Developing a new multi-criteria decision-making for flood prioritization of sub-watersheds using concept of D numbers

Floods are one of the most dangerous natural disasters that humanity has ever faced. In this study, a modified version of D number technique as a suitable form of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approaches was proposed to prioritize flooding in the Sad-Kalan watershed of Iran using some flood related criteria. The proposed method can overcome some shortcomings and uncertainties of the existing MCDM methods. In order to evaluate the performance of the method regarding flood prioritization, its results were compared with the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) technique as mostly frequently used MCDM method. The findings demonstrate that the modified version of D number method provides better results than AHP method. In spite of inherent advantages of D number method, the advantages of the proposed method in relation to existing MCDM are as follows: 1- considering the local and global importance of used criteria, 2- reducing the uncertainty in decision makers’ judgments using employing the concept of Picture fuzzy-AHP, 3- considering the degree of consistency in evaluation of decision makers into calculations. Furthermore, the method is flexible and can be used in any region of the world.