Search for a command to run...
In this article, we explore the possibility of using reinforcement learning to create convective flow approximation schemes that maintain accuracy and stability at high Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy (CFL) numbers in the finite-volume discretization of advection equations. Unlike most existing data-driven discretization methods, which primarily concentrate on spatial grid refinement, this work emphasizes increasing the allowable time step without compromising solution accuracy. This approach reduces the total number of time integration steps, thereby enabling faster computation. A neural network is used as a surrogate model for reconstructing the convective flow, which takes as input local information about the flow, scalars, and geometry and predicts scalar values at node points. Reinforcement learning is used for training and is formulated as a policy optimization problem, where the long-term reward is defined as the difference between the numerical and reference solutions over the entire simulation period. Both the genetic algorithm and the Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG) method are investigated. The effectiveness of the approach is evaluated using a one-dimensional nonlinear advection problem with a constant velocity field. Despite the simplicity of the test case, the results demonstrate that the trained convective flux approximation scheme achieves accuracy comparable to or better than the classical second-order linear upwind (LUD) scheme, while operating at CFL numbers 2–50 times higher than the optimal CFL for LUD, thereby reducing the simulation time by the same factor. This allows for a wider range of stability and accuracy in the finite-volume method and the use of larger time steps without compromising the quality of the solution. The study is intentionally limited to a single spatial dimension and serves as a basic analysis of the method’s applicability. The results demonstrate that reinforcement learning can successfully find more convective flow approximation schemes that improve efficiency at high CFL numbers than conventional explicit second-order schemes, establishing a framework that is subsequently extended in our follow-up work to improve training methods and three-dimensional complex transport problems. The proposed method improves the spatial discretization of convective fluxes, which is independent of the choice of time integration scheme. Therefore, the neural reconstruction can in principle be used in both explicit and implicit finite-volume solvers.