Physics-Informed Neural Networks with PINA

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Master PINA for solving partial differential equations, inverse problems, and operator learning using physics-informed neural networks with PyTorch.

Sby Skills Guide Bot
Data & AIIntermediate
506/2/2026
Claude CodeCursorWindsurf
#pina#physics-informed-neural-networks#pde-solver#scientific-machine-learning#neural-operators

Recommended for

Our review

This skill provides guidance on using the PINA library for physics-informed neural networks to solve PDEs, inverse problems, and operator learning.

Strengths

  • Covers multiple problem types (forward, inverse, operator learning)
  • Provides ready-to-use code snippets
  • Integrates with PyTorch and PyTorch Lightning
  • Includes a full workflow from problem definition to training

Limitations

  • Assumes prior knowledge of PDEs and neural networks
  • Focuses only on the PINA library, not other PINN frameworks
  • Examples are limited to simple cases without advanced error handling
When to use it

Use this skill when you need to solve PDEs or operator learning problems using neural networks in Python with PINA.

When not to use it

Do not use it if a simple analytical solution exists or your problem is not related to scientific machine learning.

Security analysis

Safe
Quality score92/100

The skill provides instructional code for the PINA library and does not contain any destructive, exfiltrating, or obfuscated actions. The allowed Bash tool is not instructed to execute harmful commands.

No concerns found

Examples

Solve 1D Heat Equation
Create a PINN using PINA to solve the 1D heat equation u_t = alpha * u_xx on a rod with given boundary and initial conditions. Provide code for problem definition, model, solver, and training.
Implement Fourier Neural Operator
Implement a Fourier Neural Operator (FNO) in PINA to learn the mapping from an initial condition to the solution of a PDE. Show how to define the problem, set up the FNO model, and train it.
Inverse Problem with PINA
Use PINA to solve an inverse PDE problem where we have noisy observations of the solution and want to infer unknown parameters. Provide code for the inverse problem definition and training.

name: pina description: Physics-Informed Neural Networks with PINA - solve PDEs, inverse problems, and operator learning with PyTorch triggers:

  • pina
  • physics-informed neural networks
  • pinns
  • pde solver
  • operator learning
  • fourier neural operator
  • deeponet
  • neural operator
  • pde residual allowed_tools:
  • Read
  • Write
  • Edit
  • Bash
  • mcp__plugin_context7_context7__resolve-library-id
  • mcp__plugin_context7_context7__query-docs
  • mcp__mlflow__search_traces
  • mcp__mlflow__get_trace
  • mcp__mlflow__log_feedback

PINA Development Skill

Expert guidance for Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) and Scientific Machine Learning with PINA.

What is PINA?

PINA (Physics-Informed Neural networks for Advanced modeling) is a PyTorch-based library for solving partial differential equations (PDEs) using neural networks. It combines:

  • Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs): Solve forward and inverse PDE problems
  • Neural Operators: FNO, DeepONet for operator learning
  • Data-Driven Modeling: Supervised learning with physics constraints
  • Reduced Order Modeling: POD-NN for efficient simulations

Built on: PyTorch, PyTorch Lightning, PyTorch Geometric

Core Workflow

Every PINA project follows these 4 steps:

from pina import Trainer
from pina.problem import SpatialProblem
from pina.solver import PINN
from pina.model import FeedForward

# Step 1: Define Problem
problem = MyProblem()
problem.discretise_domain(n=100, mode="grid")

# Step 2: Design Model
model = FeedForward(input_dimensions=1, output_dimensions=1, layers=[64, 64])

# Step 3: Define Solver
solver = PINN(problem, model)

# Step 4: Train
trainer = Trainer(solver, max_epochs=1000, accelerator='gpu')
trainer.train()

Simple ODE Example

from pina.problem import SpatialProblem
from pina.domain import CartesianDomain
from pina.condition import Condition
from pina.equation import Equation, FixedValue
from pina.operator import grad
import torch

def ode_equation(input_, output_):
    """PDE residual: du/dx - u = 0"""
    u_x = grad(output_, input_, components=["u"], d=["x"])
    u = output_.extract(["u"])
    return u_x - u

