Matched Asymptotic Expansions-Based Transferable Neural Networks for Singular Perturbation Problems

TL;DR

This paper introduces MAE-TransNet, a neural network method based on matched asymptotic expansions, for efficiently solving singular perturbation problems with boundary layers, demonstrating superior accuracy and transferability over existing methods.

Contribution

The paper develops MAE-TransNet, a novel neural network approach that combines asymptotic expansions with transfer learning for singular perturbation problems.

Findings

Outperforms TransNet, PINN, and Boundary-Layer PINN in accuracy.

Effectively captures boundary layer characteristics in various dimensions.

Reduces computational cost compared to existing neural network methods.

Abstract

In this paper, by utilizing the theory of matched asymptotic expansions, an efficient and accurate neural network method, named as "MAE-TransNet", is developed for solving singular perturbation problems in general dimensions, whose solutions usually change drastically in some narrow boundary layers. The TransNet is a two-layer neural network with specially pre-trained hidden-layer neurons. In the proposed MAE-TransNet, the inner and outer solutions produced from the matched asymptotic expansions are first approximated by a TransNet with nonuniform hidden-layer neurons and a TransNet with uniform hidden-layer neurons, respectively. Then, these two solutions are combined with a matching term to obtain the composite solution, which approximates the asymptotic expansion solution of the singular perturbation problem. This process enables the MAE-TransNet method to retain the precision of the matched asymptotic expansions while maintaining the efficiency and accuracy of TransNet. Meanwhile, the rescaling of the sharp region allows the same pre-trained network parameters to be applied to boundary layers with various thicknesses, thereby improving the transferability of the method. Notably, for coupled boundary layer problems, a computational framework based on MAE-TransNet is also constructed to effectively address issues resulting from the lack of relevant matched asymptotic expansion theory in such problems. Our MAE-TransNet is compared with TransNet, PINN, and Boundary-Layer PINN on various benchmark problems including 1D linear and nonlinear problems with boundary layers, the 2D Couette flow problem, a 2D coupled boundary layer problem, and the 3D Burgers vortex problem. Numerical results demonstrate that MAE-TransNet significantly outperforms other neural network methods in capturing the characteristics of boundary layers, improving the accuracy, and reducing the computational cost.