Collection, storage and application of human knowledge in expert system development
Expert systems are programs that analyze data by mimicking the thought processes of an expert. Two expert systems were developed by the Reservoir Evaluation and Advanced Computational Techniques group to aid in oil prospecting for two New Mexico formations, leading to the development of a third customizable fuzzy expert system. Knowledge engineering is a major part of the development of these expert systems, in which expert knowledge is solicited, analyzed, converted to rules stored in a system's knowledge base, and used by the computer to produce expert judgment. Numerical versions of the rules are used to analyze data and produce an evaluation of the user's prospect. In addition, the knowledge base preserves expert knowledge for future workers. This is especially important in the petroleum industry, as there is a cyclical trend in employment relating to the price of oil, retirements and people leaving and entering the industry.
knowledge representation expert system design petroleum exploration fuzzy logic