@incollection{MuellerAltherrAholaetal.2018, author = {M{\"u}ller, Tim M. and Altherr, Lena and Ahola, Marja and Schabel, Samuel and Pelz, Peter F.}, title = {Optimizing pressure screen systems in paper recycling: optimal system layout, component selection and operation}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Cham}, isbn = {978-3-030-18499-5}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-030-18500-8_44}, pages = {355 -- 361}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Around 60\% of the paper worldwide is made from recovered paper. Especially adhesive contaminants, so called stickies, reduce paper quality. To remove stickies but at the same time keep as many valuable fibers as possible, multi-stage screening systems with several interconnected pressure screens are used. When planning such systems, suitable screens have to be selected and their interconnection as well as operational parameters have to be defined considering multiple conflicting objectives. In this contribution, we present a Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Program to optimize system layout, component selection and operation to find a suitable trade-off between output quality and yield.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{UlmerBraunChengetal.2021, author = {Ulmer, Jessica and Braun, Sebastian and Cheng, Chi-Tsun and Dowey, Steve and Wollert, J{\"o}rg}, title = {Adapting augmented reality systems to the users' needs using gamification and error solving methods}, series = {Procedia CIRP - 54th CIRP CMS 2021 - Towards Digitalized Manufacturing 4.0}, volume = {104}, booktitle = {Procedia CIRP - 54th CIRP CMS 2021 - Towards Digitalized Manufacturing 4.0}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {2212-8271}, doi = {10.1016/j.procir.2021.11.024}, pages = {140 -- 145}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Animations of virtual items in AR support systems are typically predefined and lack interactions with dynamic physical environments. AR applications rarely consider users' preferences and do not provide customized spontaneous support under unknown situations. This research focuses on developing adaptive, error-tolerant AR systems based on directed acyclic graphs and error resolving strategies. Using this approach, users will have more freedom of choice during AR supported work, which leads to more efficient workflows. Error correction methods based on CAD models and predefined process data create individual support possibilities. The framework is implemented in the Industry 4.0 model factory at FH Aachen.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{Huening2021, author = {H{\"u}ning, Felix}, title = {Sustainable changes beyond covid-19 for a second semester physics course for electrical engineering students}, series = {Blended Learning in Engineering Education: challenging, enlightening - and lasting?}, booktitle = {Blended Learning in Engineering Education: challenging, enlightening - and lasting?}, isbn = {978-2-87352-023-6}, pages = {1424 -- 1428}, year = {2021}, abstract = {The course Physics for Electrical Engineering is part of the curriculum of the bachelor program Electrical Engineering at University of Applied Science Aachen. Before covid-19 the course was conducted in a rather traditional way with all parts (lecture, exercise and lab) face-to-face. This teaching approach changed fundamentally within a week when the covid-19 limitations forced all courses to distance learning. All parts of the course were transformed to pure distance learning including synchronous and asynchronous parts for the lecture, live online-sessions for the exercises and self-paced labs at home. Using these methods, the course was able to impart the required knowledge and competencies. Taking the teacher's observations of the student's learning behaviour and engagement, the formal and informal feedback of the students and the results of the exams into account, the new methods are evaluated with respect to effectiveness, sustainability and suitability for competence transfer. Based on this analysis strong and weak points of the concept and countermeasures to solve the weak points were identified. The analysis further leads to a sustainable teaching approach combining synchronous and asynchronous parts with self-paced learning times that can be used in a very flexible manner for different learning scenarios, pure online, hybrid (mixture of online and presence times) and pure presence teaching.}, language = {en} } @article{LeiseEsserEichenlaubetal.2021, author = {Leise, Philipp and Eßer, Arved and Eichenlaub, Tobias and Schleiffer, Jean-Eric and Altherr, Lena and Rinderknecht, Stephan and Pelz, Peter F.