Computation of optimal periodic control with application to production planning

Considers the numerical computation of optimal periodic control problems with free period. The boundary value problem associated with the minimum principle is brought into a form which is suitable for a numerical solution. It incorporates a transversality condition for the free period which has not been stated in the literature. The numerical techniques care illustrated by a non-convex production planing problem. The π-test reveals that the steady-state is not optimal. The authors compute the optimal periodic control satisfying a complete set of necessary conditions derived from the minimum principle. A sensitivity analysis of the optimal solution as performed with respect to a specific parameter in the model