Towards an Ontological Framework for Validity Frames

A Validity Frame captures the set of contexts in which a model (and its analysis, often by means of simulation) of a system is able to replace that system with respect to questions about a set of salient properties of interest. Even though the utility of validity frames has been reported in current literature, there does not exist any precise and general definition of the concept. This paper presents our on-going development of a framework for designing and using validity frames. This framework both uses and supports model management. We have developed an ontology in order to precisely define the concepts of the model validity domain. The framework currently consists of ontological definitions integrated in a workflow model that describes a general experiment, validation experiments, and the construction of validity frames. A simple resistor model validation case-study is used as running example to describe the concepts. The validity frames of different resistor models are computed. How to use the framework in different scenarios is sketched.