In bridge engineering, fabrication errors occur during the manufacture of elements of the steel bridge assembly. These errors can cause deleterious effects on the performance of a bridge if they are not repaired properly.
Errors also cause delays in the fabrication process.
These fabrication errors need to be recognized and corrected properly and efficiently according to each individual situation. The bridge engineer must evaluate each error and come up with a solution to remedy the error. With no set procedures for furnishing a solution, only certain staff members with previous experience handling these fabrication errors were able to provide repair solutions. The expertise within KDOT was also scattered or scarce as engineers within different districts were familiar with different types of errors and repair solutions. An expert system was developed in the first phase of this research work to tackle this problem.