Expert Systems In Construction And Structural Engineering

Expert Systems in Construction and Structural Engineering is a valuable reference both for researchers interested in the state-of-the-art of civil engineering expert systems, and practitioners interested in exploring the practical applications of this new technology.

Engineering, medicine, computer science, mathematics, and business all use applications of expert systems for problem solving that would normally require human skill. These expert systems solve varied problems with a similar procedure - so that knowledge of their use in other specialties will inevitably benefit yours. Expert Systems: Applications for Structural, Transportation, and Environmental Engineering provides a comprehensive, concise treatment of knowledge-based expert systems that introduces you to the flavor, concepts, and capacity of this powerful procedure. Expert Systems covers preliminary design of three-dimensional grids, design systems for low rise industrial buildings, preliminary design of frameworks, bridge design systems, and retaining wall design - especially the methodologies for these applications to structural design. The author presents design standards, typical expert systems for construction engineering and management applications, and the underlying concepts of expert systems, emphasizing bridge analysis, rating, and management. He describes the methodology and applications which aid the transportation and highway engineer in planning, design, and operation and addresses several applications in the fields of environmental and water resources engineering. Automation of the advice-giving of experts is used in design, process planning, manufacturing schedule, quality control, and diagnosis by a range of disciplines. Expert Systems increases your awareness of the versatility of expert systems in these disciplines and offers the theory and algorithms you need to use expert systems in design, maintenance, and construction.

Included in this volume are papers presented at the First International Conference on the Application of Artificial Intelligence to Civil & Structural Engineering, 19-21 September, 1989, London.

Included in this volume are a selection of papers on the application of knowledge based systems to civil & structural engineering. The papers were presented at the Third International Conference on the Application of Artificial Intelligence to Civil and Structural Engineering held 17-19 August 1993, Edinburgh.

Structural safety of industrial systems and components raises a steadily growing public, scientific and engineering interest, and causes permanent development of methods and techniques used for its assessment. In addition to the well established engineering methods, applied in the field, several new methods and tools have emerged recently. Among them, the most novel ones are probably those related to expert system applica tions, appearing as an important possible improvement of the current engineering practice. The issue has been addressed by the international course EXPERT SYSTEMS IN STRUCTURAL SAFETY ASSESSMENT organized by MPA Stuttgart and JRC Ispra (Stuttgart, October 2-4, 1989), and the proceedings of the course are contained in this volume of the Lecture Notes ill Engineering. The contributions (invited lectures) tackle the issues usually confronting developers and users of expert systems applied in structural engineering, i.e. in structural safety and integrity assessment. Both the book and the course are a combination of a tutorial and of presentation of the current achievements in the field. Starting from the basic elements of expert systems (knowledge based systems), the book should "guide" the reader up to the applications in various particular sub-domains.

Proceedings of a symposium at the ASCE National Convention, held in Nashville, Tennessee, May 10-11, 1988. Sponsored by the Structural Division of ASCE. This collection contains 16 papers presenting applications of expert system technology to civil engineering problems with emphasis on microcomputer implementations. Papers are divided into four categories: structural engineering, geotechnical and environmental engineering, construction, and general. Topics include knowledge acquisition and machine learning, using PROLOG on a Macintosh, an environment for building integrated structural design exxpert systems, an integrated rule-based system for industrial building design, and integrating an expert system shell with spreadsheet programs. Expert systems for hazardous waste management, diagnosis and treatment of dam seepage problems, and analysis of activated sludge are presentd. Also covered are knowledge elicitation techniques for construction scheduling, an expert system for construction contract claims, and knowledge acquisition for a contractor prequalification knowledge-based system. Finally, logic programming to manage constraint-based design, and development of an earthquake insurance and investment risk analysis system are discussed.

This book presents the state of the art of artificial intelligence techniques applied to structural engineering. The 28 revised full papers by leading scientists were solicited for presentation at a meeting held in Ascona, Switzerland, in July 1998. The recent advances in information technology, in particular decreasing hardware cost, Internet communication, faster computation, increased bandwidth, etc., allow for the application of new AI techniques to structural engineering. The papers presented deal with new aspects of information technology support for the design, analysis, monitoring, control and diagnosis of various structural engineering systems.