Amalgamation of Physics-Informed Neural Network and LBM for the Prediction of Unsteady Fluid Flows in Fractal-Rough Microchannels

TL;DR

This paper presents a physics-informed neural network combined with lattice Boltzmann data to efficiently predict unsteady fluid flows in fractal-rough microchannels, significantly reducing computational costs.

Contribution

It introduces a novel PINN framework that integrates LBM data and Navier-Stokes constraints for microchannel flow prediction with lower data requirements.

Findings

Achieves accurate flow predictions with 150-200 times fewer data points.

Validates model across Reynolds numbers 1 to 45.

Effectively models surface roughness using Weierstrass-Mandelbrot function.

Abstract

One of the biggest challenges in the optimization of micro-scale fluid transport phenomena is the prediction of unsteady fluid flow in the presence of rough channel walls. Even though the accuracy of available computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solvers such as the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is satisfactory, the computational cost of design exploration is very high due to the diverse range of geometries and flow regimes involved in microchannel flows. The present paper introduces a revolutionary concept of a ground-breaking physics-informed neural network (PINN) that utilizes sparse lattice Boltzmann data in combination with the Navier-Stokes equations for the prediction of unsteady fluid flow in fractal-rough microchannels. The roughness of the channel walls is represented by the Weierstrass-Mandelbrot function, considering the characteristics of the surface roughness in real-life problems. The constraints of the Navier-Stokes equations are incorporated in the loss function of the PINN concept for achieving accuracy at much lower computational costs of 150-200 times fewer data points. The validation of the accuracy of the reconstruction of the flow fields is carried out for different Reynolds numbers ranging from Re = 1 to 45 and different amplitude values of the rough channel walls ranging from 5 to 20 lattice units.