Diagnostic expert systems development for construction: A case study

The report consentrates on a case study concerning the development of expert systems for construction. The study was carried out over a two month visit to the Loughborough University of Technology in England. During the study an expert system prototype called the BRICKWALL DAMAGE EXPERT system was developed. The system and its development work are described. A brief review on expert system development for construction in the U.K. is also included. Rather than adhering to rapid prototyping the development of the BRICKWALL DAMAGE EXPERT system was composed of some quite systematical phases as following 1. Setting the initial requirements for the structure and functions of an expert system: The determination of goals, the problem solving strategy and some requirements for the user interface. 2. Collecting and analyzing knowledge by means of computer aided tools: The use of computer aided drafting tools to collect and analyze knowledge for the system. The main principle behind the phases listed above was to assess the practical implications of making the knowledge acquisition and analysis more systematic and thereby speeding up the process of expert system development work. The system developed is a diagnostic expert system which through inference procedure aims to determine the most probable cause of brickwall damage. The system works in question-answer mode. First an initial question pertaining to the symptoms of the noticed crack is posed. According to the reply given by the user the system reduces the number of possible causes and thereby the number of possible further questions. The consultation ends with a list of possible causes and their corresponding probabilities are displayed as a result.