Scientific Data and Knowledge Management in Aerospace Engineering

In aerospace engineering, simulation is a key technology. Examples are pre-design studies, optimization, systems simulation, or mission simulations of aircrafts and space vehicles. These kinds of complex simulations need two distinct technologies. First, highly sophisticated simulation codes for each involved discipline (for example, codes for computational fluid dynamics, structural analysis, or flight mechanics) to simulate the various physical effects. Secondly, a simulation infrastructure and well-designed supporting tools to work effectively with all simulation codes. This paper focuses on the infrastructure and the supporting tools, especially for managing both the data resulting from large-scale simulation and the necessary knowledge for conducting complex simulation tasks. Examples of recent developments at the German Aerospace Center in the fields of data and knowledge management to support aerospace research by e-Science technologies are presented.