The paper concerns the development of a knowledge-based expert system (KBES) involving the coordinated use of finite element analysis, sensitivity analysis and optimization techniques to design minimum weight planar steel frameworks. The numeric-intensive analysis and optimization tasks of the design method are well formulated and well handled through computer codes written in FORTRAN. On the other hand, the design synthesis process itself is driven by a variety of criteria that are less well defined and quantified numerically. The essential feature of the work is the separation of the well-structured numeric tasks of analysis and optimization from the non-structured and often symbolic knowledge that drives the synthesis process. A separately maintained knowledge base is developed that is easily updated and revised, and which provides the means to generate explanations of the decisions taken during the synthesis process. The development of the expert system is achieved through the use of the rule-based programming language OPS83, which has the capability both to interface the numeric FORTRAN algorithms and to perform the symbolic computations required to fire the rules in the knowledge base. The features of the KBES for optimal structural design are illustrated for steel framework design.

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