The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has gained increasing attention in construction management (CM) domain as a technique to analyse complex situations and make sound decisions. However, AHP per se ...or its potential applications on CM problems are ill-defined within extant literature. The present paper reviews 77 AHP-based papers published in eight selected peer-reviewed CM journals from 2004 to 2014 to better define and delineate AHP application areas and decision-making problems solved within CM. The findings indicated that risk management and sustainable construction were the most popular AHP application areas in CM. It was also revealed that AHP (1) is flexible and can be used as a stand-alone tool or in conjunction with other tools to resolve construction decision-making problems; and (2) is widely used in Asia. In addition, the most prominent justifications for using AHP were found to be small sample size, high level of consistency, simplicity and availability of user-friendly software. This paper provides a useful reference for researchers and practitioners interested in the application of AHP in CM. Future research is needed to compare and contrast between AHP and other multicriteria decision-making methods; such work could reveal which techniques provide optimized solutions under various decision-making scenarios.
•Inconsistency of incomplete pairwise comparisons with missing entries is studied.•The 10% rule of acceptable inconsistency is extended to incomplete matrices.•Random index is found to depend on ...matrix size and the number of missing elements.•A plausible linear estimation of the random index is provided.•Our results can be directly built into decision-making software.
Pairwise comparison matrices are increasingly used in settings where some pairs are missing. However, there exist few inconsistency indices for similar incomplete data sets and no reasonable measure has an associated threshold. This paper generalises the famous rule of thumb for the acceptable level of inconsistency, proposed by Saaty, to incomplete pairwise comparison matrices. The extension is based on choosing the missing elements such that the maximal eigenvalue of the incomplete matrix is minimised. Consequently, the well-established values of the random index cannot be adopted: the inconsistency of random matrices is found to be the function of matrix size and the number of missing elements, with a nearly linear dependence in the case of the latter variable. Our results can be directly built into decision-making software and used by practitioners as a statistical criterion for accepting or rejecting an incomplete pairwise comparison matrix.
•The paper addresses the problem of site selection for solar PV projects.•A GIS-AHP based approach is proposed.•Land suitability index is computed to determine the best sites.•Economic and technical ...factors are considered to assess site feasibility.•A case study for Saudi Arabia is conducted.
Site selection for solar power plants is a critical issue for utility-size projects due to the significance of weather factors, proximity to facilities, and the presence of environmental protected areas. The primary goal of this research is to evaluate and select the best location for utility-scale solar PV projects using geographical information systems (GIS) and a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) technique. The model considers different aspects, such as economic and technical factors, with the goal of assuring maximum power achievement while minimizing project cost. An analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is applied to weigh the criteria and compute a land suitability index (LSI) to evaluate potential sites. The LSI model groups sites into five categories: “least suitable,” “marginally suitable,” “moderately suitable,” “highly suitable” and “most suitable.” A case study for Saudi Arabia is provided. Real climatology and legislation data, such as roads, mountains, and protected areas, are utilized in the model. The solar analyst tool in ArcGIS software is employed to calculate the solar insolation across the entire study area using actual atmospheric parameters. The air temperature map was created from real dispersed monitoring sensors across Saudi Arabia using interpolation. The overlaid result map showed that 16% (300,000 km2) of the study area is promising and suitable for deploying utility-size PV power plants while the most suitable areas to be in the north and northwest of the Saudi Arabia. It has been found that suitable lands are following the pattern of the approximate range of the proximity to main roads, transmission lines, and urban cities. More than 80% of the suitable areas had a moderate to high LSI. The integration of the GIS with MCDM methods has emerged as a highly useful technique to systematically deal with rich geographical information data and vast area as well as manipulate criteria importance towards introducing the best sites for solar power plants.
Slope failure along highways is a crucial problem in hilly regions. Landslide hazard maps are very efficient and effective tools for planning and management of landslide disasters. Aim of this study ...is to prepare a landslide hazard map along national highway 5 (197.600–283.200 Km) using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model. The different causative factors of landslides considered in this study are slope, aspect, curvature, relative relief, fault density, drainage density, geology, topographic wetness index (TWI), distance from road and lithology. The causative factors are divided into sub-factors and weightage are assigned according to analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The causative factor layers are overlaid using weighted linear combination (WLC) technique and a landslide hazard map is prepared. A landslide inventory of 215 landslides is used for validation of the landslide hazard map. The map shows a prediction rate of 0.825 on area under curve (AUC) technique. The study can be used by the construction planners and decision makers.
Solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies receive investment, support, and incentives despite their apparent high costs. In terms of renewable energy policies and spatial planning, site selection for ...solar PV farms is a critical issue. A novel comprehensive framework for assessing the site suitability of solar PV farms is proposed, which considers the preservation of natural, ecological conservation, and cultural areas. The framework combines a Geographical Information System (GIS) with layers of satellite-derived data for energy resources as well as locally collected data, and the Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) method based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). In the GIS environment, maps belonging to fourteen sub-criteria of the three main criteria (Geography, Climate and Location) for Kahramanmaraş, Turkey were obtained, as well as suitability map derived from their weighted sum. The AHP method generates the appropriate weight for each input criteria using a pairwise comparison matrix. GHI, aspect, distance from power line network, land use/cover, annual average temperature, and others were found as the most necessary sub-criteria, respectively. According to the findings, 9.62% of study area very low, 20.15% is low, 22.51% is moderate, 23.98% is high and 23.74% is very high, and 26% is unsuitable for solar PV farms. Based on the results, the northern districts of the study region were determined to be the most suitable for the construction of solar PV farms. When existing five PV farms' location selection decisions were examined, it was observed that the investment outcomes were consistent with the results of the study. The proposed framework is projected to minimize the cost, time, and resources used on the construction of solar PV farms.
•Optimal sites for solar PV farms in Kahramanmaraş, Turkey are mapped.•The proposed comprehensive framework integrates AHP and GIS.•3 main (climate, geographic, and topographic) and 14 sub-criteria are considered.•The northern region of the study area has a high potential for solar energy.•Existing solar PV farms frequently correspond to obtained suitable sites.
The ELECTRE II and III methods enjoy a wide acceptance in solving multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problems. Research results in this paper reveal that there are some compelling reasons to doubt ...the correctness of the proposed rankings when the ELECTRE II and III methods are used. In a typical test we first used these methods to determine the best alternative for a given MCDM problem. Next, we randomly replaced a non-optimal alternative by a worse one and repeated the calculations without changing any of the other data. Our computational tests revealed that sometimes the ELECTRE II and III methods might change the indication of the best alternative. We treat such phenomena as rank reversals. Although such ranking irregularities are well known for the additive variants of the AHP method, it is the very first time that they are reported to occur when the ELECTRE methods are used. These two methods are also evaluated in terms of two other ranking tests and they failed them as well. Two real-life cases are described to demonstrate the occurrence of rank reversals with the ELECTRE II and III methods. Based on the three test criteria presented in this paper, some computational experiments on randomly generated decision problems were executed to test the performance of the ELECTRE II and III methods and an examination of some real-life case studies are also discussed. The results of these examinations show that the rates of the three types of ranking irregularities were rather significant in both the simulated decision problems and the real-life cases studied in this paper.
In the context of considerable change in the use of groundwater pattern, particularly with continuously increasing demand for groundwater due to growing population, expansion of area under irrigation ...and economic progress, the present paper makes an attempt to delineate groundwater potential zones using integrated remote sensing, geographic information system, and analytic hierarchy process techniques. Integration of geographic information system with analytic hierarchy process can exemplify as a process that transforms and harmonizes geographical data and weightage ranking to retrieve information for accurate decision-making. Accordingly, mapping and identification of groundwater potential zones are carried out in the Ganga Alluvial Plain of Hooghly district of India. Application of the same for Indo-Gangetic plain is made (new approach) to contribute the applicability Geographic Information System and Analytic Hierarchy Process for the delineation of groundwater potential zone. Predominant criteria (e.g., land use, land cover, soil type, geomorphology, geology, elevation, slope, rainfall, normalized difference vegetation index, drainage density, recharge rate, groundwater depth) were employed for computation of groundwater potential index. Overlay weighted sum method is applied to integrate all thematic criteria to generate groundwater potential zone map of the study area. The resulting groundwater potential index map has been classified into three groundwater potential zones, namely good, moderate and poor. Finally, groundwater potential zone map is validated using average groundwater level data from 32 wells scattered over the study area. The findings of the present paper have important implications for designing sustainable groundwater plan in the area.
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•Groundwater potential zone identification based on RS-GIS and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP).•Recognition of effective parameters that predominant on groundwater resources in Ganga alluvia plain.•The Block wise present status of groundwater potential zone useful water management purpose ensuring sustainable planning.
