ENHANCING THE USE OF EUROCODE-NO-8 THROUGH HYPERTEXT AND EXPERT-SYSTEM TECHNOLOGY

In this work, a general scheme is presented for the representation of Structural Design Codes in the form of hypertext and expert systems. T his scheme is employed for Eurocode No 8, issued by the Commission of the European Communities, that contains the requirements for designing and erecting seismic-resistant structures. This code has, mainly, a c omplementary function to that of other Eurocodes that specify the requ irements for the design of buildings made of different materials like concrete, steel, etc. There are many cross-references between Eurocode No 8 and the other Eurocodes, whereas Eurocode No 8 itself is divided into several parts that are strongly interrelated. The difficulty for the readers to grasp the overall structure and philosophy of the code , and establish the interconnection between its provisions is overcome by using the code in the form of a hypertext and expert system. The p roposed scheme can be extended to incorporate the algorithmic part of the code following the logical approach. This concept can be implement ed using Prolog language. The techniques employed herein can be genera lized for other code-type documents and specifications. Moreover, such systems can be developed in parallel to the code document providing a valuable tool to expert committees.