Modeling unobserved geothermal structures using a physics-informed neural network with transfer learning of prior knowledge

Abstract Deep learning has gained attention as a potentially powerful technique for modeling natural-state geothermal systems; however, its physical validity and prediction inaccuracy at extrapolation ranges are limiting. This study proposes the use of transfer learning in physics-informed neural networks to leverage prior expert knowledge at the target site and satisfy conservation laws for predicting natural-state quantities such as temperature, pressure, and permeability. A neural network pre-trained with multiple numerical datasets of natural-state geothermal systems was generated using numerical reservoir simulations based on uncertainties of the permeabilities, sizes, and locations of geological units. Observed well logs were then used for tuning by transfer learning of the network. Two synthetic datasets were examined using the proposed framework. Our results demonstrate that the use of transfer learning significantly improves the prediction accuracy in extrapolation regions with no observed wells.