Non-commutative discretize-then-optimize algorithms for elliptic PDE-constrained optimal control problems

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze the convergence of several optimize-then-discretize and discretize-then-optimize algorithms, based on either a second-order or a fourth-order finite difference discretization, for solving elliptic PDE-constrained optimal control problems. To ensure the convergence of a discretize-then-optimize algorithm, one well-accepted criterion is to design the discretization scheme such that the resulting discretize-then-optimize algorithm commutes with the corresponding optimize-then-discretize algorithm. In other words, both algorithms should give rise to exactly the same discrete optimality system. However, such a restrictive criterion is not trivial to fulfill. By investigating a distributed control problem governed by an elliptic equation, we first show that enforcing such a stringent condition of commutative property is only sufficient but not necessary for achieving the desired convergence. We then introduce some suitable H 1 semi-norm penalty/regularization terms to recover the lost convergence due to the inconsistency caused by the loss of commutativity. Numerical experiments are carried out to verify our theoretical analysis and also validate the effectiveness of our proposed regularization techniques.