A DEVELOPMENT OF KNOWLEDGE-BASED MODELS FOR CHECKING DESIGN ERRORS IN BUILDING CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN CAMBODIA

Abstract

This research aims to develop the knowledge-based models for helping the engineers to check the design errors which possibly occur throughout the construction practices. This research is divided into two main parts. The first part attempts to identify the critical cases of design errors between structure and other building components in building construction projects. The questionnaires were distributed to the engineers of contractors in Cambodia. The percentage formulas were applied to determine the percentage occurrence of each case of design errors whereas impact value of each case was calculated by average mean score. The combination of percentage occurrence and impact was used to rank the cases of design errors with the priority zones of risk analysis. This ranking is useful for engineers to concern about the most critical cases of design errors during construction phase. 48 cases were found as the critical design errors that should be concerned. The second part of this research is the development of knowledge-based models for checking design errors. The cases of critical design errors were collected from interviewing the engineers of contractors based on their previous experience and knowledge. The cross-case analysis revealed the main attributes and conditions of each case, which were then used as the inputs in the decision tree of the models. Last, it was proposed to code these decision trees into a system by using Visual Basic programming in Microsoft Excel. This prototype system can help the engineers to check the conditions of attributes that can lead to problems of design errors before construction begins.