжектор. Расчеты показывают в соответствии с экспериментами, что зависимость сплит-параметра от расхода инжектируемой жидкости имеет немонотонный характер, связанный с отношением мощности основного потока и инжектируемой жидкости.