Comparison of fuzzy set ranking methods for implementation in water resources decision-making

A new multicriteria technique, fuzzy compromise programming (FCP), is used to evaluate discrete alternatives in the context of water resources decision-making. All uncertain variables (subjective and objective) are modeled by way of fuzzy sets. Fuzzy set ranking methods are employed to compare, rank, and (or) sort the fuzzy output produced by FCP. The literature suggests that many ranking methods are available; however, not all may be appropriate for water resources decision-making. The objective of this paper is to compare fuzzy set ranking methods that can be implemented with FCP. Nine such ranking methods are considered in this research, two of which are fully tested using case studies from the literature. It was found that for all case studies, the ranking of alternatives was not very sensitive to changes in the degree of risk acceptance by experts or changes in the ranking methods themselves.