Equipment funds are provided to purchase two Explorer Workstations, two processors, mass storage, one Business Pro Personal Computer, and one Laser Printer. Research in the applications of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies--especially knowledge-based (expert) systems--to engineering will be conducted. These AI technologies will be seen as providing ways to better engineering analysis and design. Three particular research projects will benefit. The first is the development of an expert system to assist architects and engineers as they check building designs to ensure that they meet code requirements, in this case the Life Safety Code of the NFPA. The second project entails a feasibility study of the use of knowledge-based systems as assistants when complicated finite element programs are exercised for both analysis and design. The last project described explores the role of distributed expertise in engineering design through the interaction of concurrently executing expert systems.
