Semantic restrictions and rules in applications of multibody dynamics

Application of computational methods, including multibody system simulation, has become a common approach in the product development of mechanical systems and machines. Computational methods enable the efficient study of the kinematics and dynamics of mechanical systems being developed, and thus reduce development costs of the product. The increasing application of computational methods in product development processes has resulted in a new problem; the management and efficient utilisation of massive amounts of new design data. Because of the amounts, intelligent computational systems are needed for efficient use of the data coming, e.g. from multibody system simulations. This article introduces the use of semantic restrictions and rules in an ontology-based multibody system modelling approach. It discusses the benefit of separating modelling data and domain data semantics from the modelling and simulation tools and develops an improved multibody system modelling ontology with general modelling restrictions and rules, demonstrating its application with a simple example. The application of modelling case-specific rules is also demonstrated with an example.