A scientific database system for polymers and materials engineering needs

This paper describes the environment, the issues and the progress made in developing a database management system for managing data generated by fracture study experiments in polymers and materials engineering. The experiment data produced by materials engineers is large and has several data types that include summary data, image data, spatial data, and temporal data obtained by applying differing amounts of multiaxial stresses to materials at different times. The types of queries on the experiment data include statistical queries, matching queries, mapping queries, and spatiotemporal queries. We discuss the data model, query language, and spatial data structure issues associated with our environment, and how they translate into specific research problems. We also briefly summarize the progress made in each area