APPLICATION OF ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS IN STRUCTURAL DESIGN EXPERT-SYSTEMS

The application of artificial neural networks (ANN) in the preliminary design of structures has been proposed. The use of an artificial neural network has been made to arrive at an initial or the preliminary design model. The architecture uses this preliminary design as an intuitive basis for further processing of the initial model in an integrated environment. Various considerations and the steps in the development of ANN for the design expert system are illustrated with an example of optimal design of RC beams.