A knowledge-based system for the recycling of non-hazardous industrial residuals in civil engineering applications

Abstract: It is estimated that 4.6 billion tons of non‐hazardous solid waste materials are produced annually in the USA. The potential reuse for a portion of the materials in the construction of highways and roads suggests that valuable benefits in terms of economic and environmental gains are possible. This paper describes the development of a prototype computer‐assisted tool or expert system to help manufacturers assess and analyze their industrial residuals as potential road construction material. This represents an expansion in the application of intelligent systems to domains where a few, hard‐to‐find technical reports have represented the main source of expertise available to practitioners for years. The system, developed through the use of an object‐oriented software shell, Level5 Object, was designed in a user‐friendly Windows environment which allows users with little or no computer training to effectively evaluate material residuals.