GenDA: Generative Data Assimilation on Complex Urban Areas via Classifier-Free Diffusion Guidance

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Giral, Francisco, Manzano, Álvaro, Gómez, Ignacio, Vinuesa, Ricardo, Clainche, Soledad Le
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866915802440007680
author Giral, Francisco
Manzano, Álvaro
Gómez, Ignacio
Vinuesa, Ricardo
Clainche, Soledad Le
author_facet Giral, Francisco
Manzano, Álvaro
Gómez, Ignacio
Vinuesa, Ricardo
Clainche, Soledad Le
contents Urban wind flow reconstruction is essential for assessing air quality, heat dispersion, and pedestrian comfort, yet remains challenging when only sparse sensor data are available. We propose GenDA, a generative data assimilation framework that reconstructs high-resolution wind fields on unstructured meshes from limited observations. The model employs a multiscale graph-based diffusion architecture trained on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and interprets classifier-free guidance as a learned posterior reconstruction mechanism: the unconditional branch learns a geometry-aware flow prior, while the sensor-conditioned branch injects observational constraints during sampling. This formulation enables obstacle-aware reconstruction and generalization across unseen geometries, wind directions, and mesh resolutions without retraining. We consider both sparse fixed sensors and trajectory-based observations using the same reconstruction procedure. When evaluated against supervised graph neural network (GNN) baselines and classical reduced-order data assimilation methods, GenDA reduces the relative root-mean-square error (RRMSE) by 25-57% and increases the structural similarity index (SSIM) by 23-33% across the tested meshes. Experiments are conducted on Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations of a real urban neighbourhood in Bristol, United Kingdom, at a characteristic Reynolds number of $\mathrm{Re}\approx2\times10^{7}$, featuring complex building geometry and irregular terrain. The proposed framework provides a scalable path toward generative, geometry-aware data assimilation for environmental monitoring in complex domains.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_11440
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle GenDA: Generative Data Assimilation on Complex Urban Areas via Classifier-Free Diffusion Guidance
Giral, Francisco
Manzano, Álvaro
Gómez, Ignacio
Vinuesa, Ricardo
Clainche, Soledad Le
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science
Urban wind flow reconstruction is essential for assessing air quality, heat dispersion, and pedestrian comfort, yet remains challenging when only sparse sensor data are available. We propose GenDA, a generative data assimilation framework that reconstructs high-resolution wind fields on unstructured meshes from limited observations. The model employs a multiscale graph-based diffusion architecture trained on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and interprets classifier-free guidance as a learned posterior reconstruction mechanism: the unconditional branch learns a geometry-aware flow prior, while the sensor-conditioned branch injects observational constraints during sampling. This formulation enables obstacle-aware reconstruction and generalization across unseen geometries, wind directions, and mesh resolutions without retraining. We consider both sparse fixed sensors and trajectory-based observations using the same reconstruction procedure. When evaluated against supervised graph neural network (GNN) baselines and classical reduced-order data assimilation methods, GenDA reduces the relative root-mean-square error (RRMSE) by 25-57% and increases the structural similarity index (SSIM) by 23-33% across the tested meshes. Experiments are conducted on Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations of a real urban neighbourhood in Bristol, United Kingdom, at a characteristic Reynolds number of $\mathrm{Re}\approx2\times10^{7}$, featuring complex building geometry and irregular terrain. The proposed framework provides a scalable path toward generative, geometry-aware data assimilation for environmental monitoring in complex domains.
title GenDA: Generative Data Assimilation on Complex Urban Areas via Classifier-Free Diffusion Guidance
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.11440