}, title = {Sustainable system design of electric powertrains - comparison of optimization methods}, series = {Engineering Optimization}, journal = {Engineering Optimization}, publisher = {Taylor \& Francis}, address = {London}, issn = {0305-215X}, doi = {10.1080/0305215X.2021.1928660}, year = {2021}, abstract = {The transition within transportation towards battery electric vehicles can lead to a more sustainable future. To account for the development goal 'climate action' stated by the United Nations, it is mandatory, within the conceptual design phase, to derive energy-efficient system designs. One barrier is the uncertainty of the driving behaviour within the usage phase. This uncertainty is often addressed by using a stochastic synthesis process to derive representative driving cycles and by using cycle-based optimization. To deal with this uncertainty, a new approach based on a stochastic optimization program is presented. This leads to an optimization model that is solved with an exact solver. It is compared to a system design approach based on driving cycles and a genetic algorithm solver. Both approaches are applied to find efficient electric powertrains with fixed-speed and multi-speed transmissions. Hence, the similarities, differences and respective advantages of each optimization procedure are discussed.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{LeiseBreuerAltherretal.2020, author = {Leise, Philipp and Breuer, Tim and Altherr, Lena and Pelz, Peter F.}, title = {Development, validation and assessment of a resilient pumping system}, series = {Proceedings of the Joint International Resilience Conference, JIRC2020}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the Joint International Resilience Conference, JIRC2020}, isbn = {978-90-365-5095-6}, pages = {97 -- 100}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The development of resilient technical systems is a challenging task, as the system should adapt automatically to unknown disturbances and component failures. To evaluate different approaches for deriving resilient technical system designs, we developed a modular test rig that is based on a pumping system. On the basis of this example system, we present metrics to quantify resilience and an algorithmic approach to improve resilience. This approach enables the pumping system to automatically react on unknown disturbances and to reduce the impact of component failures. In this case, the system is able to automatically adapt its topology by activating additional valves. This enables the system to still reach a minimum performance, even in case of failures. Furthermore, timedependent disturbances are evaluated continuously, deviations from the original state are automatically detected and anticipated in the future. This allows to reduce the impact of future disturbances and leads to a more resilient system behaviour.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{LorenzAltherrPelz2019, author = {Lorenz, Imke-Sophie B. and Altherr, Lena and Pelz, Peter F.}, title = {Graph-theoretic resilience analysis of a water distribution system's topology}, series = {World Congress on Resilience, Reliability and Asset Management 2019}, booktitle = {World Congress on Resilience, Reliability and Asset Management 2019}, pages = {106 -- 109}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Water suppliers are faced with the great challenge of achieving high-quality and, at the same time, low-cost water supply. In practice, the focus is set on the most beneficial maintenance measures and/or capacity adaptations of existing water distribution systems (WDS). Since climatic and demographic influences will pose further challenges in the future, the resilience enhancement of WDS, i.e. the enhancement of their capability to withstand and recover from disturbances, has been in particular focus recently. To assess the resilience of WDS, metrics based on graph theory have been proposed. In this study, a promising approach is applied to assess the resilience of the WDS for a district in a major German City. The conducted analysis provides insight into the process of actively influencing the resilience of WDS}, language = {en} } @article{GrundlachBaumannEngelmann2021, author = {Grundlach, Michael and Baumann, Martin and Engelmann, Ulrich M.}, title = {How Multimodal Examinations Can Increase Sustainable Student Gain by Aligning Teaching and Assessment}, series = {Current Directions in Biomedical Engineering}, volume = {7}, journal = {Current Directions in Biomedical Engineering}, number = {7/2}, editor = {D{\"o}ssel, Olaf}, publisher = {De Gruyter}, address = {Berlin}, isbn = {2364-5504}, doi = {10.1515/cdbme-2021-2019}, pages = {73 -- 76}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Modern industry and multi-discipline projects require highly trained individuals with resilient science and engineering back-grounds. Graduates must be able to agilely apply excellent theoretical knowledge in their subject matter as well as essential practical "hands-on" knowledge of diverse working processes to solve complex problems. To meet these demands, university education follows the concept of Constructive Alignment and thus increasingly adopts the teaching of necessary practical skills to the actual industry requirements and assessment routines. However, a systematic approach to coherently align these three central teaching demands is strangely absent from current university curricula. We demonstrate the feasibility of implementing practical assessments in a regular theory-based examination, thus defining the term "blended