Variational temporal convolutional networks for I-FENN thermoelasticity

Machine learning (ML) has been used to solve multiphysics problems like thermoelasticity through multi-layer perceptron (MLP) networks. However, MLPs have high computational costs and need to be trained for each prediction instance. To overcome these limitations, we introduced an integrated finite element neural network (I-FENN) framework to solve transient thermoelasticity problems in Abueidda and Mobasher (2024). This approach used a physics-informed temporal convolutional network (PI-TCN) within a finite element scheme for solving transient thermoelasticity problems. In this paper, we introduce an I-FENN framework using a new variational TCN model trained to minimize the thermoelastic variational form rather than the strong form of the energy balance. We mathematically prove that the I-FENN setup based on minimizing the variational form of transient thermoelasticity still leads to the same solution as the strong form. Introducing the variational form to the ML model brings the advantages of lower requirement for the differentiability of the basis function and, thus, lower memory requirement and higher computational efficiency. Also, it automatically satisfies zero Neumann boundary conditions, thus reducing the complexity of the loss function. The formulation based on the variational form complies with thermodynamic requirements. The proposed loss function reduces the difference between predicted and target data while minimizing the variational form of thermoelasticity equations, combining the benefits of both data-driven and variational methods. In addition, this study uses finite element shape functions for spatial gradient calculations and compares their performance against automatic differentiation. Our results reveal that models leveraging shape functions exhibit higher accuracy in capturing the behavior of the thermoelasticity problem and faster convergence. Adding the variational term and using shape functions for gradient calculations ensure better adherence to the underlying physics. We demonstrate the capabilities of this I-FENN framework through multiple numerical examples. Additionally, we discuss the convergence of the proposed variational TCN model and the impact of hyperparameters on its performance. The proposed approach offers a well-founded and flexible platform for solving fully coupled thermoelasticity problems while retaining computational efficiency, where the efficiency scales proportional to the model size.