A numerical comparison of solvers for large-scale, continuous-time algebraic Riccati equations and LQR problems

In this paper, we discuss numerical methods for solving large-scale continuous-time algebraic Riccati equations. These methods have been the focus of intensive research in recent years, and significant progress has been made in both the theoretical understanding and efficient implementation of various competing algorithms. There are several goals of this manuscript: first, to gather in one place an overview of different approaches for solving large-scale Riccati equations, and to point to the recent advances in each of them. Second, to analyze and compare the main computational ingredients of these algorithms, to detect their strong points and their potential bottlenecks. And finally, to compare the effective implementations of all methods on a set of relevant benchmark examples, giving an indication of their relative performance

Efficient Solution of Large-Scale Algebraic Riccati Equations Associated with Index-2 DAEs via the Inexact Low-Rank Newton-ADI Method

This paper extends the algorithm of Benner, Heinkenschloss, Saak, and Weichelt: An inexact low-rank Newton-ADI method for large-scale algebraic Riccati equations, Applied Numerical Mathematics Vol.~108 (2016), pp.~125--142, doi:10.1016/j.apnum.2016.05.006 to Riccati equations associated with Hessenberg index-2 Differential Algebratic Equation (DAE) systems. Such DAE systems arise, e.g., from semi-discretized, linearized (around steady state) Navier-Stokes equations. The solution of the associated Riccati equation is important, e.g., to compute feedback laws that stabilize the Navier-Stokes equations. Challenges in the numerical solution of the Riccati equation arise from the large-scale of the underlying systems and the algebraic constraint in the DAE system. These challenges are met by a careful extension of the inexact low-rank Newton-ADI method to the case of DAE systems. A main ingredient in the extension to the DAE case is the projection onto the manifold described by the algebraic constraints. In the algorithm, the equations are never explicitly projected, but the projection is only applied as needed. Numerical experience indicates that the algorithmic choices for the control of inexactness and line-search can help avoid subproblems with matrices that are only marginally stable. The performance of the algorithm is illustrated on a large-scale Riccati equation associated with the stabilization of Navier-Stokes flow around a cylinder.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figures, 4 table

Adaptive high-order splitting schemes for large-scale differential Riccati equations

We consider high-order splitting schemes for large-scale differential Riccati equations. Such equations arise in many different areas and are especially important within the field of optimal control. In the large-scale case, it is critical to employ structural properties of the matrix-valued solution, or the computational cost and storage requirements become infeasible. Our main contribution is therefore to formulate these high-order splitting schemes in a efficient way by utilizing a low-rank factorization. Previous results indicated that this was impossible for methods of order higher than 2, but our new approach overcomes these difficulties. In addition, we demonstrate that the proposed methods contain natural embedded error estimates. These may be used e.g. for time step adaptivity, and our numerical experiments in this direction show promising results.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figure