With the advent of artificial intelligence technology as well as the widesp
read popularity of desktop microcomputers in recent years, integration of t
his new technology with the traditional numerical modelling system becomes
a current trend in order to solve various engineering problems. It renders
a more intelligent and user-friendly system on the problem domain. In this
paper, a knowledge-based expert system on numerical modelling system for co
astal water processes is delineated. Expert system application, as a key br
anch of artificial intelligence technology, is integrated with traditional
numerical modelling for simulating flow and water quality phenomenon in coa
stal waters. The knowledge bases are classified into five major types, name
ly, a variety of models, relations between various model parameters and rea
l physical conditions, feasible options of model parameters, question base
as a user-interface directing the user to depict the actual physical condit
ions, and the rules of inference deducing the feasible choice of model and
its parameters. A hybrid expert system shell, Visual Rule Studio, is employ
ed as an ActiveX Designer under Microsoft Visual Basic environment because
it combines the advantages of both production rules and object-oriented pro
gramming technology. Both forward chaining and backward chaining are used c
ollectively during the inference process, which is mainly driven by premise
s and conditions with the highest factors of confidence. The inference engi
ne will drive the decision tree to explore the most probable option of nume
rical model and parameters matching the real problem specifications. It is
shown that the application and integration of the knowledge-based expert sy
stem technology into numerical modelling for coastal processes can provide
substantial assistance to novice users for selection of numerical model as
well as parameters. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.