Abstract
This paper covers in more detail the material that was introduced in Ref. [1] and describes the final engineering reasoning and knowledge used for an expert system to assist during the field inspection of existing concrete dams. The knowledge base of this expert system was created by combining the traditional expert system approach with the reasoning procedures of qualitative physics. The traditional expert system approach was used to identify the shallow knowledge pertaining to the problem, and qualitative physics was used to identify the deep knowledge. The deep knowledge structured and organized the identification and representation of the shallow knowledge. The expert system uses shallow knowledge to combine a qualitative expert reasoning with a quantitative procedural evaluation of the stability of a dam. The present paper concentrates on the description of the engineering knowledge and Ref. [2] will concentrate on the artificial intelligence issues associated with the knowledge acquisition and representation associated with this expert system. The validation process compared results obtained by the expert system with those obtained by independent field inspection experts. Some of the results are presented here.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Franck, B.M.; Krauthammer, T. (1988) Development of an expert system for preliminary risk assessment of existing concrete dams. Eng. Comput. 3(3), 137–148
Franck, B.M.; Krauthammer, T. (in press) “An expert system for field inspection of concrete dams: Part 2, artificial intelligence issues. Eng. Comput.
Buchanan, B.G.; Shortliffe, E.H. (1984) Rule-based expert systems—The MYCIN experiments of the Stanford heuristic programming project. Addison-Wesley, October
Texas Instruments Incorporated. (1986) PERSONAL CONSULTANT PLUS, Version 2.1. Vols. 1, 2
Franck, B.M. (1987) Preliminary safety and risk assessment for existing hydraulic structures—An expert system approach. Ph.D. thesis submitted to the Graduate School at the University of Minnesota, October
Clancey, W.J. (1985) Heuristic classification. J AI 27(2), 137–254
National Research Council. (1985) Safety of dams—Flood and earthquake criteria. Committee on Safety Criteria for Dams, Water Science and Technology Board, Commission on Engineering and Technology Systems, National Research Council, National Academy Press
National Research Council. (1983) Safety of existing dams—Evaluation and improvement. Committee on the Safety of Existing Dams, Water Science and Technology Board, Commission on Engineering and Technology Systems, National Research Council, National Academy Press
American Society of Civil Engineers, Hydraulic Structures Committee of the Hydraulics Division. (1986) Lessons learned from design, construction, and performance of hydraulic structures
Golze, A.R. (1977) Handbook of Dam Engineering. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation. (1973) Design of small dams. A Water Resources Publication, 2nd Ed. Revised reprint 1977.
Northern States Power Company, Eau Claire, Wisconsin. (1984) Report on inspection: St Croix Falls Hydro—St Croix River, private copy. December
U.S. Department of the Army. (1978) St Croix Dam—National Dam Safety Program, private copy obtained from the St Paul District of the Corps of Engineers
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Franck, B.M., Krauthammer, T. An expert system for field inspection of concrete dams: Part 1, engineering knowledge. Engineering with Computers 5, 23–38 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01201995
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01201995