Development of a case representation strategy for a bridge design case base

Abstract

This paper deals with the development of a case-based reasoning (CBR) system for bridge design. The work reported has been conducted in close collaboration with practising bridge designers. Predominantly three design engineers from a single company were used, with two engineers from different consulting engineers being used to support the work. The development of a case-based design (CBD) system is dependent on the effective representation of past designs. This dependence introduces the need for the careful consideration and development of an appropriate case representation strategy (CRS). Such a CRS has been developed for the bridge design domain and is presented here, together with the issues which have been addressed during the development of this CRS: namely, case content, knowledge acquisition and case presentation. A series of case representation concepts are presented and the merits of each discussed. The challenges of applying a CBR strategy in a complex, real-world domain such as design are also addressed.