A prolog-based expert system for encoding seismic design provisions

Abstract

Provisions from the tentative seismic design code prepared by the Applied Technology Council (ATC3-06) have been selected here for demonstrating how a code of practice can be documented as a PROLOG-based expert system. The significant feature of this expert system is that it has been encoded in a logic programming language, PROLOG (a fifth generation computer programming language). The expert system described in this paper can be considered as a guide to the use of the ATC3-06 provisions and does not cover all the details of the tentative code. The expert system helps the user to establish the design parameters necessary for seismic design in accordance with these provisions. It then uses this interactively-gained information to make recommendations about the appropriate seismic design method to the user. In future, this expert system is to be interfaced with a seismic design package in order to integrate seismic analysis with design decision-making.

Keywords:

• expert systems
• seismic codes
• PROLOG
• artificial intelligence
• civil engineering