Expert System for Drought Management Planning

Abstract

Expert systems have been proposed for a wide range of civil engineering applications. They have been applied most successfully in situations governed by simple rules. Many civil engineering decisions, however, must be made in environments in which simple rules are not possible, but rather large amounts of data must be analyzed and evaluated. This paper presents a methodology in which an expert system shell (INSIGHT 2+) is used to evaluate and display information on drought management planning. A linear programming model is used to generate optimal operating policies as a function of numerous past drought experiences. These policies are incorporated into an expert system where the user is required to identify the degree to which the current drought situation is similar to past events. The expert system then aids the user in developing appropriate management policies based on time of year, descriptions of drought intensity, and other system characteristics.