A novel hybrid MCDM approach to evaluate ports' dredging project criteria based on intuitionistic fuzzy DEMATEL and GOWPA

摘要

Risk analysis methods, the integration of which leads to more realistic and reliable solutions, are gaining increasing acceptance as decision support tools for the analyses and reduction of risks in engineering applications. This paper aims at presenting an integrated method that can identify and evaluate serious failures in achieving the desired project objectives due to the presence of risks/uncertainties in different execution stages. Since a dredging project's effective efficiency evaluation is a vital element in the success of ports' loading/unloading operations, the authors aim at developing a risk evaluation method to check why Shahid Rajaee Port dredging projects incur unintended damage. The FSA (formal safety assessment)-based approach integrates FST (fuzzy set theory), GOWPA (generalized ordered weighted proportional averaging), and DEMATEL (decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory) techniques and results of this case study show that the fuzzy DEMATEL method can be used to evaluate how direct/indirect relations and elements affect one another and promote the quality of the group relations/interrelations. Conclusions and suggestions regarding the need to lessen risks and improve safety measures have been provided in the final section.