A CAUSAL-MODELING FRAMEWORK FOR THE SIMULATION AND EXPLANATION OF THEBEHAVIOR OF STRUCTURES

An approach to the modelling of systems in civil engineering is presen ted. It allows the integration of quantitative relations in a qualitat ive causal framework which uses objects and Petri nets to represent th e device and process ontologies. This approach supports the modelling and simulation of the behaviour of a physical system and causal explan ations of it. The explanations are customisable depending on the needs of different users. The approach is shown by modelling the seismic be haviour of a masonry building, simulating it and generating causal exp lanations tailored for the needs of different users. An example applic ation is presented through IGOR a decision support system for seismic assessment of buildings and planning of precautionary operations. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Limited.