Data patterns to alleviate the design of scientific workflows exemplified by a bone simulation

Abstract

Scientific workflows often have to process huge data sets in a multiplicity of data formats. For that purpose, they typically embed complex data provisioning tasks that transform these heterogeneous data into formats the underlying tools or services can handle. This results in an increased complexity of workflow design. As scientists typically design their scientific workflows on their own, this complexity hinders them to concentrate on their core issue, namely the experiments, analyses, or simulations they conduct. In this paper, we present the core idea of a pattern-based approach to alleviate the design of scientific workflows. This approach is particularly targeted at the needs of scientists. We exemplify and assess the pattern-based design approach by applying it to a complex scientific workflow realizing a real-world simulation of structure changes in bones.