Using Semantic Web Technologies to Integrate Models to Analytical Tools

This paper discusses the potential advantages and pitfalls of using semantic web technologies in the process of preparing engineering analyses. Analytical tools are often not designed to be integrated with disparate information sources and general-purpose modeling tools and often do not support the detection of problems across domains. Conversely, modeling tools may not capture and represent explicitly the information needed to leverage the capabilities of analytical tools. The method described uses semantic web technology as the integrating mechanism between domain-specific models (DSM) and analytical tools. We describe a method and tools for representing analytical knowledge through semantic web ontologies that map between the metamodels of both the DSM and analytical tools. We compare an earlier tool chain prototype with a significantly revised prototype to reflect on the benefits of using semantic web technologies as an integrating mechanism. A potential advantage is the ability to explicitly and transparently represent the relationships between modeling and analytical tools.