Dimensional Modeling of Indian Materials Database

Abstract

The Indian Materials Database (IMDB) is a national project aiming to develop a database through compilation of materials property data available in different laboratories in India. The database contains data on mechanical, corrosion, nondestructive evaluation, thermal and optical properties of a wide variety of materials. Selecting the appropriate data modeling technique is crucial for the successful deployment of such a database. Dimensional modeling is a logical design technique to present data in a standard, intuitive framework that allows for high-performance access. Dimensional modeling of data results in a "Star Schema", where the data constitutes a central fact table surrounded by dimension tables. This paper discusses the model and architecture of the material database using a "Snowflake Schema", which is a variation of "Star Schema", where some of the dimensions are normalized into multiple related tables. The database contains a central fact table linked to multiple dimensions namely, 1) Materials 2) Properties of materials 3) Details of experiments conducted on materials and 4) Source from which data is obtained.