class SimpleODE(SpatialProblem):
    output_variables = ["u"]
    spatial_domain = CartesianDomain({"x": [0, 1]})

    domains = {
        "x0": CartesianDomain({"x": 0.0}),  # Boundary
        "D": CartesianDomain({"x": [0, 1]})  # Interior
    }

    conditions = {
        "bound_cond": Condition(domain="x0", equation=FixedValue(1.0)),
        "phys_cond": Condition(domain="D", equation=Equation(ode_equation))
    }

    def solution(self, pts):
        """Analytical solution for validation."""
        return torch.exp(pts.extract(["x"]))

problem = SimpleODE()

Models

FeedForward Networks

from pina.model import FeedForward

# Basic network
model = FeedForward(
    input_dimensions=2,
    output_dimensions=1,
    layers=[64, 64, 64],  # Hidden layers
    func=torch.nn.Tanh   # Activation function
)

# Alternative activations
model = FeedForward(
    input_dimensions=1,
    output_dimensions=1,
    layers=[100, 100, 100],
    func=torch.nn.Softplus  # or torch.nn.SiLU
)

See Custom Models Reference for advanced architectures including:

  • Hard constraints
  • Fourier feature embeddings
  • Periodic boundary embeddings
  • POD-NN
  • Graph neural networks

See Neural Operators Reference for operator learning with FNO, DeepONet, and more.

PINN Solver

from pina.solver import PINN
from pina.optim import TorchOptimizer
import torch

pinn = PINN(
    problem=problem,
    model=model,
    optimizer=TorchOptimizer(torch.optim.Adam, lr=0.001)
)

See Advanced Solvers Reference for:

  • Self-Adaptive PINN (SAPINN)
  • Supervised Solver
  • Custom solvers
  • Training strategies

Training

Basic Training

from pina import Trainer
from pina.callbacks import MetricTracker

# Discretize domain
problem.discretise_domain(n=1000, mode="random", domains="all")

# Create trainer
trainer = Trainer(
    solver=pinn,
    max_epochs=1500,
    accelerator="cpu",  # or "gpu"
    enable_model_summary=False,
    callbacks=[MetricTracker()]
)

# Train
trainer.train()

Training Configuration

trainer = Trainer(
    solver=solver,
    max_epochs=1000,
    accelerator="gpu",
    devices=1,
    batch_size=32,
    gradient_clip_val=0.1,  # Gradient clipping
    callbacks=[MetricTracker()]
)
trainer.train()

Testing

# Test the model
test_results = trainer.test()

# Manual evaluation
with torch.no_grad():
    test_pts = problem.spatial_domain.sample(100, "grid")
    prediction = solver(test_pts)
    true_solution = problem.solution(test_pts)
    error = torch.abs(prediction - true_solution)

Domain Discretization

Sampling Modes

# Grid sampling (uniform points)
problem.discretise_domain(n=100, mode="grid", domains=["D", "x0"])

# Random sampling (Monte Carlo)
problem.discretise_domain(n=1000, mode="random", domains="all")

# Latin Hypercube Sampling
problem.discretise_domain(n=500, mode="lh", domains=["D"])

# Manual sampling
pts = problem.spatial_domain.sample(256, "grid", variables="x")

Best Practice: Start with grid for testing, use random/LH for training with more points.

Visualization

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

@torch.no_grad()
def plot_solution(solver, n_points=256):
    # Sample points
    pts = solver.problem.spatial_domain.sample(n_points, "grid")

    # Get predictions
    predicted = solver(pts).extract("u").detach()
    true = solver.problem.solution(pts).detach()

    # Plot comparison
    fig, axes = plt.subplots(1, 3, figsize=(15, 5))

    axes[0].plot(pts.extract(["x"]), true, label="True", color="blue")
    axes[0].set_title("True Solution")
    axes[0].legend()

    axes[1].plot(pts.extract(["x"]), predicted, label="PINN", color="green")
    axes[1].set_title("PINN Solution")
    axes[1].legend()

    diff = torch.abs(true - predicted)
    axes[2].plot(pts.extract(["x"]), diff, label="Error", color="red")
    axes[2].set_title("Absolute Error")
    axes[2].legend()

    plt.tight_layout()
    plt.show()

See Visualization Reference for comprehensive plotting techniques.

