Logic-based Benders decomposition for large-scale optimization

Abstract

Logic-based Benders decomposition (LBBD) is a substantial generalization of classical Benders decomposition that, in principle, allows the subproblem to be any optimization problem rather than specifically a linear or nonlinear programming problem. It is amenable to a wide variety large-scale problems that decouple or otherwise simplify when certain decision variables are fixed. This chapter presents the basic theory of LBBD and explains how classical Benders decomposition is a special case. It also describes branch and check, a variant of LBBD that solves the master problem only once. It illustrates in detail how Benders cuts and subproblem relaxations can be developed for some planning and scheduling problems. It then describes the role of LBBD in three large-scale case studies. The chapter concludes with an extensive survey of the LBBD literature, organized by problem domain, to allow the reader to explore how Benders cuts have been developed for a wide range of applications.