Title: A fuzzy approach to incorporate uncertainty in the PROMETHEE multicriteria method

Authors: D. Giannopoulos, M. Founti

Addresses: School of Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Heroon Polytechniou 9, Polytechnioupoli Zografou, 15780 Athens, Greece. ' School of Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Heroon Polytechniou 9, Polytechnioupoli Zografou, 15780 Athens, Greece

Abstract: In the present paper, an improved version of the PROMETHEE multicriteria methodology is presented incorporating uncertainty in the decision-making process, achieved through the implementation of fuzzy theory. The innovative features of the proposed methodological extension are the incorporation of a reliable fuzzy ranking method, which removes the necessity of defuzzification and the adoption of post-ranking uncertainty analysis, applying a satisfaction function on the fuzzy ranking. The implementation of the new methodology in two numerical examples demonstrated that the combination of the simplicity, transparency and efficiency of PROMETHEE with the capacity of modelling uncertainty through fuzzy numbers and a reliable fuzzy ranking algorithm, yields a powerful decision support scheme, capable of integrating different kinds and types of information in order to provide a well justified outcome and quantify its robustness.

Keywords: decision support; multicriteria analysis; multi-attribute decision making; MADM; outranking methods; PROMETHEE; uncertainty; fuzzy logic; fuzzy ranking; fuzzy extension; defuzzification; multicriteria decision making; modelling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMCDM.2010.033688

International Journal of Multicriteria Decision Making, 2010 Vol.1 No.1, pp.80 - 102

Published online: 17 Jun 2010 *

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