assessment". We assessed a course for natural science and engineering students pursuing a career in biomedical engineering, and evaluated the benefit of blended assessment exams for students and lecturers. Our controlled study assessed the physiological background of electrocardiograms (ECGs), the practical measurement of ECG curves, and their interpretation of basic pathologic alterations. To study on long time effects, students have been assessed on the topic twice with a time lag of 6 months. Our findings suggest a significant improvement in student gain with respect to practical skills and theoretical knowledge. The results of the reassessments support these outcomes. From the lecturers' point of view, blended assessment complements practical training courses while keeping organizational effort manageable. We consider blended assessment a viable tool for providing an improved student gain, industry-ready education format that should be evaluated and established further to prepare university graduates optimally for their future careers.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{KernImaniVashianiTimmermanns2021, author = {Kern, Alexander and Imani Vashiani, Anahita and Timmermanns, Tobias}, title = {Threat for human beings due to touch voltages and body currents caused by direct lightning strikes in case of non-isolated lightning protection systems using natural components}, series = {35th International Conference on Lightning Protection (ICLP) and XVI International Symposium on Lightning Protection (SIPDA)}, booktitle = {35th International Conference on Lightning Protection (ICLP) and XVI International Symposium on Lightning Protection (SIPDA)}, publisher = {IEEE}, address = {New York, NY}, isbn = {978-1-6654-2346-5}, doi = {10.1109/ICLPandSIPDA54065.2021.9627465}, pages = {8 Seiten}, year = {2021}, abstract = {For typical cases of non-isolated lightning protection systems (LPS) the impulse currents are investigated which may flow through a human body directly touching a structural part of the LPS. Based on a basic LPS model with conventional down-conductors especially the cases of external and internal steel columns and metal fa{\c{c}}ades are considered and compared. Numerical simulations of the line quantities voltages and currents in the time domain are performed with an equivalent circuit of the entire LPS. As a result it can be stated that by increasing the number of conventional down-conductors and external steel columns the threat for a human being can indeed be reduced, but not down to an acceptable limit. In case of internal steel columns used as natural down-conductors the threat can be reduced sufficiently, depending on the low-resistive connection of the steel columns to the lightning equipotential bonding or the earth termination system, resp. If a metal fa{\c{c}}ade is used the threat for human beings touching is usually very low, if the fa{\c{c}}ade is sufficiently interconnected and multiply connected to the lightning equipotential bonding or the earth termination system, resp.}, language = {en} } @book{Pieper2021, author = {Pieper, Martin}, title = {Quantum mechanics: Introduction to mathematical formulation}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Wiesbaden}, isbn = {978-3-658-32644-9}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-658-32645-6}, pages = {XIII, 33}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Anyone who has always wanted to understand the hieroglyphs on Sheldon's blackboard in the TV series The Big Bang Theory or who wanted to know exactly what the fate of Schr{\"o}dinger's cat is all about will find a short, descriptive introduction to the world of quantum mechanics in this essential. The text particularly focuses on the mathematical description in the Hilbert space. The content goes beyond popular scientific presentations, but is nevertheless suitable for readers without special prior knowledge thanks to the clear examples.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{EnglhardWeberArent2021, author = {Englhard, Markus and Weber, Tobias and Arent, Jan-Christoph}, title = {Efficiency enhancement for CFRP-Prepregautoclave manufacturing by means of simulation-assisted loading optimization}, series = {Proceedings of SAMPE Europe Conference 2021}, booktitle = {Proceedings of SAMPE Europe Conference 2021}, pages = {8 Seiten}, year = {2021}, abstract = {A new method for improved autoclave loading within the restrictive framework of helicopter manufacturing is proposed. It is derived from experimental and numerical studies of the curing process and aims at optimizing tooling positions in the autoclave for fast and homogeneous heat-up. The mold positioning is based on two sets of information. The thermal properties of the molds, which can be determined via semi-empirical thermal simulation. The second information is a previously determined distribution of heat transfer coefficients inside the autoclave. Finally, an experimental proof of concept is performed to show a cycle time reduction of up to 31\% using the proposed methodology.