arXiv subjects

Wenbo Cao

Publications and source records attributed to Wenbo Cao.

25 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2024

A solver for subsonic flow around airfoils based on physics-informed neural networks and mesh transformation

Physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) have recently become a new popular method for solving forward and inverse problems governed by partial differential equations (PDEs). However, in the flow around airfoils, the fluid is greatly accelerated near the leading edge, resulting in a local sharper transition, which is difficult to capture by PINNs. Therefore, PINNs are still rarely used to solve the flow around airfoils. In this study, we combine physical-informed neural networks with mesh transformation, using neural network to learn the flow in the uniform computational space instead of physical space. Mesh transformation avoids the network from capturing the local sharper transition and learning flow with internal boundary (wall boundary). We successfully solve inviscid flow and provide an open-source subsonic flow solver for arbitrary airfoils. Our results show that the solver exhibits higher-order attributes, achieving nearly an order of magnitude error reduction over second-order finite volume methods (FVM) on very sparse meshes. Limited by the learning ability and optimization difficulties of neural network, the accuracy of this solver will not improve significantly with mesh refinement. Nevertheless, it achieves comparable accuracy and efficiency to second-order FVM on fine meshes. Finally, we highlight the significant advantage of the solver in solving parametric problems, as it can efficiently obtain solutions in the continuous parameter space about the angle of attack.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2024

A complete state-space solution model for inviscid flow around airfoils based on physics-informed neural networks

Engineering problems often involve solving partial differential equations (PDEs) over a range of similar problem setups with various state parameters. In traditional numerical methods, each problem is solved independently, resulting in many repetitive tasks and expensive computational costs. Data-driven modeling has alleviated these issues, enabling fast solution prediction. Nevertheless, it still requires expensive labeled data and faces limitations in modeling accuracy, generalization, and uncertainty. The recently developed methods for solving PDEs through neural network optimization, such as physics-informed neural networks (PINN), enable the simultaneous solution of a series of similar problems. However, these methods still face challenges in achieving stable training and obtaining correct results in many engineering problems. In prior research, we combined PINN with mesh transformation, using neural network to learn the solution of PDEs in the computational space instead of physical space. This approach proved successful in solving inviscid flow around airfoils. In this study, we expand the input dimensions of the model to include shape parameters and flow conditions, forming an input encompassing the complete state-space (i.e., all parameters determining the solution are included in the input). Our results show that the model has significant advantages in solving high-dimensional parametric problems, achieving continuous solutions in a broad state-space in only about 18.8 hours. This is a task that traditional numerical methods struggle to accomplish. Once established, the model can efficiently complete airfoil flow simulation and shape inverse design tasks in approximately 1 second. Furthermore, we introduce a pretraining-finetuning method, enabling the fine-tuning of the model for the task of interest and quickly achieving accuracy comparable to the finite volume method.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2024

VW-PINNs: A volume weighting method for PDE residuals in physics-informed neural networks

Physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) have shown remarkable prospects in the solving the forward and inverse problems involving partial differential equations (PDEs). The method embeds PDEs into the neural network by calculating PDE loss at a series of collocation points, providing advantages such as meshfree and more convenient adaptive sampling. However, when solving PDEs using nonuniform collocation points, PINNs still face challenge regarding inefficient convergence of PDE residuals or even failure. In this work, we first analyze the ill-conditioning of the PDE loss in PINNs under nonuniform collocation points. To address the issue, we define volume-weighted residual and propose volume-weighted physics-informed neural networks (VW-PINNs). Through weighting the PDE residuals by the volume that the collocation points occupy within the computational domain, we embed explicitly the spatial distribution characteristics of collocation points in the residual evaluation. The fast and sufficient convergence of the PDE residuals for the problems involving nonuniform collocation points is guaranteed. Considering the meshfree characteristics of VW-PINNs, we also develop a volume approximation algorithm based on kernel density estimation to calculate the volume of the collocation points. We verify the universality of VW-PINNs by solving the forward problems involving flow over a circular cylinder and flow over the NACA0012 airfoil under different inflow conditions, where conventional PINNs fail; By solving the Burgers' equation, we verify that VW-PINNs can enhance the efficiency of existing the adaptive sampling method in solving the forward problem by 3 times, and can reduce the relative error of conventional PINNs in solving the inverse problem by more than one order of magnitude.