Distributed wind power has received growing attention in recent years. However, high risks remain in its investigation, which severely hindered its development. This study attempts to gather and ...identify risk factors in distributed wind power through literature reviews and rank the risks based on expert opinions. Based on previous literature, we classified risk for distributed wind power investment into four types, namely the political risks, economic risks, social risks, and technical risks. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method is used to assess risks in the life cycle of the distributed wind farm. Political, Economic, Social and Technical methodology as the criteria hierarchy is introduced to classify the identified risks as the sub-criteria hierarchy in the AHP model. The result shows that the risk of changes in electricity price policy is the most critical impact on the distributed wind power system to obtain sustainable development and make profits. Therefore, the government needs to provide a long-term vision of electricity price policy to promote the development of distributed wind projects.
•Risk factors during the through-life of the distributed wind project are identified.•The Analytic Hierarchy Process method is applied to quantify political, economic, social and technical risks.•Political risks should be prioritised.•The fluctuation of the electricity price is the most sensitive for distributed wind farms.
The power sector and environment cordially affect each other throughout the economic growth journey of a developing country. It is high time to take care of the power demand, considering the ...environmental effects and the physical health of Indians. Power generation using renewable energy sources (RESs) can be a great alternative on behalf of the power sector in contributing to a cleaner environment. In this paper, a model has been developed to opt out the best energy-producing source for most polluted Indian states to combat hazardous air pollution. Multiple criteria, i.e., technical, economic, environmental, and resource availability factors and their sub-criteria, are considered to determine the best-suited RES. The priority of the energy source is established by using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to ascertain the relative value of different sub-attributes for the selected state. The findings indicate that, with priorities of 39.04% and 33.06%, respectively, photovoltaics (PV) predominates in Delhi and Haryana. The PV priority of 34.43% in Uttar Pradesh is in line with this trend. Punjab gives PV a 36.73% significance as well. Bihar prioritizes PV at 38.37%, mirroring Punjab's preferences. Tidal energy is given 51.80% priority in coastal Gujarat, whereas CSP is preferred by Rajasthan with 37.26% priority. For Maharashtra, tidal energy is the preference, with 33.70%. The primary goal behind this research is to plan and model a way out for the national electricity planners that aids in fulfilling the power demand in the most polluted Indian states without making a burden on the environment.
•India is facing a significant problem with air pollution, especially in the months of October to December.•Power generation using renewable energy sources can be beneficial for improving AQI in Indian cities.•The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), is used to decide the most suitable energy source.•Technical, economical, environmental, and resource location is used as deciding criteria.•The work can be beneficial for policymakers and electricity planners to integrate more RE into India.
•AHP applied to decision making of automotive industry supplier selection.•Use of AHP in supplier selection gives decision maker confidence of consistency.•Sensitivity analysis to check the ...robustness of the supplier selection decision.•Proposed approach divides complex decision making into simpler hierarchy.
The purpose of this paper is to propose a decision support model for supplier selection based on analytic hierarchy process (AHP) using a case of automotive industry in a developing country of Pakistan and further performs sensitivity analysis to check the robustness of the supplier selection decision.
The model starts by identifying the main criteria (price, quality, delivery and service) using literature review and ranking the main criteria based on experts’ opinions using AHP. The second stage in the adopted methodology is the identification of sub criteria and ranking them on the basis of main criteria. Lastly perform sensitivity analysis to check the robustness of the decision using Expert Choiceۛ software.
The suppliers are selected and ranked based on sub criteria. Sensitivity analysis suggests the effects of changes in the main criteria on the suppliers ranking. The use of AHP in the supplier selection gives the decision maker the confidence of the consistency and the robustness throughout the process.
The AHP methodology adopted in this study provides managers in automotive industry in Pakistan with the insights of the various factors that need to be considered while selecting suppliers for their organizations. The selected approach also aids them in prioritizing the criterion. Managers can utilize the hierarchical structure of adopted supplier selection methodology suggested in this study to rank the suppliers on the basis of various factors/criteria.
This study makes three novel contributions in supplier selection area. First, AHP is applied to automotive industry and use of AHP in the supplier selection gives decision maker the confidence of the consistency. Second, sensitivity analysis enables in understanding the effects of changes in the main criteria on the suppliers ranking and help decision maker to check the robustness throughout the process. Last, we find it important to come with a simple methodology for managers of automotive industry so that they can select the best suppliers. Moreover, this approach will also help managers in dividing the complex decision making problem into simpler hierarchy.
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