}, language = {en} } @article{AltherrEdererLorenzetal.2014, author = {Altherr, Lena and Ederer, Thorsten and Lorenz, Ulf and Pelz, Peter F. and P{\"o}ttgen, Philipp}, title = {Experimental validation of an enhanced system synthesis approach}, series = {Operations Research Proceedings 2014}, journal = {Operations Research Proceedings 2014}, editor = {L{\"u}bbecke, Marco and Koster, Arie and Letmathe, Peter and Madlener, Reihard and Peis, Britta and Walther, Grit}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Basel}, isbn = {978-3-319-28695-2}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-28697-6_1}, pages = {6}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Planning the layout and operation of a technical system is a common task for an engineer. Typically, the workflow is divided into consecutive stages: First, the engineer designs the layout of the system, with the help of his experience or of heuristic methods. Secondly, he finds a control strategy which is often optimized by simulation. This usually results in a good operating of an unquestioned sys- tem topology. In contrast, we apply Operations Research (OR) methods to find a cost-optimal solution for both stages simultaneously via mixed integer program- ming (MILP). Technical Operations Research (TOR) allows one to find a provable global optimal solution within the model formulation. However, the modeling error due to the abstraction of physical reality remains unknown. We address this ubiq- uitous problem of OR methods by comparing our computational results with mea- surements in a test rig. For a practical test case we compute a topology and control strategy via MILP and verify that the objectives are met up to a deviation of 8.7\%.}, language = {en} } @article{SunAltherrPeietal.2018, author = {Sun, Hui and Altherr, Lena and Pei, Ji and Pelz, Peter F. and Yuan, Shouqi}, title = {Optimal booster station design and operation under uncertain load}, series = {Applied Mechanics and Materials}, volume = {885}, journal = {Applied Mechanics and Materials}, publisher = {Trans Tech Publications}, address = {B{\"a}ch}, issn = {1662-7482}, doi = {10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.885.102}, pages = {102 -- 115}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Given industrial applications, the costs for the operation and maintenance of a pump system typically far exceed its purchase price. For finding an optimal pump configuration which minimizes not only investment, but life-cycle costs, methods like Technical Operations Research which is based on Mixed-Integer Programming can be applied. However, during the planning phase, the designer is often faced with uncertain input data, e.g. future load demands can only be estimated. In this work, we deal with this uncertainty by developing a chance-constrained two-stage (CCTS) stochastic program. The design and operation of a booster station working under uncertain load demand are optimized to minimize total cost including purchase price, operation cost incurred by energy consumption and penalty cost resulting from water shortage. We find optimized system layouts using a sample average approximation (SAA) algorithm, and analyze the results for different risk levels of water shortage. By adjusting the risk level, the costs and performance range of the system can be balanced, and thus the system's resilience can be engineered}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{LeiseAltherr2018, author = {Leise, Philipp and Altherr, Lena}, title = {Optimizing the design and control of decentralized water supply systems - a case-study of a hotel building}, series = {EngOpt 2018 Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Engineering Optimization}, booktitle = {EngOpt 2018 Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Engineering Optimization}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Cham}, isbn = {978-3-319-97773-7}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-97773-7_107}, pages = {1241 -- 1252}, year = {2018}, abstract = {To increase pressure to supply all floors of high buildings with water, booster stations, normally consisting of several parallel pumps in the basement, are used. In this work, we demonstrate the potential of a decentralized pump topology regarding energy savings in water supply systems of skyscrapers. We present an approach, based on Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programming, that allows to choose an optimal network topology and optimal pumps from a predefined construction kit comprising different pump types. Using domain-specific scaling laws and Latin Hypercube Sampling, we generate different input sets of pump types and compare their impact on the efficiency and cost of the total system design. As a realistic application example, we consider a hotel building with 325 rooms, 12 floors and up to four pressure zones.}, language = {en} } @incollection{StengerAltherrMuelleretal.2018, author = {Stenger, David and Altherr, Lena and M{\"u}ller, Tankred and Pelz, Peter F.