Yifei Guan

Adam Subel, Yifei Guan, Ashesh Chattopadhyay et al.

Transfer learning (TL) is becoming a powerful tool in scientific applications of neural networks (NNs), such as weather/climate prediction and turbulence modeling. TL enables out-of-distribution generalization (e.g., extrapolation in parameters) and effective blending of disparate training sets (e.g., simulations and observations). In TL, selected layers of a NN, already trained for a base system, are re-trained using a small dataset from a target system. For effective TL, we need to know 1) what are the best layers to re-train? and 2) what physics are learned during TL? Here, we present novel analyses and a new framework to address (1)-(2) for a broad range of multi-scale, nonlinear systems. Our approach combines spectral analyses of the systems' data with spectral analyses of convolutional NN's activations and kernels, explaining the inner-workings of TL in terms of the system's nonlinear physics. Using subgrid-scale modeling of several setups of 2D turbulence as test cases, we show that the learned kernels are combinations of low-, band-, and high-pass filters, and that TL learns new filters whose nature is consistent with the spectral differences of base and target systems. We also find the shallowest layers are the best to re-train in these cases, which is against the common wisdom guiding TL in machine learning literature. Our framework identifies the best layer(s) to re-train beforehand, based on physics and NN theory. Together, these analyses explain the physics learned in TL and provide a framework to guide TL for wide-ranging applications in science and engineering, such as climate change modeling.

Karan Jakhar, Yifei Guan, Rambod Mojgani et al.

There is growing interest in discovering interpretable, closed-form equations for subgrid-scale (SGS) closures/parameterizations of complex processes in Earth systems. Here, we apply a common equation-discovery technique with expansive libraries to learn closures from filtered direct numerical simulations of 2D turbulence and Rayleigh-Bénard convection (RBC). Across common filters (e.g., Gaussian, box), we robustly discover closures of the same form for momentum and heat fluxes. These closures depend on nonlinear combinations of gradients of filtered variables, with constants that are independent of the fluid/flow properties and only depend on filter type/size. We show that these closures are the nonlinear gradient model (NGM), which is derivable analytically using Taylor-series. Indeed, we suggest that with common (physics-free) equation-discovery algorithms, for many common systems/physics, discovered closures are consistent with the leading term of the Taylor-series (except when cutoff filters are used). Like previous studies, we find that large-eddy simulations with NGM closures are unstable, despite significant similarities between the true and NGM-predicted fluxes (correlations $> 0.95$). We identify two shortcomings as reasons for these instabilities: in 2D, NGM produces zero kinetic energy transfer between resolved and subgrid scales, lacking both diffusion and backscattering. In RBC, potential energy backscattering is poorly predicted. Moreover, we show that SGS fluxes diagnosed from data, presumed the ''truth'' for discovery, depend on filtering procedures and are not unique. Accordingly, to learn accurate, stable closures in future work, we propose several ideas around using physics-informed libraries, loss functions, and metrics. These findings are relevant to closure modeling of any multi-scale system.

Karan Jakhar, Yifei Guan, Pedram Hassanzadeh

By combining AI and fluid physics, we discover a closed-form closure for 2D turbulence from small direct numerical simulation (DNS) data. Large-eddy simulation (LES) with this closure is accurate and stable, reproducing DNS statistics including those of extremes. We also show that the new closure could be derived from a 4th-order truncated Taylor expansion. Prior analytical and AI-based work only found the 2nd-order expansion, which led to unstable LES. The additional terms emerge only when inter-scale energy transfer is considered alongside standard reconstruction criterion in the sparse-equation discovery.