On the Feasibility of Foundational Models for the Simulation of Physical Phenomena

We explore the feasibility of foundation models for the simulation of physical phenomena, with emphasis on continuum (solid and fluid) mechanics. Although so-called “learned simulators” have shown some success when applied to specific tasks, it remains to be studied to what extent they can undergo severe changes in domain shape, boundary conditions, and/or constitutive laws and still provide robust (i.e., hallucination-free) and accurate results. In this paper, we perform an exhaustive study of these features, put ourselves in the worst-case scenario, and study their resistance to such strong changes in their domain of application.