On Two-Stage Convex Chance Constrained Problems

Abstract

In this paper we develop approximation algorithms for two-stage convex chance constrained problems. Nemirovski and Shapiro [18] formulated this class of problems and proposed an ellipsoid-like iterative algorithm for the special case where the impact function f "x, h" is bi-affine. We show that this algorithm extends to bi-convex f "x, h" in a fairly straightforward fashion. The complexity of the solution algorithm as well as the quality of its output are functions of the radius r of the largest Euclidean ball that can be inscribed in the polytope defined by a random set of linear inequalities generated by the algorithm [18]. Since the polytope determining r is random, computing r is difficult. Yet, the solution algorithm requires r as an input. In this paper we provide some guidance for selecting r. We show that the largest value of r is determined by the degree of robust feasibility of the two-stage chance constrained problem - the more robust the problem, the higher one can set the parameter r. Next, we formulate ambiguous two-stage chance constrained problems. In this formulation the random variables defining the chance constraint are known to have a fixed distribution; however, the decision maker is only able to estimate this distribution to within some error. We construct an algorithm that solves the ambiguous two-stage chance constrained problem when the impact function f "x, h" is bi-affine and the extreme points of a certain "dual" polytope are known explicitly.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 03, 2005
Accession Number
ADA478336

Entities

People

  • E. Erdogan
  • Garud Iyengar

Organizations

  • Columbia University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Algorithms
  • Computational Complexity
  • Computer Science
  • Convergence
  • Convex Sets
  • Ellipsoids
  • Estimators
  • Guarantees
  • Guidance
  • Inequalities
  • Iterations
  • New York
  • Normal Distribution
  • Optimization
  • Probability
  • Random Variables
  • Weak Convergence

Fields of Study

  • Computer science
  • Mathematics

Readers

  • Graph Algorithms and Convex Optimization.
  • Operations Research