All issues

Non-smooth optimization often arises in many applied problems. The issues of developing efficient computational procedures for such problems in high-dimensional spaces are very topical. First-order methods (subgradient methods) are well applicable here, but in fairly general situations they lead to low speed guarantees for large-scale problems. One of the approaches to this type of problem can be to identify a subclass of non-smooth problems that allow relatively optimistic results on the rate of convergence. For example, one of the options for additional assumptions can be the condition of a sharp minimum, proposed in the late 1960s by B. T. Polyak. In the case of the availability of information about the minimal value of the function for Lipschitz-continuous problems with a sharp minimum, it turned out to be possible to propose a subgradient method with a Polyak step-size, which guarantees a linear rate of convergence in the argument. This approach made it possible to cover a number of important applied problems (for example, the problem of projecting onto a convex compact set). However, both the condition of the availability of the minimal value of the function and the condition of a sharp minimum itself look rather restrictive. In this regard, in this paper, we propose a generalized condition for a sharp minimum, somewhat similar to the inexact oracle proposed recently by Devolder – Glineur – Nesterov. The proposed approach makes it possible to extend the class of applicability of subgradient methods with the Polyak step-size, to the situation of inexact information about the value of the minimum, as well as the unknown Lipschitz constant of the objective function. Moreover, the use of local analogs of the global characteristics of the objective function makes it possible to apply the results of this type to wider classes of problems. We show the possibility of applying the proposed approach to strongly convex nonsmooth problems, also, we make an experimental comparison with the known optimal subgradient method for such a class of problems. Moreover, there were obtained some results connected to the applicability of the proposed technique to some types of problems with convexity relaxations: the recently proposed notion of weak $\beta$-quasi-convexity and ordinary quasiconvexity. Also in the paper, we study a generalization of the described technique to the situation with the assumption that the $\delta$-subgradient of the objective function is available instead of the usual subgradient. For one of the considered methods, conditions are found under which, in practice, it is possible to escape the projection of the considered iterative sequence onto the feasible set of the problem.

Laminar-turbulent transition is the subject of an active research related to improvement of economic efficiency of air vehicles, because in the turbulent boundary layer drag increases, which leads to higher fuel consumption. One of the directions of such research is the search for efficient methods, that can be used to find the position of the transition in space. Using this information about laminar-turbulent transition location when designing an aircraft, engineers can predict its performance and profitability at the initial stages of the project. Traditionally, $e^N$ method is applied to find the coordinates of a laminar-turbulent transition. It is a well known approach in industry. However, despite its widespread use, this method has a number of significant drawbacks, since it relies on parallel flow assumption, which limits the scenarios for its application, and also requires computationally expensive calculations in a wide range of frequencies and wave numbers. Alternatively, flow analysis can be done by using Dynamic Mode Decomposition, which allows one to analyze flow disturbances using flow data directly. Since Dynamic Mode Decomposition is a dimensionality reduction method, the number of computations can be dramatically reduced. Furthermore, usage of Dynamic Mode Decomposition expands the applicability of the whole method, due to the absence of assumptions about the parallel flow in its derivation.

The presented study proposes an approach to finding the location of a laminar-turbulent transition using the Dynamic Mode Decomposition method. The essence of this approach is to divide the boundary layer region into sets of subregions, for each of which the transition point is independently calculated, using Dynamic Mode Decomposition for flow analysis, after which the results are averaged to produce the final result. This approach is validated by laminar-turbulent transition predictions of subsonic and supersonic flows over a 2D flat plate with zero pressure gradient. The results demonstrate the fundamental applicability and high accuracy of the described method in a wide range of conditions. The study focuses on comparison with the $e^N$ method and proves the advantages of the proposed approach. It is shown that usage of Dynamic Mode Decomposition leads to significantly faster execution due to less intensive computations, while the accuracy is comparable to the such of the solution obtained with the $e^N$ method. This indicates the prospects for using the described approach in a real world applications.