Vk. Koumousis et al., ENHANCING THE USE OF EUROCODE-NO-8 THROUGH HYPERTEXT AND EXPERT-SYSTEM TECHNOLOGY, Advances in engineering software, 23(2), 1995, pp. 69-81
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.