Robust Optimization of PDEs with Random Coefficients Using a Multilevel Monte Carlo Method

This paper addresses optimization problems constrained by partial differential equations with uncertain coefficients. In particular, the robust control problem and the average control problem are considered for a tracking type cost functional with an additional penalty on the variance of the state. The expressions for the gradient and Hessian corresponding to either problem contain expected value operators. Due to the large number of uncertainties considered in our model, we suggest to evaluate these expectations using a multilevel Monte Carlo (MLMC) method. Under mild assumptions, it is shown that this results in the gradient and Hessian corresponding to the MLMC estimator of the original cost functional. Furthermore, we show that the use of certain correlated samples yields a reduction in the total number of samples required. Two optimization methods are investigated: the nonlinear conjugate gradient method and the Newton method. For both, a specific algorithm is provided that dynamically decides which and how many samples should be taken in each iteration. The cost of the optimization up to some specified tolerance $\tau$ is shown to be proportional to the cost of a gradient evaluation with requested root mean square error $\tau$. The algorithms are tested on a model elliptic diffusion problem with lognormal diffusion coefficient. An additional nonlinear term is also considered.Comment: This work was presented at the IMG 2016 conference (Dec 5 - Dec 9, 2016), at the Copper Mountain conference (Mar 26 - Mar 30, 2017), and at the FrontUQ conference (Sept 5 - Sept 8, 2017

A Dimension-Adaptive Multi-Index Monte Carlo Method Applied to a Model of a Heat Exchanger

We present an adaptive version of the Multi-Index Monte Carlo method, introduced by Haji-Ali, Nobile and Tempone (2016), for simulating PDEs with coefficients that are random fields. A classical technique for sampling from these random fields is the Karhunen-Lo\`eve expansion. Our adaptive algorithm is based on the adaptive algorithm used in sparse grid cubature as introduced by Gerstner and Griebel (2003), and automatically chooses the number of terms needed in this expansion, as well as the required spatial discretizations of the PDE model. We apply the method to a simplified model of a heat exchanger with random insulator material, where the stochastic characteristics are modeled as a lognormal random field, and we show consistent computational savings

On local Fourier analysis of multigrid methods for PDEs with jumping and random coefficients

In this paper, we propose a novel non-standard Local Fourier Analysis (LFA) variant for accurately predicting the multigrid convergence of problems with random and jumping coefficients. This LFA method is based on a specific basis of the Fourier space rather than the commonly used Fourier modes. To show the utility of this analysis, we consider, as an example, a simple cell-centered multigrid method for solving a steady-state single phase flow problem in a random porous medium. We successfully demonstrate the prediction capability of the proposed LFA using a number of challenging benchmark problems. The information provided by this analysis helps us to estimate a-priori the time needed for solving certain uncertainty quantification problems by means of a multigrid multilevel Monte Carlo method

IGA-based Multi-Index Stochastic Collocation for random PDEs on arbitrary domains

This paper proposes an extension of the Multi-Index Stochastic Collocation (MISC) method for forward uncertainty quantification (UQ) problems in computational domains of shape other than a square or cube, by exploiting isogeometric analysis (IGA) techniques. Introducing IGA solvers to the MISC algorithm is very natural since they are tensor-based PDE solvers, which are precisely what is required by the MISC machinery. Moreover, the combination-technique formulation of MISC allows the straight-forward reuse of existing implementations of IGA solvers. We present numerical results to showcase the effectiveness of the proposed approach.Comment: version 3, version after revisio