# Automatic-Differentiation-Enabled Finite Element Model Updating: Learning Constitutive Neural Networks from Structural Deformation Data

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.05199 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.05199/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 36 of its 87 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 22 May 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 36)

- [Convex optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.01946/) (2021)
- [Input Convex Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.07152/) (2016)
- [Polyconvex anisotropic hyperelasticity with neural networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.14623/) (2021)
- [Unsupervised discovery of interpretable hyperelastic constitutive laws](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.13496/) (2020)
- [A new family of Constitutive Artificial Neural Networks towards automated model discovery](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.02202/) (2022)
- [Neural networks meet hyperelasticity: A guide to enforcing physics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.02403/) (2023)
- [JAX-FEM: A differentiable GPU-accelerated 3D finite element solver for automatic inverse design and mechanistic data science](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.00964/) (2022)
- [A review on data-driven constitutive laws for solids](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.03658/) (2024)
- [Automated discovery of generalized standard material models with EUCLID](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.04453/) (2022)
- [NN-EUCLID: deep-learning hyperelasticity without stress data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.06664/) (2022)
- [Data-driven Tissue Mechanics with Polyconvex Neural Ordinary Differential Equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.03774/) (2021)
- [Discovering plasticity models without stress data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.04916/) (2022)
- [Bayesian-EUCLID: discovering hyperelastic material laws with uncertainties](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.07422/) (2022)
- [Viscoelasticty with physics-augmented neural networks: Model formulation and training methods without prescribed internal variables](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.14270/) (2024)
- [On sparse regression, Lp-regularization, and automated model discovery](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.06872/) (2023)
- [Neural network-based multiscale modeling of finite strain magneto-elasticity with relaxed convexity criteria](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.16311/) (2023)
- [Viscoelastic Constitutive Artificial Neural Networks (vCANNs) - a framework for data-driven anisotropic nonlinear finite viscoelasticity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.12164/) (2023)
- [Automatic generation of interpretable hyperelastic material models by symbolic regression](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.15099/) (2022)
- [Neural networks meet anisotropic hyperelasticity: A framework based on generalized structure tensors and isotropic tensor functions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.03378/) (2024)
- [Inverse design of anisotropic microstructures using physics-augmented neural networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.13370/) (2024)
- [Accounting for plasticity: An extension of inelastic Constitutive Artificial Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.19326/) (2024)
- [Automated model discovery of finite strain elastoplasticity from uniaxial experiments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.14615/) (2024)
- [Automated Model Discovery for Tensional Homeostasis: Constitutive Machine Learning in Growth and Remodeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.13645/) (2024)
- [Inelastic Constitutive Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks: A generalized framework for automated discovery of interpretable inelastic material models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.17750/) (2026)
- [Reduced and All-at-Once Approaches for Model Calibration and Discovery in Computational Solid Mechanics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.16980/) (2024)
- [A topology optimisation framework to design test specimens for one-shot identification or discovery of material models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.12756/) (2025)
- [Physics-Informed Neural Networks for Material Model Calibration from Full-Field Displacement Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.07723/) (2022)
- [Multiscale topology optimization of functionally graded lattice structures based on physics-augmented neural network material models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.00510/) (2024)
- [Material Fingerprinting: A shortcut to material model discovery without solving optimization problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.07831/) (2025)
- [A Complement to Neural Networks for Anisotropic Inelasticity at Finite Strains](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.04187/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The identification of constitutive neural network models from heterogeneous full-field deformation data provides a robust alternative to traditional calibration methods based on homogeneous stress-strain experiments, particularly given the high dimensionality of trainable parameters. This work presents ADE-FEMU (Automatic-Differentiation-Enabled Finite Element Model Updating), an end-to-end differentiable framework that integrates a constitutive neural network model within a JAX-FEM nonlinear solver and identifies its parameters through gradient-based minimization of a measurement-mismatch loss, allowing for training on structural data with limited kinetic information. Thus, it can be considered as an extension of finite element model updating (FEMU) for hyperelastic materials, implemented within a GPU-accelerated, fully automatically differentiable finite element framework Newton tangent stiffness and loss gradients are computed automatically using forward- and reverse-mode automatic differentiation throughout the entire pipeline, thereby removing the need for analytic adjoints or offline surrogate models. ADE-FEMU is demonstrated for two architectures: a grey-box Constitutive Artificial Neural Network (CANN), a polyconvex, fully connected model with high flexibility, and a white-box CANN, an expert-system network with phenomenologically interpretable strain-energy terms. Focusing on incompressible isotropic hyperelasticity, ADE-FEMU is evaluated on three open experimental datasets: (1) full digital image correlation (DIC) of a perforated tensile specimen, (2) a reduced-data scenario with a one-dimensional stretch profile and global force-displacement curve, and (3) a heterogeneous matrix-inclusion system in which both phases constitutive laws are identified and generalized to twenty-two previously unseen samples.