An interactive computer assisted system for conceptual structural design of steel buildings

Computer programs that perform structural analysis and routine design calculations are readily available and widely used by the design profession. However, there exist few practical computer tools that assist engineers in the conceptual design of structures. This paper describes the development of a prototype system, BERT (building engineering and reasoning tool), for the conceptual design of moment resisting steel frame structures. Given the loading conditions and building configuration, BERT has the capability to select efficient member sizes through reasoning about the behavior of the structure. Different configurations can be evaluated by means of a cost estimating scheme that incorporates steel material, fabrication and erection costs. This paper focuses on a discussion of the object-oriented representation and reasoning schemes employed in the implementation of the design system. (C) 1997 Civil-Comp Ltd and Elsevier Science Ltd.