The use of MIDST, an expert system building tool for solving geological problems

Conference · Fri Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1991 · AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States)

OSTI ID:5900242

Biswas, G; Lee, G ^[1]; Cheong, Daekyo; Kendall, G S.C.C.; Cannon, R ^[2]; Bezdek, J ^[3]

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1. Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States)
2. Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia (United States)
3. Univ. of West Florida, Pensacola (United States)

Many geological problems can be solved using knowledge-based approaches, but system design is slowed by complex interactions that occur between knowledge engineers and geological experts. MIDST, a user-friendly set of tools, partially circumvents knowledge engineers and allows expert geologists to build expert systems directly. These tools address: (1) knowledge acquisition, and (2) knowledge refinement and updating. MIDST is a general purpose tool, and its application is demonstrated with the development of a system for characterizing fields, plays, and prospects (PLAYMAKER). Knowledge acquisition is driven by a graphic outliner which creates a conceptual hierarchical structure of nodes that defines the problem-solving domain (in this case field characterization). The user defines relevant geological classes and concepts (e.g., reservoir qualities, porosity and permeability, depositional setting, and facies), and provides relationships between nodal concepts as directed inferential links (e.g., depositional setting is linked to facies, and so to porosity and permeability). Next, a rule-editor is used to formulate rules that define links. Inferencing requires starting with low-level node characters in the conceptual structure (e.g., basin setting), and using results from these characters to successively infer characteristics at higher level nodes (e.g., porosity and permeability). Nodes can be created and removed, and links changed as rules are developed. The knowledge refinement tool enables expert geologists to evaluate the effectiveness of expert systems by identifying deficiencies in rules when consultation results are unsatisfactory. This can be attributed to either incomplete rules, inconsistency between rule pairs, or lack of fine tuning in rule weights.

• OSTI ID: 5900242
• Report Number(s): CONF-910403--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States) Journal Volume: 75:3
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020200 -- Petroleum-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
03 NATURAL GAS
030200 -- Natural Gas-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
990200* -- Mathematics & Computers
COMPUTER CODES
COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DESIGN
EXPERT SYSTEMS
EXPLORATION
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC MODELS
GEOLOGY
INDUSTRY
KNOWLEDGE BASE
MINERAL RESOURCES
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
NATURAL GAS INDUSTRY
PERFORMANCE
PERMEABILITY
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
PETROLEUM INDUSTRY
POROSITY
RESERVOIR ROCK
RESOURCES
SIMULATION
USES