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In this work, the least pointwise upper and/or lower bounds on the state variable on a specified subdomain of a control system under piecewise constant control action are sought. This results in a non-smooth optimization problem in function spaces. Introducing a Moreau-Yosida regularization of the state constraints, the problem can be solved using a superlinearly convergent semi-smooth Newton method. Optimality conditions are derived, convergence of the Moreau-Yosida regularization is proved, and well-posedness and superlinear convergence of the Newton method is shown. Numerical examples illustrate the features of this problem and the proposed approach.

Semi–smooth Newton methods are analyzed for a class of variational inequalities in infinite dimensions. It is shown that they are equivalent to certain active set strategies. Global and local super-linear convergence are proved. To overcome the phenomenon of finite speed of propagation of discretized problems a penalty version is used as the basis for a continuation procedure to speed up convergence. The choice of the penalty parameter can be made on the basis of an $L^{\infty}$ estimate for the penalized solutions. Unilateral as well as bilateral problems are considered.