}, title = {Product family design optimization using model-based engineering techniques}, series = {Operations Research Proceedings 2017}, booktitle = {Operations Research Proceedings 2017}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Cham}, isbn = {978-3-319-89919-0}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-89920-6_66}, pages = {495 -- 502}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Highly competitive markets paired with tremendous production volumes demand particularly cost efficient products. The usage of common parts and modules across product families can potentially reduce production costs. Yet, increasing commonality typically results in overdesign of individual products. Multi domain virtual prototyping enables designers to evaluate costs and technical feasibility of different single product designs at reasonable computational effort in early design phases. However, savings by platform commonality are hard to quantify and require detailed knowledge of e.g. the production process and the supply chain. Therefore, we present and evaluate a multi-objective metamodel-based optimization algorithm which enables designers to explore the trade-off between high commonality and cost optimal design of single products.}, language = {en} } @article{AltherrBroetzDietrichetal.2018, author = {Altherr, Lena and Br{\"o}tz, Nicolas and Dietrich, Ingo and Gally, Tristan and Geßner, Felix and Kloberdanz, Hermann and Leise, Philipp and Pelz, Peter Franz and Schlemmer, Pia and Schmitt, Andreas}, title = {Resilience in mechanical engineering - a concept for controlling uncertainty during design, production and usage phase of load-carrying structures}, series = {Applied Mechanics and Materials}, volume = {885}, journal = {Applied Mechanics and Materials}, publisher = {Trans Tech Publications}, address = {B{\"a}ch}, isbn = {1662-7482}, doi = {10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.885.187}, pages = {187 -- 198}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Resilience as a concept has found its way into different disciplines to describe the ability of an individual or system to withstand and adapt to changes in its environment. In this paper, we provide an overview of the concept in different communities and extend it to the area of mechanical engineering. Furthermore, we present metrics to measure resilience in technical systems and illustrate them by applying them to load-carrying structures. By giving application examples from the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 805, we show how the concept of resilience can be used to control uncertainty during different stages of product life.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{LeiseAltherrPelz2018, author = {Leise, Philipp and Altherr, Lena and Pelz, Peter F.}, title = {Technical Operations Research (TOR) - Algorithms, not Engineers, Design Optimal Energy Efficient and Resilient Cooling Systems}, series = {FAN2018 - Proceedings of the International Conference on Fan Noise, Aerodynamics, Applications and Systems}, booktitle = {FAN2018 - Proceedings of the International Conference on Fan Noise, Aerodynamics, Applications and Systems}, pages = {1 -- 12}, year = {2018}, abstract = {The overall energy efficiency of ventilation systems can be improved by considering not only single components, but by considering as well the interplay between every part of the system. With the help of the method "TOR" ("Technical Operations Research"), which was developed at the Chair of Fluid Systems at TU Darmstadt, it is possible to improve the energy efficiency of the whole system by considering all possible design choices programmatically. We show the ability of this systematic design approach with a ventilation system for buildings as a use case example. Based on a Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Program (MINLP) we model the ventilation system. We use binary variables to model the selection of different pipe diameters. Multiple fans are model with the help of scaling laws. The whole system is represented by a graph, where the edges represent the pipes and fans and the nodes represents the source of air for cooling and the sinks, that have to be cooled. At the beginning, the human designer chooses a construction kit of different suitable fans and pipes of different diameters and different load cases. These boundary conditions define a variety of different possible system topologies. It is not possible to consider all topologies by hand. With the help of state of the art solvers, on the other side, it is possible to solve this MINLP. Next to this, we also consider the effects of malfunctions in different components. Therefore, we show a first approach to measure the resilience of the shown example use case. Further, we compare the conventional approach with designs that are more resilient. These more resilient designs are derived by extending the before mentioned model with further constraints, that consider explicitly the resilience of the overall system. We show that it is possible to design resilient systems with this method already in the early design stage and compare the energy efficiency and resilience of these different system designs.