OntoCAPE is a large-scale ontology for the domain of Computer Aided Process Engineering (CAPE). Represented in a formal, machine-interpretable ontology language, OntoCAPE captures consensual knowledge of the process engineering domain in a generic way such that it can be reused and shared by groups of people and across software systems. On the basis of OntoCAPE, novel software support for various engineering activities can be developed; possible applications include the systematic management and retrieval of simulation models and design documents, electronic procurement of plant equipment, mathematical modeling, as well as the integration of design data from distributed sources.
We made a major effort to deliver a flawless formal and informal specification of OntoCAPE. However, if you find any errors, or if you have any other suggestions for improvement, please do not hesitate to let us know.
If you have any comments related to the formal and informal specification please contact OntoCAPE(at)avt.rwth-aachen.de.
If you have any comments related to the OntoCAPE monograph please contact Wolfgang.Marquardt(at)avt.rwth-aachen.de
Access OntoCAPE Material
OntoCAPE is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. It is available in form of an informal specification and in form of a formal specification. The OntoCAPE material can be accessed free of charge.
However, we are always interested in the intension and purpose of projects OntoCAPE is applied in. Therefore, please fill out the provided questionnaire and submit it.
For the formal specification of OntoCAPE, the Ontology Web Language OWL has been chosen (OWL-DL in particular, www.w3.org/2004/OWL/). The modeling was accomplished by means of the ontology editor Protégé for the verification, the reasoner RacerPro has been used. The current release of OntoCAPE consists of 62 OWL files, each of which includes one module of the ontology.
Please note, that the archive files should be unzipped into a directory named C:\OntoCAPE\; otherwise, you need to change the respective URI in the header of each OWL file.
The informal specification currently takes the form of six technical reports, which jointly comprise about 500 pages. It serves the double function of (i) a user manual and (ii) a reference guide. Within these reports, the organization and structure of OntoCAPE are presented, and the conceptualizations of various topic areas are described in detail. Special emphasis was placed on making OntoCAPE as user-friendly as possible by (1) a detailed description of concepts, relations and instances, and an explanation of the corresponding interrelations in descriptive UML-like diagrams; (2) defining the proper usage of the ontology; (3) highlighting the important design decision and principles leading to the organization and structure at hand.
Meta Model (Technical Report LPT-2008-24)
Upper Level (Technical Report LPT-2008-25)
Supporting Concepts (Technical Report LPT-2008-26)
Material (Technical Report LPT-2008-27)
Mathematical Models (Technical Report LPT-2008-28)
Chemical Process System(Technical Report LPT-2008-29)
Besides OntoCAPE, some converters have been developed that support ontology development and data acquisition:
* DAML2OWL translates the ontology language DAML+OIL into the Web Ontology Language OWL.
* XML2OWL maps the content of XML documents onto a given OWL ontology.
OntoCAPE has been subject of various papers and presentations. A compilation of publications is listed below:
OntoCAPE - Monograph
- Wolfgang Marquardt, Jan Morbach, Andreas Wiesner, Aidong Yang (2009): OntoCAPE – A Re-Usable Ontology for Chemical Process Engineering. Springer.
