# Discretization-independent surrogate modeling over complex geometries using hypernetworks and implicit representations

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.07018 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.07018/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 30 of its 58 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 14 Sep 2021.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 30)

- [U-Net: Convolutional Networks for Biomedical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1505.04597/) (2015)
- [Semi-Supervised Classification with Graph Convolutional Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.02907/) (2016)
- [PointNet: Deep Learning on Point Sets for 3D Classification and Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1612.00593/) (2016)
- [PointNet++: Deep Hierarchical Feature Learning on Point Sets in a Metric Space](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.02413/) (2017)
- [Neural Message Passing for Quantum Chemistry](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.01212/) (2017)
- [Fourier Neural Operator for Parametric Partial Differential Equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.08895/) (2020)
- [DeepSDF: Learning Continuous Signed Distance Functions for Shape Representation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.05103/) (2019)
- [Implicit Neural Representations with Periodic Activation Functions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.09661/) (2020)
- [Convolutional Neural Networks on Graphs with Fast Localized Spectral Filtering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.09375/) (2016)
- [Occupancy Networks: Learning 3D Reconstruction in Function Space](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.03828/) (2018)
- [DeepONet: Learning nonlinear operators for identifying differential equations based on the universal approximation theorem of operators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.03193/) (2019)
- [Spatial Transformer Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1506.02025/) (2015)
- [Spectral Networks and Locally Connected Networks on Graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1312.6203/) (2013)
- [Learning Implicit Fields for Generative Shape Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.02822/) (2018)
- [Learning to Simulate Complex Physics with Graph Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2002.09405/) (2020)
- [Learning Mesh-Based Simulation with Graph Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.03409/) (2020)
- [Convolutional Networks on Graphs for Learning Molecular Fingerprints](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1509.09292/) (2015)
- [Neural Operator: Graph Kernel Network for Partial Differential Equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.03485/) (2020)
- [Learning the solution operator of parametric partial differential equations with physics-informed DeepOnets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.10974/) (2021)
- [Multipole Graph Neural Operator for Parametric Partial Differential Equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.09535/) (2020)
- [Dynamic Filter Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1605.09673/) (2016)
- [Deep Convolutional Networks on Graph-Structured Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1506.05163/) (2015)
- [Deep Learning Methods for Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes Simulations of Airfoil Flows](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.08217/) (2018)
- [Prediction of Aerodynamic Flow Fields Using Convolutional Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.13166/) (2019)
- [Dynamic mode decomposition with control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1409.6358/) (2014)
- [Learning feed-forward one-shot learners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.05233/) (2016)
- [Multi-level Convolutional Autoencoder Networks for Parametric Prediction of Spatio-temporal Dynamics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.11114/) (2019)
- [A Point-Cloud Deep Learning Framework for Prediction of Fluid Flow Fields on Irregular Geometries](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.09469/) (2020)
- [On the Effectiveness of Weight-Encoded Neural Implicit 3D Shapes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.09808/) (2020)
- [GMLS-Nets: A framework for learning from unstructured data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.05371/) (2019)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [HyPINO: Multi-Physics Neural Operators via HyperPINNs and the Method of Manufactured Solutions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.05117/) (2025)
- [Adaptive physics-informed neural operator for coarse-grained non-equilibrium flows](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.15799/) (2022)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Numerical solutions of partial differential equations (PDEs) require expensive simulations, limiting their application in design optimization, model-based control, and large-scale inverse problems. Surrogate modeling techniques seek to decrease the computational expense while retaining dominant solution features and behavior. Traditional Convolutional Neural Network-based frameworks for surrogate modeling require lossy pixelization and data-preprocessing, and generally are not effective in realistic engineering applications. We propose alternative deep-learning based surrogate models for discretization-independent, continuous representations of PDE solutions, which can be used for learning and prediction over domains with complex, variable geometry and mesh topology. Three methods are proposed and compared; design-variable-coded multi-layer perceptron (DV-MLP), design-variable hypernetworks (DV-Hnet), and non-linear independent dual system (NIDS). Each method utilizes a main network which consumes pointwise spatial information to provide a continuous representation, allowing predictions at any location in the domain. Input features include a minimum-distance function evaluation to implicitly encode the problem geometry. The geometric design variables, which define and distinguish problem instances, are used differently by each method, appearing as additional main-network input features (DV-MLP), or as hypernetwork inputs (DV-Hnet and NIDS). The methods are applied to predict solutions around complex, parametrically-defined geometries on non-parametrically-defined meshes with model predictions obtained many orders of magnitude faster than the full order models. Test cases include a vehicle-aerodynamics problem with complex geometry and limited training data, with a design-variable hypernetwork performing best, with a competitive time-to-best-model despite a much greater parameter count.