An expert system architecture for construction planning

Construction planning involves the choice of construction technologies, the definition of work tasks, the estimation of required resources and durations, the estimation of costs, and the preparation of project schedules. A knowledge-based expert system design to accomplish these tasks, CONSTRUCTION PLANEX, is described in this paper. This system synthesizes activity networks, diagnose resource needs and predicts durations and costs. The CONSTRUCTION PLANEX system could be useful as an intelligent assistant in routine planning, as a laboratory for the analysis and evaluation of planning strategies, and as a component of more extensive construction assistance systems involving design or project control. The operation of a prototype system to plan building excavation tasks is described and illustrated with an example.