Fischer, M A (1991) Using construction knowledge during preliminary design of reinforced concrete structures. PhD thesis, Stanford University, USA.
Abstract
Due to the fragmentation in the construction industry, structural engineers rarely use explicit constructibility knowledge when making decisions about the layout and dimensioning of structural elements. An on-line construction expert offers the opportunity to allow use of efficient construction methods on a project by interfacing with a CAD representation of the design and by providing decision support in the form of construction knowledge. I developed such an expert system called COKE (COnstruction Knowledge Expert) by acquiring constructibility knowledge from field experts, formalizing and organizing this knowledge base in a way suitable for input to the design process, specifying a symbolic model of a reinforced concrete structure that supports constructibility reasoning, and implementing a software prototype that links a CAD system to an expert system. When providing constructibility feedback, COKE first uses high level application heuristics to determine whether a construction method is applicable or not. It then compares the project data in the symbolic model with specific constraints about the layout and dimensioning of structural elements, and alerts the designer about mismatches between these constraints and the structure. This research shows that software technology can be used to integrate downstream project constraints into the work environment of design engineers. Object-oriented programming offers a computing paradigm to support this cross-functional integration. Once implemented, such integrated intelligent tools offer the opportunity to solve problems in early project stages at a fraction of the cost of making changes in the construction or operation phases of a facility.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | decision support; fragmentation; reasoning; reinforced concrete; computing; construction method; expert system; feedback; integration; programming; designer; structural engineer; heuristic |
| Index terms: | heuristic, engineer, designer, paradigm, work environment, mismatch, construction industry, knowledge base, reasoning, decision support, design process, project data, project constraint, prototype, fragmentation, construction method, structural engineer, integration, programming, reinforced concrete, operation phase, computing, expert system, preliminary design |
| Subjects: | decision analysis, building construction, cognitive psychology, data management, organizational analysis, information systems, industry analysis, management, education and knowledge transfer, design practice, modelling and simulation, building materials, project delivery, business, risk assessment, engineering problems, profession, data collection methods, control systems, design methods, computing systems, programming |
| Topics: | Risk Management, Roles and Professions, Engineering Principles, Construction Materials, Research Practice, Project Management, Organizational Design, Site Management, Digital Applications, Design Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here