Deterministic Global Optimization and its Applications

Christodoulos A. Floudas

ABSTRACT

This article provides an introduction and overview of the activities in the area of deterministic global optimization. Section 1 introduces the key issues, definitions, and motivation of global optimization problems and contrasts them with local optimization problems. Section 2 presents the structure of the three classes of mathematical models that we focus on in this handbook. Section 3 presents a number of illustrative examples of important global optimization applications. Section 4 discusses the approaches that have been proposed in deterministic global optimization and the classes of problems that are addressed. Section 5 provides a large number of research areas that cross several disciplines and a number of important applications. Section 6 lists books published, conferences held, and the introduction of a journal and a book series in the area of global optimization. Section 7 presents an overview of the contributions that have come from the field of chemical engineering.