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CPLEX getting stuck on large bin packing problems

  • 1.  CPLEX getting stuck on large bin packing problems

    Posted Tue September 22, 2015 12:11 PM

    Originally posted by: SchedNPack


    CPLEX seems to get stuck with large bin packing problems (involving up to 1600 items). For some of my randomly generated instances, I get a log output like the following:

    Tried aggregator 1 time.
    MIP Presolve eliminated 628 rows and 0 columns.
    MIP Presolve modified 812632 coefficients.
    Reduced MIP has 2008 rows, 472884 columns, and 1418024 nonzeros.
    Reduced MIP has 472884 binaries, 0 generals, 0 SOSs, and 0 indicators.
    Presolve time = 2.16 sec. (723.36 ticks)
    Found incumbent of value 508.000000 after 4.70 sec. (1738.99 ticks)
    Tried aggregator 1 time.
    Reduced MIP has 2008 rows, 472884 columns, and 1418024 nonzeros.
    Reduced MIP has 472884 binaries, 0 generals, 0 SOSs, and 0 indicators.
    Presolve time = 1.47 sec. (499.51 ticks)
    Probing time = 0.39 sec. (80.35 ticks)
    Clique table members: 28492.
    MIP emphasis: balance optimality and feasibility.
    MIP search method: dynamic search.
    Parallel mode: none, using 1 thread.
    Root relaxation solution time = 4.10 sec. (3292.86 ticks)

            Nodes                                         Cuts/
       Node  Left     Objective  IInf  Best Integer    Best Bound    ItCnt     Gap

    *     0+    0                          508.0000        0.0000           100.00%
          0     0      313.1538   481      508.0000      313.1538     3766   38.36%
          0     0      313.1538   642      508.0000     Cuts: 457     6235   38.36%
          0     0      313.1538   623      508.0000     Cuts: 351     9248   38.36%
          0     0      313.1538   615      508.0000     Cuts: 285    11453   38.36%
    *     0+    0                          382.0000      313.1538            18.02%
    *     0+    0                          374.0000      313.1538            16.27%
    *     0+    0                          369.0000      313.1538            15.13%
    *     0+    0                          361.0000      313.1538            13.25%
    *     0+    0                          358.0000      313.1538            12.53%
    *     0+    0                          357.0000      313.1538            12.28%
    *     0+    0                          352.0000      313.1538            11.04%
    *     0+    0                          351.0000      313.1538            10.78%
          0     0      313.1538   606      351.0000     Cuts: 302    14476   10.78%
          0     0      313.1538   510      351.0000     Cuts: 233    18205   10.78%

      
    Then the log output stops, while CPLEX keeps running, slowly allocating more and more memory until it stops with an "out-of-memory" exception (when using the .NET API). Any time limit that has been set beforehand is completely ignored.
    This behavior is independent of
    - the CPLEX version (tested: 12.6.0, 12.6.1 and 12.6.2)
    - the platform (tested: Windows x86_64 and Linux x86_64)
    - whether one uses the interactive optimizer or the callable library
    - whether cuts are completely turned on or off
    - whether the heuristic is turned on or off

    However, the issue seems to be limited to the standard bin packing objective (minimize number of allocated bins). Using a different objective, such as a load based one, for the same instances did not provoke a similar behavior in any case.

    Has anyone perhaps observed something similar or is there any straightforward (simple) explanation or remedy for the above issue?


    #CPLEXOptimizers
    #DecisionOptimization


  • 2.  Re: CPLEX getting stuck on large bin packing problems

    Posted Tue September 22, 2015 11:07 PM

    Originally posted by: Laci Ladanyi


    This does sound strange. Could you export the problem instance in a .sav file, compress it and email it to me to ladanyi_at_us_dot_ibm_dot_com ?


    #CPLEXOptimizers
    #DecisionOptimization