Artificial intelligence in structural design, an introduction to neural networks

<ns3:p>This article presents the potential application of artificial intelligence, particularly artificial neural networks (ANNs), in the design of engineering structures. The subject of the paper is the automatic recognition of the geometric shape of an arc as circular, elliptical or parabolic. Correct identification of the arc shape is fundamental to the creation of the static scheme and computational model of the structure, which is necessary for strength analysis of the structure. This paper analyzes two identification methods based on ANN: multilayer perceptron (MLP) and convolutional neural network (CNN). The MLP network classifies the type of arc based on the geometric features of selected points lying on the arc, while the CNN network makes recognition based on the graphical representation of the arc as a black and white image. The prospects for AI applications in civil engineering are also discussed, with a focus on generative models and their potential use in the design, simulation and automation of construction processes</ns3:p>