9314527 O'Connor The basic hypothesis of this research is that the practice of constructability will be enhanced if a systems is available to assist the user in conducting the analysis. To test this hypothesis the investigators will develop a decision support system for the constructability analysis of industrial piping. Computer methods include a hybrid scheme consisting of rule-based and case- based reasoning for representing knowledge and a virtual reality environment to serve as analysis and visualization platform. In addition to developing the system, this research will result in (i) an investigation of the adaptations required to apply the computer methods to the construction domain and (ii) definition of a methodology for developing computer integrated construction systems. The first phase will identify the variables influencing constructability and model the process in the form of a decision sequence. The second phase will focus on the development of schemes to represent the data and basic knowledge required for the analysis. In the third phase the representations will be integrated with a virtual reality environment.