}, language = {en} } @incollection{AltherrDoerigEdereretal.2017, author = {Altherr, Lena and D{\"o}rig, Bastian and Ederer, Thorsten and Pelz, Peter Franz and Pfetsch, Marc and Wolf, Jan}, title = {A mixed-integer nonlinear program for the design of gearboxes}, series = {Operations Research Proceedings 2016}, booktitle = {Operations Research Proceedings 2016}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Cham}, isbn = {978-3-319-55701-4}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-55702-1_31}, pages = {227 -- 233}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Gearboxes are mechanical transmission systems that provide speed and torque conversions from a rotating power source. Being a central element of the drive train, they are relevant for the efficiency and durability of motor vehicles. In this work, we present a new approach for gearbox design: Modeling the design problem as a mixed-integer nonlinear program (MINLP) allows us to create gearbox designs from scratch for arbitrary requirements and—given enough time—to compute provably globally optimal designs for a given objective. We show how different degrees of freedom influence the runtime and present an exemplary solution.}, language = {en} } @incollection{LeiseAltherrPelz2018, author = {Leise, Philipp and Altherr, Lena and Pelz, Peter F.}, title = {Energy-Efficient design of a water supply system for skyscrapers by mixed-integer nonlinear programming}, series = {Operations Research Proceedings 2017}, booktitle = {Operations Research Proceedings 2017}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Cham}, isbn = {978-3-319-89919-0}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-89920-6_63}, year = {2018}, abstract = {The energy-efficiency of technical systems can be improved by a systematic design approach. Technical Operations Research (TOR) employs methods known from Operations Research to find a global optimal layout and operation strategy of technical systems. We show the practical usage of this approach by the systematic design of a decentralized water supply system for skyscrapers. All possible network options and operation strategies are modeled by a Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Program. We present the optimal system found by our approach and highlight the energy savings compared to a conventional system design.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{RauschFriesenAltherretal.2018, author = {Rausch, Lea and Friesen, John and Altherr, Lena and Pelz, Peter F.}, title = {Using mixed-integer programming for the optimal design of water supply networks for slums}, series = {Operations Research Proceedings 2017}, booktitle = {Operations Research Proceedings 2017}, editor = {Kliewer, Natalia and Ehmke, Jan Fabian and Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Cham}, isbn = {978-3-319-89919-0 (Print)}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-89920-6_68}, pages = {509 -- 516}, year = {2018}, abstract = {The UN sets the goal to ensure access to water and sanitation for all people by 2030. To address this goal, we present a multidisciplinary approach for designing water supply networks for slums in large cities by applying mathematical optimization. The problem is modeled as a mixed-integer linear problem (MILP) aiming to find a network describing the optimal supply infrastructure. To illustrate the approach, we apply it on a small slum cluster in Dhaka, Bangladesh.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{RauschLeiseEdereretal.2016, author = {Rausch, Lea and Leise, Philipp and Ederer, Thorsten and Altherr, Lena and Pelz, Peter F.}, title = {A comparison of MILP and MINLP solver performance on the example of a drinking water supply system design problem}, series = {ECCOMAS Congress 2016 VII European Congress on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences and Engineering}, booktitle = {ECCOMAS Congress 2016 VII European Congress on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences and Engineering}, editor = {Papadrakakis, M. and Ppadopoulos, V. and Stefanou, G. and Plevris, V.}, isbn = {978-618-82844-0-1}, pages = {8509 -- 8527}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Finding a good system topology with more than a handful of components is a highly non-trivial task. The system needs to be able to fulfil all expected load cases, but at the same time the components should interact in an energy-efficient way. An example for a system design problem is the layout of the drinking water supply of a residential building. It may be reasonable to choose a design of spatially distributed pumps which are connected by pipes in at least two dimensions. This leads to a large variety of possible system topologies. To solve such problems in a reasonable time frame, the nonlinear technical characteristics must be modelled as simple as possible, while still achieving a sufficiently good representation of reality. The aim of this paper is to compare the speed and reliability of a selection of leading mathematical programming solvers on a set of varying model formulations. This gives us empirical evidence on what combinations of model formulations and solver packages are the means of choice with the current state of the art.}, language = {en} }