Four Decades of Computing in Civil Engineering

Abstract

This paper presents the author’s perspective on four decades of computing in civil engineering. Examples of research by the author and his associates published during the past four decades are briefly described. They include artificial intelligence and expert system technology, computer-aided design and engineering (CAD/CAE), computer animation, object-oriented technology, database management, solid modelling, parallel processing and supercomputing, distributed computing on a cluster of workstations, neural networks, evolutionary computing and genetic algorithms, case-based reasoning, machine learning, fractality and chaos theory, wavelet transform, and web-based computing. It is argued that the introduction of novel computing ideas into the oldest engineering field has made the field more exciting. It has helped create new technologies such as semi-active vibration control and health monitoring of large structures and intelligent freeways, and automate processes that were unthinkable otherwise.