Physics-agnostic and Physics-infused machine learning for thin films flows: modeling, and predictions from small data

Numerical simulations of multiphase flows are crucial in numerous engineering applications, but are often limited by the computationally demanding solution of the Navier-Stokes (NS) equations. Here, we present a data-driven workflow where a handful of detailed NS simulation data are leveraged into a reduced-order model for a prototypical vertically falling liquid film. We develop a physics-agnostic model for the film thickness, achieving a far better agreement with the NS solutions than the asymptotic Kuramoto-Sivashinsky (KS) equation. We also develop two variants of physics-infused models providing a form of calibration of a low-fidelity model (i.e. the KS) against a few high-fidelity NS data. Finally, predictive models for missing data are developed, for either the amplitude, or the full-field velocity and even the flow parameter from partial information. This is achieved with the so-called "Gappy Diffusion Maps", which we compare favorably to its linear counterpart, Gappy POD

Nonlinear Manifold Learning Determines Microgel Size from Raman Spectroscopy

Polymer particle size constitutes a crucial characteristic of product quality in polymerization. Raman spectroscopy is an established and reliable process analytical technology for in-line concentration monitoring. Recent approaches and some theoretical considerations show a correlation between Raman signals and particle sizes but do not determine polymer size from Raman spectroscopic measurements accurately and reliably. With this in mind, we propose three alternative machine learning workflows to perform this task, all involving diffusion maps, a nonlinear manifold learning technique for dimensionality reduction: (i) directly from diffusion maps, (ii) alternating diffusion maps, and (iii) conformal autoencoder neural networks. We apply the workflows to a data set of Raman spectra with associated size measured via dynamic light scattering of 47 microgel (cross-linked polymer) samples in a diameter range of 208nm to 483 nm. The conformal autoencoders substantially outperform state-of-the-art methods and results for the first time in a promising prediction of polymer size from Raman spectra.Comment: 51 pages, 12 figures, 4 table

Nonlinear dimensionality reduction then and now: AIMs for dissipative PDEs in the ML era

This study presents a collection of purely data-driven workflows for constructing reduced-order models (ROMs) for distributed dynamical systems. The ROMs we focus on, are data-assisted models inspired by, and templated upon, the theory of Approximate Inertial Manifolds (AIMs); the particular motivation is the so-called post-processing Galerkin method of Garcia-Archilla, Novo and Titi. Its applicability can be extended: the need for accurate truncated Galerkin projections and for deriving closed-formed corrections can be circumvented using machine learning tools. When the right latent variables are not a priori known, we illustrate how autoencoders as well as Diffusion Maps (a manifold learning scheme) can be used to discover good sets of latent variables and test their explainability. The proposed methodology can express the ROMs in terms of (a) theoretical (Fourier coefficients), (b) linear data-driven (POD modes) and/or (c) nonlinear data-driven (Diffusion Maps) coordinates. Both Black-Box and (theoretically-informed and data-corrected) Gray-Box models are described; the necessity for the latter arises when truncated Galerkin projections are so inaccurate as to not be amenable to post-processing. We use the Chafee-Infante reaction-diffusion and the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky dissipative partial differential equations to illustrate and successfully test the overall framework.Comment: 27 pages, 22 figure

Investigation of reaction mechanisms in the chemical vapor deposition of al from DMEAA

We propose a novel reaction scheme for the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of Al films on substrates from dimethylethylamine alane (DMEAA), supported by the prediction of the Al deposition rate as a function of process temperature. The scheme is based on gas phase oligomerizations of alane which form a substantial amount of intermediates. Combined with reversible surface dehydrogenation steps, the global deposition reaction is composed of a set of 12 chemical reactions. This new scheme entails four intermediates and includes side reactions that play an important role in the formation of Al thin films. The chemistry mechanism is incorporated in a 2D Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model of the CVD reactor setup used for the experimental investigation. The simulation predictions of the Al deposition rate are in good agreement with corresponding experimental measurements. The success of this novel reaction pathway lies in its ability to capture the abrupt decrease of the deposition rate at temperatures above 200 °C, which is attributed to the gas phase consumption of alane along with its increased desorption rate from the film surface