Selecting an appropriate excavation construction method based on qualitative assessments

Choosing an appropriate excavation construction method is a key for successful completion of the project. However, such an evaluation involves a complex decision-making process associated with numerous uncertainty factors, imprecise information and judgments. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) has been widely applied to evaluate alternatives related to multiple decision criteria. Nevertheless, the AHP is incapable of dealing with the inherent subjectivity and ambiguity existing in the mapping of the decision-maker’s judgment to exact numerical values. This paper presents a fuzzy AHP approach to cope with this problem and be an attempt in the determination of a suitable excavation construction method. The approach employs triangular and trapezoidal fuzzy numbers and the α-cut concept to better represent the degrees of uncertainty held by the decision-maker. A case study concerning a foundation construction project is presented to illustrate the salient features of the model. The results demonstrate the applicability of the method that can be used for effectively evaluating excavation construction alternatives.