Author(s)

Stephanos D. V. Giakoumatos, Anastasios K. T. Gkionakis

School of Maritime and Industrial Studies, University of Piraeus, Piraeus, Greece.

The present work deals with the development of an Ontology-Based Knowledge Network of soil/water physicochemical & biological properties (soil/water concepts), derived from ASTM Standard Methods (ASTMi,n) and relevant scientific/applicable references (published papers—PPi,n) to fill up/bridge the gap of the information science between cited Standards and infiltration discipline conceptual vocabulary providing accordingly a dedicated/internal Knowledge Base (KB). This attempt constitutes an innovative approach, since it is based on externalizing domain knowledge in the form of Ontology-Based Knowledge Networks, incorporating standardized methodology in soil engineering. The ontology soil/water concepts (semantics) of the developed network correspond to soil/water physicochemical & biological properties, classified in seven different generations that are distinguished/located in infiltration/percolation process of contaminated water through soil porous media. The interconnections with arcs between corresponding concepts/properties among the consecutive generations are defined by the relationship of dependent and independent variables. All these interconnections are documented according to the below three ways: 1) dependent and independent variables interconnected by using the logical operator “depends on” quoting existent explicit functions and equations; 2) dependent and independent variables interconnected by using the logical operator “depends on” quoting produced implicit functions, according to Rayleigh’s method of indices; 3) dependent and independent variables interconnected by using the logical operator “related to” based on a logical dependence among the examined nodes-concepts-variables. The aforementioned approach provides significant advantages to semantic web developers and web users by means of prompt knowledge navigation, tracking, retrieval and usage.

Infiltration, Percolation, ASTM Standards, Soil/Water Contamination, Knowledge Base, Ontology Network, Semantics, Porous Media

Giakoumatos, S. and Gkionakis, A. (2021) Development of an Ontology-Based Knowledge Network by Interconnecting Soil/Water Concepts/Properties, Derived from Standards Methods and Published Scientific References Outlining Infiltration/Percolation Process of Contaminated Water. Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection, 9, 25-52. doi: 10.4236/gep.2021.91003.