TY - INPR A1 - Grübel, Julia A1 - Huber, Olivier A1 - Hümbs, Lukas A1 - Klimm, Max A1 - Schmidt, Martin A1 - Schwartz, Alexandra T1 - Nonconvex Equilibrium Models for Energy Markets: Exploiting Price Information to Determine the Existence of an Equilibrium N2 - Motivated by examples from the energy sector, we consider market equilibrium problems (MEPs) involving players with nonconvex strategy spaces or objective functions, where the latter are assumed to be linear in market prices. We propose an algorithm that determines if an equilibrium of such an MEP exists and that computes an equilibrium in case of existence. Three key prerequisites have to be met. First, appropriate bounds on market prices have to be derived from necessary optimality conditions of some players. Second, a technical assumption is required for those prices that are not uniquely determined by the derived bounds. Third, nonconvex optimization problems have to be solved to global optimality. We test the algorithm on well-known instances from the power and gas literature that meet these three prerequisites. There, nonconvexities arise from considering the transmission system operator as an additional player besides producers and consumers who, e.g., switches lines or faces nonlinear physical laws. Our numerical results indicate that equilibria often exist, especially for the case of continuous nonconvexities in the context of gas market problems. KW - Energy markets KW - Nonconvex games KW - Existence KW - Equilibrium computation KW - Perfect competition Y1 - 2021 ER - TY - INPR A1 - Disser, Yann A1 - Klimm, Max A1 - Weckbecker, David T1 - Fractionally Subadditive Maximization under an Incremental Knapsack Constraint N2 - We consider the problem of maximizing a fractionally subadditive function under a knapsack constraint that grows over time. An incremental solution to this problem is given by an order in which to include the elements of the ground set, and the competitive ratio of an incremental solution is defined by the worst ratio over all capacities relative to an optimum solution of the corresponding capacity. We present an algorithm that finds an incremental solution of competitive ratio at most $\max\{3.293\sqrt{M},2M\}$, under the assumption that the values of singleton sets are in the range $[1,M]$, and we give a lower bound of $\max\{2.449,M\}$ on the attainable competitive ratio. In addition, we establish that our framework captures potential-based flows between two vertices, and we give a tight bound of 2 for the incremental maximization of classical flows with unit capacities. Y1 - 2021 ER - TY - INPR A1 - Klimm, Max A1 - Pfetsch, Marc E. A1 - Raber, Rico A1 - Skutella, Martin T1 - Packing under Convex Quadratic Constraints N2 - We consider a general class of binary packing problems with a convex quadratic knapsack constraint. We prove that these problems are APX-hard to approximate and present constant-factor approximation algorithms based upon three different algorithmic techniques: (1) a rounding technique tailored to a convex relaxation in conjunction with a non-convex relaxation whose approximation ratio equals the golden ratio; (2) a greedy strategy; (3) a randomized rounding method leading to an approximation algorithm for the more general case with multiple convex quadratic constraints. We further show that a combination of the first two strategies can be used to yield a monotone algorithm leading to a strategyproof mechanism for a game-theoretic variant of the problem. Finally, we present a computational study of the empirical approximation of the three algorithms for problem instances arising in the context of real-world gas transport networks. Y1 - 2019 ER - TY - INPR A1 - Klimm, Max A1 - Pfetsch, Marc A1 - Raber, Rico A1 - Skutella, Martin T1 - On the Robustness of Potential-Based Flow Networks N2 - Potential-based flows provide a simple yet realistic mathematical model of transport in many real-world infrastructure networks such as, e.g., electricity, gas, or water networks, where the flow along each edge is controlled via the (difference of) potentials at its end nodes. A potential-based flow network is robust if the maximal difference of node potentials needed to satisfy a set of demands cannot increase if demands are decreased. This notion of robustness is motivated by infrastructure networks where users first make reservations for certain demands that may be larger than the actual amounts sent later on. Here node potentials correspond to physical quantities such as the pressures or the voltages and must be guaranteed to lie within a fixed range, even if the actual amounts are smaller than the previously reserved demands. Our main results are a precise characterization of such robust networks for the case of point-to-point demands via forbidden node-labeled graph minors, as well as an efficient algorithm for testing robustness. Y1 - 2019 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Disser, Yann A1 - Griesbach, Svenja M. A1 - Klimm, Max A1 - Lutz, Annette T1 - Bicriterial Approximation for the Incremental Prize-Collecting Steiner-Tree Problem N2 - We consider an incremental variant of the rooted prize-collecting Steiner-tree problem with a growing budget constraint. While no incremental solution exists that simultaneously approximates the optimum for all budgets, we show that a bicriterial (α,μ)-approximation is possible, i.e., a solution that with budget B+α for all B∈R≥0 is a multiplicative μ-approximation compared to the optimum solution with budget B. For the case that the underlying graph is a tree, we present a polynomial-time density-greedy algorithm