Best Practices

1. Start Simple

# Begin with small network
model = FeedForward(input_dimensions=2, output_dimensions=1, layers=[20, 20])

# Gradually increase complexity
model = FeedForward(input_dimensions=2, output_dimensions=1, layers=[64, 64, 64])

2. Monitor Losses

from pina.callbacks import MetricTracker

trainer = Trainer(
    solver=pinn,
    max_epochs=1000,
    callbacks=[MetricTracker(["train_loss", "bound_cond_loss", "phys_cond_loss"])]
)

3. Two-Phase Training

# Phase 1: Rough solution (high LR)
pinn = PINN(problem, model, optimizer=TorchOptimizer(torch.optim.Adam, lr=0.01))
trainer = Trainer(pinn, max_epochs=500)
trainer.train()

# Phase 2: Refinement (low LR)
pinn.optimizer.param_groups[0]['lr'] = 0.001
trainer = Trainer(pinn, max_epochs=1500)
trainer.train()

MLflow Integration

Track PINA experiments with MLflow for reproducibility and comparison:

import mlflow
from pina import Trainer
from pina.solver import PINN

# Set experiment
mlflow.set_experiment("pina-poisson-solver")

with mlflow.start_run(run_name="baseline"):
    # Log hyperparameters
    mlflow.log_params({
        "layers": [64, 64, 64],
        "activation": "Tanh",
        "learning_rate": 0.001,
        "n_points": 1000,
        "epochs": 1500
    })

    # Setup and train
    problem.discretise_domain(n=1000, mode="random")
    trainer = Trainer(solver, max_epochs=1500)
    trainer.train()

    # Log final metrics
    mlflow.log_metric("final_loss", trainer.callback_metrics["train_loss"])

    # Log model
    mlflow.pytorch.log_model(solver.model, "pinn_model")

Marimo Dashboard Integration

Create interactive PINA dashboards with marimo:

import marimo as mo
from pina.solver import PINN

# UI controls for hyperparameters
layers = mo.ui.slider(1, 5, value=3, label="Hidden Layers")
neurons = mo.ui.slider(16, 128, value=64, step=16, label="Neurons/Layer")
lr = mo.ui.number(value=0.001, start=0.0001, stop=0.1, label="Learning Rate")

# Train button
train_btn = mo.ui.run_button(label="Train PINN")

# In another cell: run training when button clicked
if train_btn.value:
    model = FeedForward(
        input_dimensions=2,
        output_dimensions=1,
        layers=[neurons.value] * layers.value
    )
    # ... train and visualize

Using context7 for Documentation

Query up-to-date PINA documentation directly:

# context7 Library ID (no resolve needed):
# - /mathlab/pina (official docs, 2345 snippets)

# Example: query-docs("/mathlab/pina", "FeedForward model parameters")

When to Use This Skill

Use PINA when:

  • Solving PDEs with neural networks
  • Need to incorporate physics constraints
  • Working with inverse problems
  • Building neural operators (FNO, DeepONet)
  • Reduced order modeling
  • Scientific ML research

Don't use PINA when:

  • Pure data-driven tasks (use standard PyTorch)
  • Not dealing with differential equations
  • Need classical numerical solvers (FEM, FVM)

Reference Documentation

Detailed documentation organized by topic:

  • Problem Types: ODE, Poisson, Wave, Inverse problems, custom equations
  • Neural Operators: FNO, DeepONet, Kernel Neural Operator
  • Custom Models: Hard constraints, Fourier features, periodic embeddings, POD-NN, GNNs
  • Advanced Solvers: SAPINN, supervised solver, custom solvers, training strategies
  • Visualization: Plotting techniques, error analysis, animations

Complete Examples

Ready-to-run example scripts:

Resources

  • Documentation: https://mathlab.github.io/PINA/
  • GitHub: https://github.com/mathLab/PINA
  • Paper: https://joss.theoj.org/papers/10.21105/joss.04813
  • Tutorials: https://github.com/mathLab/PINA/tree/master/tutorials
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