cs.CE↗

arXiv2023

TSONN: Time-stepping-oriented neural network for solving partial differential equations

Deep neural networks (DNNs), especially physics-informed neural networks (PINNs), have recently become a new popular method for solving forward and inverse problems governed by partial differential equations (PDEs). However, these methods still face challenges in achieving stable training and obtaining correct results in many problems, since minimizing PDE residuals with PDE-based soft constraint make the problem ill-conditioned. Different from all existing methods that directly minimize PDE residuals, this work integrates time-stepping method with deep learning, and transforms the original ill-conditioned optimization problem into a series of well-conditioned sub-problems over given pseudo time intervals. The convergence of model training is significantly improved by following the trajectory of the pseudo time-stepping process, yielding a robust optimization-based PDE solver. Our results show that the proposed method achieves stable training and correct results in many problems that standard PINNs fail to solve, requiring only a simple modification on the loss function. In addition, we demonstrate several novel properties and advantages of time-stepping methods within the framework of neural network-based optimization approach, in comparison to traditional grid-based numerical method. Specifically, explicit scheme allows significantly larger time step, while implicit scheme can be implemented as straightforwardly as explicit scheme.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2022

A novel convergence enhancement method based on Online Dimension Reduction Optimization

Iterative steady-state solvers are widely used in computational fluid dynamics. Unfortunately, it is difficult to obtain steady-state solution for unstable problem caused by physical instability and numerical instability. Optimization is a better choice for solving unstable problem because steady-state solution is always the extreme point of optimization regardless of whether the problem is unstable or ill-conditioned, but it is difficult to solve partial differential equations (PDEs) due to too many optimization variables. In this study, we propose an Online Dimension Reduction Optimization (ODRO) method to enhance the convergence of the traditional iterative method to obtain the steady-state solution of unstable problem. This method performs proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) on the snapshots collected from a few iteration steps, optimizes PDE residual in the POD subspace to get a solution with lower residual, and then continues to iterate with the optimized solution as the initial value, repeating the above three steps until the residual converges. Several typical cases show that the proposed method can efficiently calculate the steady-state solution of unstable problem with both the high efficiency and robustness of the iterative method and the good convergence of the optimization method. In addition, this method is easy to implement in almost any iterative solver with minimal code modification.

cs.CE↗

arXiv2021

High Reynolds number airfoil turbulence modeling method based on machine learning technique

In this paper, a turbulence model based on deep neural network is developed for turbulent flow around airfoil at high Reynolds numbers. According to the data got from the Spalart-Allmaras (SA) turbulence model, we build a neural network model that maps flow features to eddy viscosity. The model is then used to replace the SA turbulence model to mutually couple with the CFD solver. We build this suitable data-driven turbulence model mainly from the inputs, outputs features and loss function of the model. A feature selection method based on feature importance is also implemented. The results show that this feature selection method can effectively remove redundant features. The model based on the new input features has better accuracy and stability in mutual coupling with the CFD solver. The force coefficient obtained from solution can match the sample data well. The developed model also shows strong generalization at different inflow condition (angle of attack, Mach number, Reynolds number and airfoil).

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

Machine Learning of Partial Differential Equations from Noise Data

Machine learning of partial differential equations from data is a potential breakthrough to solve the lack of physical equations in complex dynamic systems, but because numerical differentiation is ill-posed to noise data, noise has become the biggest obstacle in the application of partial differential equation identification method. To overcome this problem, we propose Frequency Domain Identification method based on Fourier transforms, which effectively eliminates the influence of noise by using the low frequency component of frequency domain data to identify partial differential equations in frequency domain. We also propose a new sparse identification criterion, which can accurately identify the terms in the equation from low signal-to-noise ratio data. Through identifying a variety of canonical equations spanning a number of scientific domains, the proposed method is proved to have high accuracy and robustness for equation structure and parameters identification for low signal-to-noise ratio data. The method provides a promising technique to discover potential partial differential equations from noisy experimental data.

eess.SP↗