that computes a (χ,1)-approximation, where χ denotes the eccentricity of the root vertex in the underlying graph, and show that this is best possible. An adaptation of the density-greedy algorithm for general graphs is (γ,2)-competitive where γ is the maximal length of a vertex-disjoint path starting in the root. While this algorithm does not run in polynomial time, it can be adapted to a (γ,3)-competitive algorithm that runs in polynomial time. We further devise a capacity-scaling algorithm that guarantees a (3χ,8)-approximation and, more generally, a ((4ℓ−1)χ,(2^(ℓ+2))/(2^ℓ−1))-approximation for every fixed ℓ∈N. KW - incremental maximization KW - competitive analysis KW - prize-collecting Steiner-tree Y1 - 2024 ER - TY - INPR A1 - Klimm, Max A1 - Pfetsch, Marc A1 - Raber, Rico A1 - Skutella, Martin T1 - Approximation of Binary Second Order Cone Programs of Packing Type N2 - This paper considers binary second order cone programs of packing type where a linear objective is optimized under m second order cone packing constraints and all decision variables are binary. We show that when m is part of the input, these problems cannot be approximated within a factor of 1/(m + 1)^(1−ε) for any ε > 0, unless P = NP. We then propose approximation algorithms based on different algorithmic principles that almost match this approximation factor: a pipage rounding technique that solves fractional relaxations of the problems and modifies the solutions so that few fractional variables remain, a greedy approach, and a randomized rounding technique. While all algorithms have similar theoretical approximation guarantees in the order of 1/m, we also test the algorithms on realistic instances that arise in the context of gas transportation networks. This empirical study reveals in particular that taking the best of the proposed algorithms produces highly competitive solutions that yield on average 96 % of the value of an optimal solution. Y1 - 2021 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Klimm, Max A1 - Warode, Philipp T1 - Parametric computation of minimum cost flows with piecewise quadratic costs JF - Mathematics of Operations Research N2 - We develop algorithms solving parametric flow problems with separable, continuous, piecewise quadratic, and strictly convex cost functions. The parameter to be considered is a common multiplier on the demand of all nodes. Our algorithms compute a family of flows that are each feasible for the respective demand and minimize the costs among the feasible flows for that demand. For single commodity networks with homogenous cost functions, our algorithm requires one matrix multiplication for the initialization, a rank 1 update for each nondegenerate step and the solution of a convex quadratic program for each degenerate step. For nonhomogeneous cost functions, the initialization requires the solution of a convex quadratic program instead. For multi-commodity networks, both the initialization and every step of the algorithm require the solution of a convex program. As each step is mirrored by a breakpoint in the output this yields output-polynomial algorithms in every case. Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1287/moor.2021.1151 ER - TY - INPR A1 - Klimm, Max A1 - Pfetsch, Marc A1 - Raber, Rico A1 - Skutella, Martin T1 - Reduction of Potential-Based Flow Networks N2 - We consider potential-based flow networks with terminal nodes at which flow can enter or leave the network and physical properties such as voltages or pressures are measured and controlled. We study conditions under which such a network can be reduced to a smaller, equivalent network with the same behavior at the terminal nodes. Potential-based flow networks are widely used to model infrastructure networks such as electricity, gas, or water networks. In contrast to Kron's reduction for electrical networks, we prove that, in general, potential-based flow networks with at least three terminals cannot be reduced to smaller networks whose size only depends on the number of terminals. On the other hand, we show that it is possible to represent a special class of potential-based flow networks by a complete graph on the terminals, and we establish a characterization of networks that can be reduced to a path network. Our results build on fundamental properties of effective resistances proved in this paper, including explicit formulae for their dependence on edge resistances of the network and their metric properties. Y1 - 2021 ER - TY - INPR A1 - Strubberg, Lea A1 - Lutz, Annette A1 - Börner, Pascal A1 - Pfetsch, Marc A1 - Skutella, Martin A1 - Klimm, Max T1 - Valid Cuts for the Design of Potential-based Flow Networks N2 - The construction of a cost minimal network for flows obeying physical laws is an important problem for the design of electricity, water, hydrogen, and natural gas infrastructures. We formulate this problem as a mixed-integer non-linear program. Its non-convexity, due to the poten- tial flow, together with the binary variables, indicating the decision to build a connection, make these problems challenging to solve. We develop a novel class of valid inequalities on the fractional relaxations of the bi- nary variables. Further, we show that this class of inequalities can be sep- arated in polynomial for solutions to a fractional relaxation. This makes it possible to incorporate these inequalities into a branch-and-bound al- gorithm. The advantage of these inequalities is lastly demonstrated in a computational study on the design of real-world gas transport networks. KW - potential based flows KW - topology optimization KW - MINLP Y1 - 2025 ER -