# Local Extreme Learning Machines and Domain Decomposition for Solving Linear and Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2012.02895 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.02895/

## Key facts

- Cited by 81 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 4 Dec 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 30 of 81)

- [Finite Basis Physics-Informed Neural Networks (FBPINNs): a scalable domain decomposition approach for solving differential equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.07871/) (2021)
- [Weak baselines and reporting biases lead to overoptimism in machine learning for fluid-related partial differential equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.07218/) (2024)
- [PirateNets: Physics-informed Deep Learning with Residual Adaptive Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.00326/) (2024)
- [DAS-PINNs: A deep adaptive sampling method for solving high-dimensional partial differential equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.14038/) (2021)
- [Augmented Physics-Informed Neural Networks (APINNs): A gating network-based soft domain decomposition methodology](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.08939/) (2022)
- [Adaptive deep density approximation for Fokker-Planck equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.11181/) (2021)
- [On Computing the Hyperparameter of Extreme Learning Machines: Algorithm and Application to Computational PDEs, and Comparison with Classical and High-Order Finite Elements](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.14121/) (2021)
- [Constructing coarse-scale bifurcation diagrams from spatio-temporal observations of microscopic simulations: A parsimonious machine learning approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.13323/) (2022)
- [An Extreme Learning Machine-Based Method for Computational PDEs in Higher Dimensions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.07049/) (2023)
- [Deep Learning in Deterministic Computational Mechanics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.15421/) (2023)
- [Sampling weights of deep neural networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.16830/) (2023)
- [Parsimonious Physics-Informed Random Projection Neural Networks for Initial-Value Problems of ODEs and index-1 DAEs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.05337/) (2022)
- [RandONet: Shallow-Networks with Random Projections for learning linear and nonlinear operators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.05470/) (2024)
- [Data-driven Control of Agent-based Models: an Equation/Variable-free Machine Learning Approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.05779/) (2022)
- [A Modified Batch Intrinsic Plasticity Method for Pre-training the Random Coefficients of Extreme Learning Machines](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.08042/) (2021)
- [A Method for Computing Inverse Parametric PDE Problems with Random-Weight Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.04338/) (2022)
- [Machine learning and domain decomposition methods -- a survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.14050/) (2023)
- [MultiAuto-DeepONet: A Multi-resolution Autoencoder DeepONet for Nonlinear Dimension Reduction, Uncertainty Quantification and Operator Learning of Forward and Inverse Stochastic Problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.03193/) (2022)
- [Universal approximation property of Banach space-valued random feature models including random neural networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.08410/) (2023)
- [Bayesian Physics-Informed Extreme Learning Machine for Forward and Inverse PDE Problems with Noisy Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.06948/) (2022)
- [Full error analysis of the random deep splitting method for nonlinear parabolic PDEs and PIDEs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.05192/) (2024)
- [Evolutionary Optimization of Physics-Informed Neural Networks: Evo-PINN Frontiers and Opportunities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.06572/) (2025)
- [Numerical Approximation of Partial Differential Equations by a Variable Projection Method with Artificial Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.09989/) (2022)
- [Numerical Computation of Partial Differential Equations by Hidden-Layer Concatenated Extreme Learning Machine](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.11375/) (2022)
- [Curriculum Learning-Driven PIELMs for Fluid Flow Simulations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.06347/) (2025)
- [Kernel-Adaptive PI-ELMs for Forward and Inverse Problems in PDEs with Sharp Gradients](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.10241/) (2025)
- [Solving stochastic partial differential equations using neural networks in the Wiener chaos expansion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.03384/) (2024)
- [Solving Partial Differential Equations with Random Feature Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.00288/) (2024)
- [Evolutionary Optimization of Physics-Informed Neural Networks: Advancing Generalizability by the Baldwin Effect](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.03243/) (2023)
- [LSA-PINN: Linear Boundary Connectivity Loss for Solving PDEs on Complex Geometry](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.01518/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We present a neural network-based method for solving linear and nonlinear partial differential equations, by combining the ideas of extreme learning machines (ELM), domain decomposition and local neural networks. The field solution on each sub-domain is represented by a local feed-forward neural network, and Ck continuity is imposed on the sub-domain boundaries. Each local neural network consists of a small number of hidden layers, while its last hidden layer can be wide. The weight/bias coefficients in all hidden layers of the local neural networks are pre-set to random values and are fixed, and only the weight coefficients in the output layers are training parameters. The overall neural network is trained by a linear or nonlinear least squares computation, not by the back-propagation type algorithms. We introduce a block time-marching scheme together with the presented method for long-time dynamic simulations. The current method exhibits a clear sense of convergence with respect to the degrees of freedom in the neural network. Its numerical errors typically decrease exponentially or nearly exponentially as the number of degrees of freedom increases. Extensive numerical experiments have been performed to demonstrate the computational performance of the presented method. We compare the current method with the deep Galerkin method (DGM) and the physics-informed neural network (PINN) in terms of the accuracy and computational cost. The current method exhibits a clear superiority, with its numerical errors and network training time considerably smaller (typically by orders of magnitude) than those of DGM and PINN. We also compare the current method with the classical finite element method (FEM). The computational performance of the current method is on par with, and oftentimes exceeds, the FEM performance.