Chen-Song Zhang

Xiaozhe Hu, Shuhong Wu, Xiao-Hui Wu et al.

We develop a simple algorithmic framework to solve large-scale symmetric positive definite linear systems. At its core, the framework relies on two components: (1) a norm-convergent iterative method (i.e. smoother) and (2) a preconditioner. The resulting preconditioner, which we refer to as a combined preconditioner, is much more robust and efficient than the iterative method and preconditioner when used in Krylov subspace methods. We prove that the combined preconditioner is positive definite and show estimates on the condition number of the preconditioned system. We combine an algebraic multigrid method and an incomplete factorization preconditioner to test the proposed framework on problems in petroleum reservoir simulation. Our numerical experiments demonstrate noticeable speed-up when we compare our combined method with the standalone algebraic multigrid method or the incomplete factorization preconditioner.

Young-Ju Lee, Wei Leng, Chen-Song Zhang

In this paper, we revisit an auxiliary space preconditioning method proposed by Xu [Computing 56, 1996], in which low-order finite element spaces are employed as auxiliary spaces for solving linear algebraic systems arising from high-order finite element discretizations. We provide a new convergence rate estimate and parallel implementation of the proposed algorithm. We show that this method is user-friendly and can play an important role in a variety of Poisson-based solvers for more challenging problems such as the Navier--Stokes equation. We investigate the performance of the proposed algorithm using the Poisson equation and the Stokes equation on 3D unstructured grids. Numerical results demonstrate the advantages of the proposed algorithm in terms of efficiency, robustness, and parallel scalability.

Xuefeng Xu, Chen-Song Zhang

Various algebraic multigrid algorithms have been developed for solving problems in scientific and engineering computation over the past decades. They have been shown to be well-suited for solving discretized partial differential equations on unstructured girds in practice. One key ingredient of algebraic multigrid algorithms is a strategy for constructing an effective prolongation operator. Among many questions on constructing a prolongation, an important question is how to evaluate its quality. In this paper, we establish new characterizations (including sufficient condition, necessary condition, and equivalent condition) of the so-called ideal interpolation operator. Our result suggests that, compared with common wisdom, one has more room to construct an ideal interpolation, which can provide new insights for designing algebraic multigrid algorithms. Moreover, we derive a new expression for a class of ideal interpolation operators.

Young-Ju Lee, Chen-Song Zhang

We confirm numerically that the Johnson-Segalman model is able to reproduce the continual oscillations of the falling sphere observed in some viscoelastic models. The empirical choice of parameters used in the Johnson-Segalman model is from the ones that show the non-monotone stress-strain relation of the steady shear flows of the model. The carefully chosen parameters yield continual, self-sustaining, (ir)regular and periodic oscillations of the speed for the falling sphere through the Johnson-Segalman fluids. In particular, our simulations reproduce the phenomena: the falling sphere settles slower and slower until a certain point at which the sphere suddenly accelerates and this pattern is repeated continually.

Xuefeng Xu, Chen-Song Zhang

In this paper, we establish a new estimate (including lower and upper bounds) for an important quantity involved in the convergence analysis of smoothed aggregation algebraic multigrid methods. The new upper bound improves the existing ones. And our upper bound is optimal.

Shizhe Li, Li Zhao, Chen-Song Zhang

The numerical simulation of large-scale multiphase flow in porous media is of considerable importance across various application fields, particularly in the petroleum industry. The fully implicit method is preferred in reservoir simulations owing to its superior numerical stability and more relaxed time step constraints. However, this method requires solving a large nonlinear system, which becomes highly nonlinear in complex heterogeneous media with small grid scales, emphasizing the need for efficient and convergent numerical methods to accelerate nonlinear solvers on parallel computing systems. In this paper, we present an adaptively coupled subdomain framework based on domain decomposition methods. This framework effectively handles strong local nonlinearities in global problems by solving subproblems within the coupled regions. Furthermore, we propose several adaptive coupling strategies and present a novel method for calculating initial guesses, aimed at improving the convergence and scalability of nonlinear solvers. A series of numerical experiments validate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed framework. Additionally, large-scale reservoir simulations demonstrate that the proposed method achieves competitive parallel performance.

