Direct pseudo-spectral method for optimal control of obstacle problem - an optimal control problem governed by elliptic variational inequality.

In this paper, a computational technique based on the pseudo-spectral method is presented for the solution of the optimal control problem constrained with elliptic variational inequality. In fact, our aim in this paper is to present a direct approach for this class of optimal control problems. By using the pseudo-spectral method, the infinite dimensional mathematical programming with equilibrium constraint, which can be an equivalent form of the considered problem, is converted to a finite dimensional mathematical programming with complementarity constraint. Then, the finite dimensional problem can be solved by the well-developed methods. Finally, numerical examples are presented to show the validity and efficiency of the technique. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]