Exploiting C++ Polymorphism for Operational Optimization of Chemical Processes

Object-oriented programming is more and more spreading in engineering and scientific areas for some relevant benefits making it particularly appealing to write complex codes. Nevertheless, the use of such a programming philosophy still encounters large inertia in those areas characterized by a long programming experience and one of them is engineering. This is mainly due to a set of existing models and subroutines wrote in procedural (usually Fortran) language. The present paper is aimed at showing some benefits coming from object-oriented programming applied to the field of process optimization and specifically to the operational levels of supply chain management paradigm such as nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC). Polymorphism is exploited to provide a single solution for different NMPC techniques such as input blocking, offset blocking, and delta-blocking.