FluxGAN: A Physics-Aware Generative Adversarial Network Model for Generating Microstructures That Maintain Target Heat Flux

We propose a physics-aware generative adversarial network model, FluxGAN, capable of simultaneously generating high-quality images of large microstructures and description of their thermal properties. During the training phase, the model learns about the relationship between the local structural features and the physical processes, such as the heat flux in the microstructures, due to external temperature gradients. Once trained, the model generates new structural and associated heat flux environments, bypassing the computationally expensive modeling. Our model provides a cost effective and efficient approach over conventional modeling techniques, such as the finite element method (FEM), for describing the thermal properties of microstructures. The conventional approach requires computational modeling that scales with the size of the microstructure model, therefore limiting the simulation to a given size, resolution, and complexity of the model. In contrast, the FluxGAN model uses synthesis-by-part approach and generates arbitrary large size images at low computational cost. We demonstrate that the model can be utilized to generate designs of thermal sprayed coatings that satisfies target thermal properties. Furthermore, the model is capable of generating coating microstructures and physical processes in three-dimensional (3D) domain after being trained on two-dimensional (2D) examples. Our approach has the potential to transform the design and optimization of thermal sprayed coatings for various applications, including high-temperature and long-duration operation of gas turbines for aircraft or ground-based power generators.