Improving physics-informed neural network extrapolation via transfer learning and adaptive activation functions

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Papastathopoulos-Katsaros, Athanasios, Stavrianidi, Alexandra, Liu, Zhandong
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Papastathopoulos-Katsaros, Athanasios
Stavrianidi, Alexandra
Liu, Zhandong
author_facet Papastathopoulos-Katsaros, Athanasios
Stavrianidi, Alexandra
Liu, Zhandong
contents Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) are deep learning models that incorporate the governing physical laws of a system into the learning process, making them well-suited for solving complex scientific and engineering problems. Recently, PINNs have gained widespread attention as a powerful framework for combining physical principles with data-driven modeling to improve prediction accuracy. Despite their successes, however, PINNs often exhibit poor extrapolation performance outside the training domain and are highly sensitive to the choice of activation functions (AFs). In this paper, we introduce a transfer learning (TL) method to improve the extrapolation capability of PINNs. Our approach applies transfer learning (TL) within an extended training domain, using only a small number of carefully selected collocation points. Additionally, we propose an adaptive AF that takes the form of a linear combination of standard AFs, which improves both the robustness and accuracy of the model. Through a series of experiments, we demonstrate that our method achieves an average of 40% reduction in relative L2 error and an average of 50% reduction in mean absolute error in the extrapolation domain, all without a significant increase in computational cost. The code is available at https://github.com/LiuzLab/PINN-extrapolation .
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_12659
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Improving physics-informed neural network extrapolation via transfer learning and adaptive activation functions
Papastathopoulos-Katsaros, Athanasios
Stavrianidi, Alexandra
Liu, Zhandong
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Numerical Analysis
Dynamical Systems
Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) are deep learning models that incorporate the governing physical laws of a system into the learning process, making them well-suited for solving complex scientific and engineering problems. Recently, PINNs have gained widespread attention as a powerful framework for combining physical principles with data-driven modeling to improve prediction accuracy. Despite their successes, however, PINNs often exhibit poor extrapolation performance outside the training domain and are highly sensitive to the choice of activation functions (AFs). In this paper, we introduce a transfer learning (TL) method to improve the extrapolation capability of PINNs. Our approach applies transfer learning (TL) within an extended training domain, using only a small number of carefully selected collocation points. Additionally, we propose an adaptive AF that takes the form of a linear combination of standard AFs, which improves both the robustness and accuracy of the model. Through a series of experiments, we demonstrate that our method achieves an average of 40% reduction in relative L2 error and an average of 50% reduction in mean absolute error in the extrapolation domain, all without a significant increase in computational cost. The code is available at https://github.com/LiuzLab/PINN-extrapolation .
title Improving physics-informed neural network extrapolation via transfer learning and adaptive activation functions
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Numerical Analysis
Dynamical Systems
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.12659