A non-gradient method for solving elliptic partial differential equations with deep neural networks

• Published in: Journal of computational physics 2023-01, Vol.472, p.111690, Article 111690
• Main Authors: Peng, Yifan, Hu, Dan, Xu, Zin-Qin John
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Deep neural networks; Elliptic partial differential equations; High dimension; Nongradient method
• ISSN: 0021-9991; 1090-2716
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jcp.2022.111690

Deep learning has achieved wide success in solving Partial Differential Equations (PDEs), with particular strength in handling high dimensional problems and parametric problems. Nevertheless, there is still a lack of a clear picture on the designing of network architecture and the training of network parameters. In this work, we developed a non-gradient framework for solving elliptic PDEs based on Neural Tangent Kernel (NTK): 1. ReLU activation function is used to control the compactness of the NTK so that solutions with relatively high frequency components can be well expressed; 2. Numerical discretization is used for differential operators to reduce computational cost; 3. A dissipative evolution dynamics corresponding to the elliptic PDE is used for parameter training instead of the gradient-type descent of a loss function. The dissipative dynamics can guarantee the convergence of the training process while avoiding employment of loss functions with high order derivatives. It is also helpful for both controlling of kernel property and reduction of computational cost. Numerical tests have shown excellent performance of the non-gradient method. •A non-gradient method is developed to solve elliptic PDEs using DNNs without introducing loss functions.•The residual of the PDEs are used for training and the training kernel is the neural tangent kernel.•ReLU activation function is used to control the locality of the training kernel.•Numerical discretization is used to reduce computational cost.