Fast Jacobi Spectral Methods and Closure Approximations for the Homogeneous FENE Model of Complex Fluids

Abstract: The Finitely Extensible Nonlinear Elastic (FENE) dumbbell model is a widely used mathematical model for complex fluids. Direct simulation of the FENE Fokker--Planck equation is computationally challenging due to high dimensionality and singularity of its potential. In this paper, we develop two fast Jacobi-Spherical Harmonic spectral methods for the spatially homogeneous FENE Fokker--Planck equation. These methods effectively resolve the singularity near the boundary by combining properly designed Jacobi polynomials with a weighted variational formulation. A semi-implicit backward differentiation formula of second-order (BDF2) is employed for time marching, and its energy stability is rigorously proved. The resulting linear algebraic system possesses a sparse structure and can be efficiently solved. Numerical results verify the spectral convergence and efficiency of the direct spectral solvers, establishing them as a reliable tool for generating reference solutions for challenging benchmark problems. Furthermore, to achieve an optimal trade-off between accuracy and efficiency, we compare several closure approximation models, including the industry workhorse Peterlin approximation (FENE-P), the quasi-equilibrium approximation (FENE-QE), and a novel neural network implementation for FENE-QE proposed in this paper (FENE-QE-NN). Numerical experiments in extensional and shear flows demonstrate the superior accuracy and efficiency of the proposed methods compared to traditional approaches.