Let's Do Turbulence Right: In Space and Time!
Organizations: ELLIS Unit, LIT AI Lab, Institute for Machine Learning, JKU Linz · Mistral AI
Abstract
The three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations govern fluid turbulence, a chaotic and non-linear physical phenomenon characterized by complex eddies interacting across vast spatial and temporal scales. A numerically accurate modeling of this multi-scale energy cascade requires fully resolving both the fine spatial structures and the continuous temporal evolution of the flow field. In this paper, we leverage massive, time-resolved direct numerical simulations, which exceed 28 TB per run, to assess how numerical choices govern the resolved (3+1)-dimensional physics of turbulent flows. Building on this analysis, we study how neural networks represent the recorded turbulent motion. Our results highlight that spatial and temporal assessments can disagree for both numerical records and learned representations. We therefore call on the machine learning community to treat (3+1)-dimensional turbulence as a four-dimensional phenomenon.
Figures & tables
Appendix figures & tables21 assets
Supplementary material from the paper’s appendix.
Appendix
| Quantity | Resolution comparison | Precision comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Grid size | ||
| Solver precision | FP32 | FP64, FP32, FP16, FP8, FP4 |
| Viscosity | ||
| Nominal step | ||
| Steps between snapshots | ||
| Snapshot interval |
| Label | Encoding | Bits per value | Largest finite magnitude | Overflow rule |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FP64 | binary64 | 64 | IEEE infinity | |
| FP32 | binary32 | 32 | IEEE infinity | |
| FP16 | binary16 | 16 | IEEE infinity | |
| FP8 | E4M3 | 8 | Finite saturation | |
| FP4 | E2M1 | 4 | Finite saturation |
| Record | TB | |||||||
| Resolution | ||||||||
| 1.795 | 323.20 | -0.562 | 7.005 | 0.206 | 0.058 | 28.954457 | ||
| 1.734 | 291.14 | -0.532 | 7.055 | 0.213 | 0.059 | 3.608717 | ||
| 1.824 | 330.24 | -0.354 | 5.160 | 0.203 | 0.058 | 0.456393 | ||
| 1.771 | 314.76 | -0.143 | 3.676 | 0.235 | 0.056 | 0.056384 | ||
| 2.235 | 448.19 | -0.037 | 3.126 | 0.171 | — | 0.007383 | ||
| Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.094 | 0.4202 | 1.393 | 280.5 | 1.724 | 0.061 | 14.26 | |
| 1.075 | 0.3785 | 1.426 | 285.5 | 0.882 | 0.058 | 13.68 | |
| 1.103 | 0.4293 | 1.379 | 281.9 | 0.427 | 0.062 | 14.51 | |
| 1.087 | 0.4092 | 1.411 | 280.5 | 0.214 | 0.060 | 13.98 | |
| 1.221 | 0.5826 | 1.096 | 296.5 | 0.098 | 0.072 | 20.22 | |
| 2.408 | 1.0767 | 0.487 | 848.6 | 0.040 | 0.098 | 89.77 |
| Contribution | TB |
| Resolution records, including the finite failure | 33.084213 |
| Precision records, including the frozen FP8 control | 0.222906 |
| Five filtered movies | 0.879608 |
| Additional quantized records, excluding the shared FP64 reference | 0.111453 |
| All distinct records | |
| Computed records excluding the frozen FP8 and failed controls | 33.291379 |
| Comparison | Supplied record | Settings |
|---|---|---|
| Resolution | ||
| Filtering | ||
| Precision | ||
| Quantization |
