Towards an ontology-based approach for formalisation of expert knowledge in conformity checking model in construction

This paper gives a formal ontological approach for formalisation of expert knowledge in the conformity-checking model in construction. First, we present our knowledge acquisition method aimed at the representation of all the knowledge on the reasoning process formalized with the help of the conformity-checking ontology. Based on this method, we then develop a reasoning model on the checking of the conformity of a construction project against technical norms by matching of a representation of a construction project to representations of conformity queries. In order to enrich our model with tacit expert knowledge guiding the checking process, we develop special (semi)formal expert rules based on semantic annotations of conformity queries that schedule the matching operations of the checking process and, thus, make it more effective. Finally, to validate our model, we present the C3R system and discuss its further development to integrate the context knowledge related to non-formalised construction practices.