Solving Civil Engineering Problems by Means of Fuzzy and Stochastic MCDM Methods: Current State and Future Research

Abstract

The present review examines decision-making methods developed for dealing with uncertainties and applied to solve problems of civil engineering. Several methodological difficulties emerging from uncertainty quantification in decision-making are identified. The review is focused on formal methods of multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM). Handling of uncertainty by means of fuzzy logic and probabilistic modelling is analysed in light of MCDM. A sensitivity analysis of MCDM problems with uncertainties is discussed. An application of stochastic MCDM methods to a design of safety critical objects of civil engineering is considered. Prospects of using MCDM under uncertainty in developing areas of civil engineering are discussed in brief. These areas are design of sustainable and energy efficient buildings, building information modelling, and assurance of security and safety of built property. It is stated that before long the decision-making in civil engineering may face several methodological problems: the need to combine fuzzy and probabilistic representations of uncertainties in one decision-making matrix, the necessity to extend a global sensitivity analysis to all input elements of a MCDM problem with uncertainties, and an application of MCDM methods in the areas of civil engineering where decision-making under uncertainty is presently not common.

Multi-Criteria Decision Making in Civil Engineering: Part I – A State-of-the-Art Survey

“…The development of MCDM methods and their application in Civil Engineering was discussed in many articles (Kapliński 2008a(Kapliński , 2008bZavadskas et al 2008;Kapliński, Tamošaitienė 2010;Kaplinski, Tupenaite 2011;Tamošaitienė, Kapliński 2013;Kaplinski et al 2014aKaplinski et al , 2014bJato-Espino et al 2014;Antucheviciene et al 2015;Kaplinski, Tamošaitienė 2015).…”

Multi-performance optimisation framework for the selection of structural alternatives based on sustainable qualities

“…(Bank et al, 2010) have discussed the possibility of implementing the information contained within BIM to assist decision-makers in improving the sustainability performance of their buildings. In addition, (Antucheviciene et al, 2015) have recognised the possibility of enhancing the current BIM-based applications with decision support systems that assist the existing multi-criteria problem-solvers. In this study BIM is utilised as the shared knowledge platform where the different stakeholders specify their preferences of project systems based on shared decision criteria.…”

Methods of Sensitivity Analyses and theirs Role in Engineering

“…Overview of available methods is given in review papers, e.g. [1][2][3][4]. Versatile sensitivity indices for nonlinear non-monotonic problems are known to be based on Sobol' decomposition of functions [5,6].…”