OntoCAPE - Overview
- Jan Morbach, Aidong Yang, Wolfgang Marquardt: OntoCAPE - a large-scale ontology for chemical process engineering. Eng. Appl. Artif. Intel., 2006, 20(2), 147-161
- Andreas Wiesner, Jan Morbach, Wolfgang Marquardt: An overview on OntoCAPE and its latest applications. AIChE Annual Meeting 2007, Salt Lake City, USA
- Jan Morbach, Andreas Wiesner, Wolfgang Marquardt: OntoCAPE 2.0 – a (Re-)usable ontology for computer-aided process engineering. In: Bertrand Braunschweig and Xavier Joulia (Eds.): ESCAPE-18 (European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering), 991-996
- Jan Morbach, Manfred Theißen, Wolfgang Marquardt: Integrated application domain models for chemical engineering. In: Nagl, M., Marquardt, W. (Eds.): Collaborative and distributed chemical engineering : from understanding to substantial design process support ; results of the IMPROVE project , Springer Berlin / Heidelberg, (2.6), 169-182
- Jan Morbach, Birgit Bayer, Aidong Yang, Wolfgang Marquardt: Product data models. In: Nagl, M., Marquardt, W. (Eds.): Collaborative and distributed chemical engineering : from understanding to substantial design process support ; results of the IMPROVE project , Springer Berlin / Heidelberg, (2.2), 93-110
- Jan Morbach, Andreas Wiesner, Wolfgang Marquardt: OntoCAPE 2.0 – a (re)usable ontology for computer-aided process engineering Computers & Chemical Engineering, 2009,doi:10.1016/j.compchemeng.2009.01.019
- Aidong Yang, Jan Morbach, Wolfgang Marquardt: From conceptualization to model generation: the roles of ontologies in process modeling. Sixth International Conference on Foundations of Computer-Aided Process Design, 591-594
- Aidong Yang, Wolfgang Marquardt: An ontology-based approach to conceptual process modelling. ESCAPE-14 (European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering), Lisbon, Portugal, 16-19.05.2004, 1159-1164
- Z. Guessoum, O. Nadjemi, B. Braunschweig, P. Roux, Aidong Yang, E. S. Fraga, Iain D. Stalker, D. Pinol, M. Serra, D. Paen: Agent-based computer-aided process engineering. 2nd. Workshop on Intelligent Computing in the Petroleum Industry (ICPI 2003), Acapulco, Mexico, 9.8.2003
- I.D. Stalker, E.S. Fraga, Lars v.Wedel, Aidong Yang: Using design prototypes to build an ontology for automated process design. In: A. Kraslawski, I. Turunen (Eds.): ESCAPE-13 (European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering), Lappeenranta, Finland, 1-4.6.2003, 563-568
- B. Braunschweig, E.S. Fraga, Z. Guessoum, D. Paen, D. Pinol, Aidong Yang: COGents: cognitive middleware agents to support e-CAPE. In: B. Stanford-Smith, E. Chiozza, M. Edin (Eds.): E-2002: e-Business and e-Work Annual Conference, Prague, Czech Republic, 16-18.10.2002
- Aidong Yang, B. Braunschweig, E. S. Fraga, Z. Guessoum, Wolfgang Marquardt, O. Nadjemi, D. Paen, D. Piñol, P. Roux, S. Sama, M. Serra, I. Stalker: A multi-agent system to facilitate component-based process modeling and design. Comput. Chem. Eng., 2008, 32, 2290-2305
Knowledge Management in Engineering Design
- S. C. Brandt, Jan Morbach, M. Miatidis, Manfred Theißen, M. Jarke, Wolfgang Marquardt: Ontology-based information management in design processes. 16th European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering and 9th International Symposium on Process Systems Engineering, 2021-2026
- Jan Morbach, Wolfgang Marquardt: Wissenssprache im Anlagenbau - Die Erstellung von Branchenleistungsverzeichnissen mit Hilfe von Ontologiesprachen. 3. Industriearbeitskreis Kooperation im Anlagenbau
- Sebastian Brandt, Jan Morbach, Michaelis Miatidis, Manfred Theißen, Matthias Jarke, Wolfgang Marquardt: An ontology-based approach to knowledge management in design processes. Comput. Chem. Eng., 2008, 32(1-2), 320-342
Integration of Design Information
- Andreas Wiesner, Jan Morbach, Wolfgang Marquardt: Semantic data integration for process engineering design data. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Enterprise Information System - ICEIS 2008, 190-195
- Jan Morbach, Wolfgang Marquardt: Ontology-based integration and management of distributed design data. In: Nagl, M., Marquardt, W. (Eds.): Collaborative and distributed chemical engineering : from understanding to substantial design process support ; results of the IMPROVE project , Springer Berlin / Heidelberg, (7.2), 647-655
- Andreas Wiesner, Jan Morbach, Wolfgang Marquardt: A semantic information model for data integration across the chemical process design process. In: 10th International Symposium on Process Systems Engineering - PSE09, Salvador, Brasilien, 16-20.08.2009 (accepted)
- Andreas Wiesner, Michael Wiedau, Jan Morbach, Wolfgang Marquardt, Heiner Temmen, Joachim Redmer: Ontology-based integration and management of distributed design data. In: 8th WCCE 2009, Montreal, Canada, 23-27.08.2009 (accepted)
Work Process Modeling
- Ri Hai, Manfred Theißen, Wolfgang Marquardt: An integrated ontology for operational processes. In: Jacek Jeżowski, Jan Thullie (Eds.): 19th European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering, 1087-1091
- W. Marquardt, J. Morbach, A. Wiesner, A. Yang OntoCAPE – A Re-Usable Ontology for Chemical Process Engineering