| Record | Representation | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supplied | 1.722 | 81.89 | -0.329 | 3.807 | 0.207 | 0.060 | ||
| SIREN, joint | 1.697 | 64.42 | -0.290 | 3.826 | 0.207 | 0.074 | ||
| Gaussian, joint | 1.708 | 70.75 | -0.364 | 4.053 | 0.207 | 0.063 | ||
| SIREN, indep. | 1.660 | 45.96 | -0.256 | 3.735 | 0.207 | 0.031 | ||
| Gaussian, indep. | 1.662 | 46.03 | -0.383 | 4.450 | 0.207 | 0.038 | ||
| Supplied | 1.668 | 76.54 | -0.316 | 3.947 | 0.213 | 0.062 |
| Record | Representation | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supplied | 1.780 | 191.02 | -0.381 | 4.344 | 0.207 | 0.058 | ||
| SIREN, joint | 1.760 | 139.82 | -0.325 | 4.293 | 0.207 | 0.058 | ||
| Gaussian, joint | 1.757 | 133.88 | -0.399 | 4.675 | 0.207 | 0.058 | ||
| SIREN, indep. | 1.738 | 105.78 | -0.269 | 3.880 | 0.207 | 0.057 | ||
| Gaussian, indep. | 1.735 | 99.52 | -0.385 | 4.757 | 0.207 | 0.057 | ||
| Supplied | 1.722 | 81.89 | -0.329 | 3.807 | 0.207 | 0.060 |
| Record | Representation | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FP64 | Supplied | 1.617 | 19.20 | -0.413 | 4.276 | 0.245 | 0.089 | |
| SIREN, joint | 1.617 | 19.15 | -0.412 | 4.287 | 0.245 | 0.092 | ||
| Gaussian, joint | 1.617 | 19.15 | -0.408 | 4.270 | 0.245 | 0.091 | ||
| SIREN, indep. | 1.616 | 18.72 | -0.387 | 4.213 | 0.245 | 0.050 | ||
| Gaussian, indep. | 1.616 | 19.00 | -0.393 | 4.221 | 0.245 | 0.066 | ||
| FP32 | Supplied | 1.612 | 19.12 | -0.420 | 4.260 | 0.245 | 0.089 |
| Record | Representation | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FP64 | Supplied | 1.617 | 19.20 | -0.413 | 4.276 | 0.245 | 0.089 | |
| SIREN, joint | 1.617 | 19.15 | -0.412 | 4.287 | 0.245 | 0.092 | ||
| Gaussian, joint | 1.617 | 19.15 | -0.408 | 4.270 | 0.245 | 0.091 | ||
| SIREN, indep. | 1.616 | 18.72 | -0.387 | 4.213 | 0.245 | 0.050 | ||
| Gaussian, indep. | 1.616 | 19.00 | -0.393 | 4.221 | 0.245 | 0.066 | ||
| FP32 | Supplied | 1.617 | 19.20 | -0.413 | 4.276 | 0.245 | 0.089 |
| Parameters | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| SIREN weights, biases | |||
| Gaussian centers | |||
| Gaussian log-diagonal and off-diagonal shape | |||
| Gaussian velocity coefficients |
| Family | Procedure | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SIREN | Joint | |||
| Independent | ||||
| Gaussian | Joint | |||
| Independent |
| Fit | Spectrum error (%) | Enstrophy | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record | 0 | 81.89 | -0.329 | 3.807 | 1 |
| SIREN, Joint | |||||
| SIREN, Indep. | |||||
| Gaussian, Joint | |||||
| Gaussian, Indep. |
| Spatial MSE ( ) | Change error: Indep./Joint | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Family | Seed | Joint | Indep. | |||
| SIREN | 0 | 4.544 | 4.463 | 1.358 | 0.939 | 0.933 |
| SIREN | 1 | 4.552 | 4.517 | 1.367 | 0.947 | 0.944 |
| SIREN | 2 | 5.467 | 5.470 | 1.391 | 0.984 | 0.942 |
| Gaussian | 0 | 3.457 | 3.427 | 1.229 | 0.917 | 1.003 |
| Gaussian | 1 | 3.456 | 3.426 | 1.229 | 0.916 | 1.003 |
Computational Fluid Dynamics
Computational fluid dynamics numerically models fluid motion, turbulence, heat and mass transport, and fluid–structure interactions.
See all 279 papers