Upcoming Events

DECEMBER 6, 2016

ChE Seminar: “Multi-Parametric Model-based Optimization & Control” by Dr. Stratos Pistikopoulos, Texas A&M University

HOST: Dr. Michael Baldea; LOCATION/TIME: CPE 2.218 from 3:30pm-4:30pm

ABSTRACT: Model based multi-parametric programming provides a complete map of solutions of an optimization problem as a function of, unknown but bounded,parameters in the model, in a computationally efficient manner, without exhaustively enumerating the entire parameter space. In a Model-based Predictive Control (MPC) framework, multi-parametric programming can be used to obtain the governing control laws – the optimal control variables as an explicit function of the state variables. The main advantage of this approach isthat it reduces repetitive on-line control and optimization to simple function evaluations, which can be implemented on simple computational hardware,such as a microchip, thereby opening avenues for many applications in chemical, energy, automotive, and biomedical equipment, devices and systems.

In this presentation, we will first provide a historical progress report of the key developments in multi-parametric programming and control. We will then describe PAROC, a prototype software system which allows for the representation, modelling and solution of integrated design, operation and advanced control problems. Its main features include: (i) a high-fidelity dynamic model representation, also involving global sensitivity analysis, parameter estimation and mixed integer dynamic optimization capabilities; (ii) a suite/toolbox of model approximation methods; (iii) a host of multi-parametric programming solvers for mixed continuous/integer problems; (iv) a state-space modelling representation capability for scheduling and control problems; and (v) an advanced control toolkit for multi-parametric/explicit MPC and moving horizon reactive scheduling problems. Algorithms that enable the integration capabilities of the systems for design, scheduling and control are presented along with applications in sustainable energy systems, process intensification, smart manufacturing and personalized healthcare engineering.

BIOGRAPHY: Professor Pistikopoulos is the Interim Co-Director of the Texas A&M EnergyInstitute, as well as a TEES Distinguished Research Professor in the ArtieMcFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University. Untilrecently (1991-2015) he was a Professor of Chemical Engineering at ImperialCollege London, UK and the Director of its Centre for Process SystemsEngineering between 2002 and 2009.

He holds a Ph.D. degree from Carnegie Mellon University and he worked withShell Chemicals in Amsterdam before joining Imperial in 1991. He hasauthored or co-authored over 350 major research publications in the areas ofmodelling, control and optimization of process, energy and systemsengineering applications, 10 books and 2 patents. A Fellow of the Institution ofChemical Engineers, Editor of Computers & Chemical Engineering, Co-Editorof the Book Series in Computer Aided Chemical Engineering (Elsevier) andProcess Systems Engineering (Wiley-VCH), on the Editorial Boards ofIndustrial & Engineering Chemistry Research (2011-2013), the Journal ofGlobal Optimization and the Journal of Computational Management Science,Professor Pistikopoulos has been a co-founder of Process SystemsEnterprise (PSE) Ltd and a founder/director of Parametric OptimizationSolutions (ParOS) Ltd.

In 2007, Prof. Pistikopoulos was a co-recipient of the prestigious MacRobertAward from the Royal Academy of Engineering; in 2008, he received anAdvanced Investigator Award from the European Research Council; in 2009,he delivered the Bayer Lecture in Process Systems Engineering at CarnegieMellon University, USA, and in 2014, the 21st Professor Roger SargentLecture at Imperial College London. In 2012, he received the Computing inChemical Engineering Award of the Computing and Systems Technology(CAST) Division of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). Hereceived the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University Politehnica ofBucharest, Romania in 2014, and from the University of Pannonia, Hungary in2015. In 2013, he was elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering inthe UK.