Accelerating PDE Solvers with Equation-Recast Neural Operator Preconditioning

Abstract

The computational overhead of traditional numerical solvers for partial differential equations (PDEs) remains a critical bottleneck for large-scale parametric studies and design optimization. We introduce a Minimal-Data Parametric Neural Operator Preconditioning (MD-PNOP) framework, which establishes a new paradigm for accelerating parametric PDE solvers while strictly preserving physical constraints. The key idea is to recast the residual from parameter deviation as additional source term, where any trained neural operator can be used to refine the solution in an offline fashion. This directly addresses the fundamental extrapolation limitation of neural operators, enabling extrapolative generalization of any neural operator trained at a single parameter setting across a wide range of configurations without any retraining. The neural operator predictions are then embedded into iterative PDE solvers as improved initial guesses, thereby reducing convergence iterations without sacrificing accuracy. Unlike purely data-driven approaches, MD-PNOP guarantees that the governing equations remain fully enforced, eliminating concerns about loss of physics or interpretability. The framework is architecture-agnostic and is demonstrated using both Deep Operator Networks (DeepONet) and Fourier Neural Operators (FNO) for Boltzmann transport equation solvers in neutron transport applications. We demonstrated that neural operators trained on a single set of constant parameters successfully accelerate solutions with heterogeneous, sinusoidal, and discontinuous parameter distributions. Besides, MD-PNOP consistently achieves ~50% reduction in computational time while maintaining full order fidelity for fixed-source, single-group eigenvalue, and multigroup coupled eigenvalue problems.