The construction of bridges has been necessary for societies since ancient times, when the communication between and within towns, cities or communities was established. Until recently, the economic factor has been the only one considered in the decision-making of any type of construction process for bridges. However, nowadays, the objective should not be just the construction of bridges, but of sustainable bridges. Economic, social and environmental factors, which form the three pillars of sustainability, have been recently added. These three factors usually have conflicting perspectives. The decision-making process allows the conversion of a judgment into a rational procedure to reach a compromise solution. The aim of this paper is to review different methods and sustainable criteria used for decision-making at each life-cycle phase of a bridge, from design to recycling or demolition. This paper examines 77 journal articles for which different methods have been used. The most used methods are briefly described. In addition, a statistical study was carried out on the Multiple Attribute Decision-making papers reviewed.

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A Review of Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Methods Applied to the Sustainable Bridge Design

GIS-based multicriteria decision analysis MCDA methods are increasingly being used in landslide susceptibility mapping. However, the uncertainties that are associated with MCDA techniques may significantly impact the results. This may sometimes lead to inaccurate outcomes and undesirable consequences. This article introduces a new GIS-based MCDA approach. We illustrate the consequences of applying different MCDA methods within a decision-making process through uncertainty analysis. Three GIS-MCDA methods in conjunction with Monte Carlo simulation MCS and Dempster–Shafer theory are analyzed for landslide susceptibility mapping LSM in the Urmia lake basin in Iran, which is highly susceptible to landslide hazards. The methodology comprises three stages. First, the LSM criteria are ranked and a sensitivity analysis is implemented to simulate error propagation based on the MCS. The resulting weights are expressed through probability density functions. Accordingly, within the second stage, three MCDA methods, namely analytical hierarchy process AHP, weighted linear combination WLC and ordered weighted average OWA, are used to produce the landslide susceptibility maps. In the third stage, accuracy assessments are carried out and the uncertainties of the different results are measured. We compare the accuracies of the three MCDA methods based on 1 the Dempster–Shafer theory and 2 a validation of the results using an inventory of known landslides and their respective coverage based on object-based image analysis of IRS-ID satellite images. The results of this study reveal that through the integration of GIS and MCDA models, it is possible to identify strategies for choosing an appropriate method for LSM. Furthermore, our findings indicate that the integration of MCDA and MCS can significantly improve the accuracy of the results. In LSM, the AHP method performed best, while the OWA reveals better performance in the reliability assessment. The WLC operation yielded poor results.

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An uncertainty and sensitivity analysis approach for GIS-based multicriteria landslide susceptibility mapping

The Evidential Reasoning (ER) approach is a general approach for analyzing multiple criteria decision problems under various types of uncertainty using a unified framework—belief structure. In this paper, the ER approach is surveyed from two aspects: theoretical development and applications. After a brief outline of its development and extension over a twenty year period, the ER approach is outlined with a focus on the links among its various developments. Future research directions in the area are also explored in the survey.

An introduction and survey of the evidential reasoning approach for multiple criteria decision analysis

http://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/epidemiology/courses/EPIB654/Summer2010/Uncertainty/sensitivity%20analysis.pdf

A sensitivity analysis algorithm for hierarchical decision models

During the last few decades, several multi-criteria decision analysis methods have been proposed to help in selecting the best compromise alternatives Among them, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and its applications have attracted much attention from academics and practitioners However, since the early 1980s, critics have raised questions regarding its proper use One of them concerns the unacceptable changes in the ranks of the alternatives, called rank reversal, upon changing the structure of the decision Several modifications were suggested to preserve ranks In this paper, a classification scheme and a comprehensive literature review are presented in order to uncover, classify and interpret the current research on AHP methodologies and rank reversals On the basis of the scheme, 61 scholarly papers from 18 journals are categorized into specific areas The specific areas include the papers on the topics of adding/deleting alternatives and the papers published in adding/deleting criteria The scholarly papers are also classified by (1) year of publication, (2) journal of publication, (3) authors' geographic location and (4) using the AHP in association with other methods It is hoped that the paper can meet the needs of researchers and practitioners for convenient references of AHP methodologies and rank reversals and hence promote the future of rank reversal research Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

A Comprehensive Literature Review of the Rank Reversal Phenomenon in the Analytic Hierarchy Process

This paper is concerned with the development of a ‘best’ rank one transitive approximation to a general paired comparison matrix in a least-squares sense. A direct attack on the non-linear problem is frequently replaced by a sub-optimal linear problem and, here, the best procedure of this kind is obtained. The Newton–Kantorovich method for the solution of the non-linear problem is also studied, including the role of the best linear approximation as a starting point for this method. Numerical examples are included. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Consistency adjustments for pairwise comparison matrices

Transitive matrices and their applications

Route/site selection is the process of finding locations that meet desired conditions set by the selection criteria. In such a process, manipulation of spatial data and satisfaction of multiple criteria are essential to the success of decision-making. Because of the complexity of the problems a number of tools must be deployed to arrive at the proper solution. Expert systems, geographic information systems and multi-criteria decision making techniques have been systematically used for decades to support such projects. This paper discusses the most recent developments of this field. A hierarchical decision tree model is prepared to join the diverse engineering, economical, institutional and social perspectives as well as the environmental objectives. A comprehensive example of the route/site selection process of a metro-rail network project is also presented.

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Route/Site Selection of Urban Transportation Facilities: An Integrated GIS/MCDM Approach

The selection of a bridge design from among a number of alternatives that meets desired conditions is a complex task. In such projects the stakeholders may have conflicting interests as they represent dissimilar perspectives. It is especially difficult to simultaneously satisfy the diverse engineering, economical, legal and environmental requirements implying both tangible and intangible data of multiple criteria. This paper discusses the methodology and the key activities of the project completion reports of bridge designs. The fundamentals of two well-known methods, a multiple-criteria decision making method, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the Kane simulation technique (KSIM) are described. A realistic application of these methods to the evaluation and comparison of three bridges of different types is also presented.

András Farkas

Papers

Consistency adjustments for pairwise comparison matrices

Transitive matrices and their applications

Route/Site Selection of Urban Transportation Facilities: An Integrated GIS/MCDM Approach

Multi-Criteria Comparison of Bridge Designs

On the spectrum of pairwise comparison matrices