Zaijun Ye, Chen-Song Zhang, Wansheng Wang

Neural operators have emerged as powerful tools for learning solution operators of partial differential equations. However, in time-dependent problems, standard training strategies such as teacher forcing introduce a mismatch between training and inference, leading to compounding errors in long-term autoregressive predictions. To address this issue, we propose Recurrent Neural Operators (RNOs)-a novel framework that integrates recurrent training into neural operator architectures. Instead of conditioning each training step on ground-truth inputs, RNOs recursively apply the operator to their own predictions over a temporal window, effectively simulating inference-time dynamics during training. This alignment mitigates exposure bias and enhances robustness to error accumulation. Theoretically, we show that recurrent training can reduce the worst-case exponential error growth typical of teacher forcing to linear growth. Empirically, we demonstrate that recurrently trained Multigrid Neural Operators significantly outperform their teacher-forced counterparts in long-term accuracy and stability on standard benchmarks. Our results underscore the importance of aligning training with inference dynamics for robust temporal generalization in neural operator learning.

Qijia Zhai, Pengtao Sun, Xiaoping Xie et al.

In this paper, a meshfree method using physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) is developed for solving two-phase flow problems with moving interfaces, where two immiscible fluids bearing different material properties, are separated by a dynamically evolving interface and interact with each other through interface conditions. Two kinds of distinct scenarios of interface motion are addressed: the prescribed interface motion whose moving velocity is explicitly given, and the solution-driven interface motion whose evolution is determined by the velocity field of two-phase flow. Based upon piecewise deep neural networks and spatiotemporal sampling points/training set in each fluid subdomain, the proposed PINNs framework reformulates the two-phase flow moving interface problem as a least-squares (LS) minimization problem, which involves all residuals of governing equations, interface conditions, boundary conditions and initial conditions. Furthermore, approximation properties of the proposed PINNs approach are analyzed rigorously for the presented two-phase flow model by employing the Reynolds transport theorem in evolving domains, moreover, a comprehensive error estimation is provided to account for additional complexities introduced by the moving interface and the coupling between fluid dynamics and interface evolution. Numerical experiments are carried out to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed PINNs approach for various configurations of two-phase flow moving interface problems, and to validate the theoretical findings as well. A practical guidance is thus provided for an efficient training set distribution when applying the proposed PINNs approach to two-phase flow moving interface problems in practice.

Xinliang Liu, Xia Yang, Chen-Song Zhang et al.

This research investigates the application of Multigrid Neural Operator (MgNO), a neural operator architecture inspired by multigrid methods, in the simulation for multiphase flow within porous media. The architecture is adjusted to manage a variety of crucial factors, such as permeability and porosity heterogeneity. The study extendes MgNO to time-dependent porous media flow problems and validate its accuracy in predicting essential aspects of multiphase flows. Furthermore, the research provides a detailed comparison between MgNO and Fourier Neural Opeartor (FNO), which is one of the most popular neural operator methods, on their performance regarding prediction error accumulation over time. This aspect provides valuable insights into the models' long-term predictive stability and reliability. The study demonstrates MgNO's capability to effectively simulate multiphase flow problems, offering considerable time savings compared to traditional simulation methods, marking an advancement in integrating data-driven methodologies in geoscience applications.

Xuefeng Xu, Chen-Song Zhang

Let $A\in\mathbb{C}^{n\times n}$ and $\widetilde{A}\in\mathbb{C}^{n\times n}$ be two normal matrices with spectra $\{λ_{i}\}_{i=1}^{n}$ and $\{\widetildeλ_{i}\}_{i=1}^{n}$, respectively. The celebrated Hoffman--Wielandt theorem states that there exists a permutation $π$ of $\{1,\ldots,n\}$ such that $\left(\sum_{i=1}^{n}\big|\widetildeλ_{π(i)}-λ_{i}\big|^{2}\right)^{1\over 2}$ is no larger than the Frobenius norm of $\widetilde{A}-A$. However, if either $A$ or $\widetilde{A}$ is non-normal, this result does not hold in general. In this paper, we present several novel upper bounds for $\left(\sum_{i=1}^{n}\big|\widetildeλ_{π(i)}-λ_{i}\big|^{2}\right)^{1\over 2}$, provided that $A$ is normal and $\widetilde{A}$ is arbitrary. Some of these estimates involving the "departure from normality" of $\widetilde{A}$ have generalized the Hoffman--Wielandt theorem. Furthermore, we give new perturbation bounds for the spectrum of a Hermitian matrix.