Transfer Learning in Physics-Informed Neural Networks: Full Fine-Tuning, Lightweight Fine-Tuning, and Low-Rank Adaptation

AI for PDEs has garnered significant attention, particularly Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs). However, PINNs are typically limited to solving specific problems, and any changes in problem conditions necessitate retraining. Therefore, we explore the generalization capability of transfer learning in the strong and energy form of PINNs across different boundary conditions, materials, and geometries. The transfer learning methods we employ include full finetuning, lightweight finetuning, and Low-Rank Adaptation (LoRA). The results demonstrate that full finetuning and LoRA can significantly improve convergence speed while providing a slight enhancement in accuracy.

@article{wang2025_2502.00782,
  title={ Transfer Learning in Physics-Informed Neural Networks: Full Fine-Tuning, Lightweight Fine-Tuning, and Low-Rank Adaptation },
  author={ Yizheng Wang and Jinshuai Bai and Mohammad Sadegh Eshaghi and Cosmin Anitescu and Xiaoying Zhuang and Timon Rabczuk and Yinghua Liu },
  journal={arXiv preprint arXiv:2502.00782},
  year={ 2025 }
}