# Accelerating Phase Field Simulations Through a Hybrid Adaptive Fourier Neural Operator with U-Net Backbone

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.17119 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.17119/

## Key facts

- Cited by 10 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 28 of its 99 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 24 Jun 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 28 of 28)

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [An Image is Worth 16x16 Words: Transformers for Image Recognition at Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.11929/) (2020)
- [PyTorch: An Imperative Style, High-Performance Deep Learning Library](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.01703/) (2019)
- [U-Net: Convolutional Networks for Biomedical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1505.04597/) (2015)
- [Fourier Neural Operator for Parametric Partial Differential Equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.08895/) (2020)
- [DeepONet: Learning nonlinear operators for identifying differential equations based on the universal approximation theorem of operators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.03193/) (2019)
- [Transformers in Vision: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.01169/) (2021)
- [FourCastNet: A Global Data-driven High-resolution Weather Model using Adaptive Fourier Neural Operators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.11214/) (2022)
- [A Survey on Visual Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.12556/) (2020)
- [Physics-Informed Neural Operator for Learning Partial Differential Equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.03794/) (2021)
- [Neural Operator: Learning Maps Between Function Spaces](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.08481/) (2021)
- [U-FNO -- An enhanced Fourier neural operator-based deep-learning model for multiphase flow](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.03697/) (2021)
- [Transformer for Partial Differential Equations' Operator Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.13671/) (2022)
- [Adaptive Fourier Neural Operators: Efficient Token Mixers for Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.13587/) (2021)
- [Convolutional Neural Operators for robust and accurate learning of PDEs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.01178/) (2023)
- [FourCastNet: Accelerating Global High-Resolution Weather Forecasting using Adaptive Fourier Neural Operators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.05419/) (2022)
- [DPOT: Auto-Regressive Denoising Operator Transformer for Large-Scale PDE Pre-Training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.03542/) (2024)
- [Survey of multifidelity methods in uncertainty propagation, inference, and optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.10761/) (2018)
- [A physics-informed variational DeepONet for predicting the crack path in brittle materials](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.06905/) (2021)
- [Learning two-phase microstructure evolution using neural operators and autoencoder architectures](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.07230/) (2022)
- [LNO: Laplace Neural Operator for Solving Differential Equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.10528/) (2023)
- [Learning Dissipative Dynamics in Chaotic Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.06898/) (2021)
- [GPLaSDI: Gaussian Process-based Interpretable Latent Space Dynamics Identification through Deep Autoencoder](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.05882/) (2023)
- [Rethinking materials simulations: Blending direct numerical simulations with neural operators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.05410/) (2023)
- [A Comprehensive Review of Latent Space Dynamics Identification Algorithms for Intrusive and Non-Intrusive Reduced-Order-Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.10748/) (2024)
- [Real-time Inference and Extrapolation via a Diffusion-inspired Temporal Transformer Operator (DiTTO)](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.09072/) (2023)
- [TransformerG2G: Adaptive time-stepping for learning temporal graph embeddings using transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.02588/) (2023)
- [Model Reduction For Parametrized Optimal Control Problems in Environmental Marine Sciences and Engineering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.01640/) (2017)

## Built on by (most cited first, 10 of 10)

- [Temporal Neural Operator for Modeling Time-Dependent Physical Phenomena](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.20249/) (2025)
- [Teaching Artificial Intelligence to Perform Rapid, Resolution-Invariant Grain Growth Modeling via Fourier Neural Operator](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.14568/) (2025)
- [Latent Generative Solvers for Generalizable Long-Term Physics Simulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.11229/) (2026)
- [Extrapolating Phase-Field Simulations in Space and Time with Purely Convolutional Architectures](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.20770/) (2025)
- [Physics-informed neural operator for parametric phase-field modelling of interfacial degradation and microstructural evolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.09693/) (2026)
- [On the training of physics-informed neural operators for solving parametric partial differential equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.06164/) (2026)
- [Towards Spatio-Temporal Extrapolation of Phase-Field Simulations with Convolution-Only Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.04510/) (2026)
- [Tackling multiphysics problems via finite element-guided physics-informed operator learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.01420/) (2026)
- [A neural operator view on U-Nets for inverse imaging problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.05839/) (2026)
- [The limits of exactness: On the failure of automatic differentiation in physics-informed machine learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.33078/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Prolonged contact between a corrosive liquid and metal alloys can cause progressive dealloying. For such liquid-metal dealloying (LMD) process, phase field models have been developed. However, the governing equations often involve coupled non-linear partial differential equations (PDE), which are challenging to solve numerically. In particular, stiffness in the PDEs requires an extremely small time steps (e.g. 10-12 or smaller). This computational bottleneck is especially problematic when running LMD simulation until a late time horizon is required. This motivates the development of surrogate models capable of leaping forward in time, by skipping several consecutive time steps at-once. In this paper, we propose U-Shaped Adaptive Fourier Neural Operators (U-AFNO), a machine learning (ML) model inspired by recent advances in neural operator learning. U-AFNO employs U-Nets for extracting and reconstructing local features within the physical fields, and passes the latent space through a vision transformer (ViT) implemented in the Fourier space (AFNO). We use U-AFNOs to learn the dynamics mapping the field at a current time step into a later time step. We also identify global quantities of interest (QoI) describing the corrosion process (e.g. the deformation of the liquid-metal interface) and show that our proposed U-AFNO model is able to accurately predict the field dynamics, in-spite of the chaotic nature of LMD. Our model reproduces the key micro-structure statistics and QoIs with a level of accuracy on-par with the high-fidelity numerical solver. We also investigate the opportunity of using hybrid simulations, in which we alternate forward leap in time using the U-AFNO with high-fidelity time stepping. We demonstrate that while advantageous for some surrogate model design choices, our proposed U-AFNO model in fully auto-regressive settings consistently outperforms hybrid schemes.