Integrated Framework for Deriving Behavior from Structural Descriptions

Abstract

In this paper we describe QSEIS, a prototype knowledge‐based expert system that can provide advice on seismic behavior of structural systems, based on heuristic expert knowledge and qualitative reasoning capabilities. We focus on the nature of knowledge structures and reasoning mechanisms that are involved in the domain of seismic engineering. The knowledge base consists of heuristic rules as well as more fundamental knowledge or laws based on principles of mechanics. The heuristic knowledge has been implemented as rules while an attempt has been made to implement the more fundamental laws of mechanics as (causal) relationships between entities. QSEIS is also capable of understanding restricted natural‐language input. The system has been implemented in PROLOG; procedural tasks are implemented in C. Examples of input and output are presented. QSEIS accepts the following types of inputs: menu driven, restricted natural language, and structural sketches, and writes the derived behavior in a format that can be processed by the latex document processor.