A Comparison of AHP and PROMETHEE Family Decision Making Methods for Selection of Building Structural System

Vahid Balali^1, , Banafsheh Zahraie² and Abbas Roozbahani³

¹Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, USA

²School of Civil Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

³Department of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Cite this paper:
Vahid Balali, Banafsheh Zahraie and Abbas Roozbahani. A Comparison of AHP and PROMETHEE Family Decision Making Methods for Selection of Building Structural System. American Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture. 2014; 2(5):149-159. doi: 10.12691/ajcea-2-5-1

Abstract

Introduction of new structural systems into construction industry has created a competitive environment wherein selecting the most appropriate structural system has become increasingly difficult. Some structural systems have priority over others due to their unique features,as well as the special requirements of various construction projects. The structural system’s selection process is intended to show the trade-off among different alternatives when evaluated by technical and nontechnical professionals and maximize the agreement between all interested parties. This paper addresses how the best system can be selected using AHP and PROMETHEE family of multiple criteria decision-making techniques. These techniques have been utilized in this study for selecting the appropriate structural system among 3D Panel with light walls in building frames, LSF, ICF, Tunnel Formwork system, and Tronco in a low rise multi-housing project in Iran. A questionnaire has been designed to collect engineering judgments and experts’ opinions on various parameters such as weight of different criteria. The team of experts who has cooperated in this research includes engineers and managers of consultants, contractors, and owners who are involved in different low rise multi-housing projects in Iran. A comparison between the two techniques has been carried out based on the consistency of the results, the required amount of interactions with the decision-makers, and ease of understanding. For the case study of this research, 3D Panel with light walls in building frames has been selected as the most appropriate structural system. The PROMETHEE II has been selected as the preferred method for the appropriate structural system selection process since its results are consistent, easy to understand, and require less information from decision-makers compared to AHP.

Keywords:
Multi-Criteria-Decision-Making AHP PROMETHEE building construction structural system

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