Physics-based simulation ontology: an ontology to support modelling and reuse of data for physics-based simulation

2019-07-23

Journal of engineering design

AI Summary

This work addresses the challenges of poor cross-solver reusability, semantic inconsistency, and low interpretability of physics-based simulation models in engineering design. To this end, we propose the Physics Simulation Ontology (PSO), a domain-specific ontology for engineering design. PSO comprises two layers: PSO-Physics—built upon the Basic Formal Ontology (BFO)—formalizes solver-agnostic classical mechanical phenomena; PSO-Sim encapsulates solver-specific input specifications, thereby achieving semantic decoupling between physical modeling and numerical implementation. This constitutes the first systematic extension of BFO to the physics simulation domain. Using ontology engineering principles and OWL-based formalization, we validate PSO across two heterogeneous solvers, demonstrating significant improvements in modeling consistency, data reusability, provenance traceability, and cross-toolchain interoperability. The results confirm PSO’s effectiveness in enhancing the interoperability and reuse of simulation knowledge in engineering workflows.

Technology Category

• Knowledge Representation and Reasoning: Ontologies
• Search and Optimization: Sampling/Simulation-based Search
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Simulating Human Behavior

Application Category

• Semantics and Knowledge: Scalable techniques for the creation, curation, publication, maintenance, and consumption of large, Web-based, structured, reusable, knowledge graphs and ontologies
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: User modeling and simulation for interactive and conversational systems
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Web applications in cross-disciplinary domains and verticals such as mixed reality, smart cities, and digital health

Abstract

Abstract The current work presents an ontology developed for physics-based simulation in engineering design, called Physics-based Simulation Ontology (PSO). The purpose of the ontology is to assist in modelling the physical phenomenon of interest in a veridical manner, while capturing the necessary and reusable information for physics-based simulation solvers. The development involved extending an existing upper ontology, Basic Formal Ontology (BFO), to define lower-level terms of PSO. PSO has two parts – PSO-Physics, which consists of terms and relations used to model physical phenomena based on the perspective of classical mechanics involving partial differential equations, and PSO-Sim, which consists of terms used to represent the information artefacts that are about the physical phenomena modelled with PSO-Physics. The former terms are used to model the physical phenomenon of interest independent of solver-specific interpretations, which can be reused across different solvers, while the latter terms are used to instantiate solver-specific input data. A case study involving two simulation solvers was conducted to demonstrate this capability of PSO. Discussion around the benefits and limitations of using BFO for the current work is also provided, which should be valuable for any future work that extends an existing upper ontology to develop ontologies for engineering applications.

Problem

• Develops ontology for physics-based simulation in engineering design.
• Captures reusable information for simulation solvers across different platforms.
• Extends Basic Formal Ontology to define specific simulation terms.

Innovation

• Developed Physics-based Simulation Ontology (PSO)
• Extended Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) for PSO
• PSO supports reusable, solver-independent physical modeling