A hybrid risk prioritization approach in construction projects using failure mode and effective analysis
Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management
ISSN: 0969-9988
Article publication date: 9 May 2020
Issue publication date: 8 October 2020
Abstract
Purpose
Construction projects involve with various risks during all phases of project lifecycle. Failure mode and effective analysis (FMEA) is a useful tool for identifying and eliminating possible risk of failure modes (FMs) and improving the reliability and safety of systems in a broad range of industries. The traditional FMEA method applies risk priority number method (RPN) to calculate risk of FMs. RPN method cannot consider the direct and indirect interdependencies between the FMs and is not appropriate for complex system with numerous components. The purpose of this study is to propose an approach to consider interdependencies between FMs and also using fuzzy theory to consider uncertainties in experts' judgments.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed approach consist of three stages: the first stage of hybrid model used fuzzy FMEA method to identify the failure mode risks and derive the RPN values. The second stage applied Fuzzy Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (FDEMATEL) method to determine the interdependencies between the FMs which are defined through fuzzy FMEA. Then, analytic network process (ANP) is applied in the third stage to calculate the weights of FMs based on the interdependencies that are generated through FDEMATEL method. Finally, weight of FMs through fuzzy FMEA and FDEMATEL–ANP are multiplied to generate the final weights for prioritization. Afterward, a case study for a commercial building project is introduced to illustrate proficiency of model.
Findings
The results showed that the suggested approach could reveal the important FMs and specify the interdependencies between them successfully. Overall, the suggested model can be considered as an efficient hybrid FMEA approach for risk prioritization.
Originality/value
The originality of approach comes from its ability to consider interdependencies between FMs and uncertainties of experts' judgments.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work was supported in part by the Strategic Priority Research Program of CAS under Grant XDA23020203, the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 71825007, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Frontier Scientific Research Key Project under Grant QYZDB-SSW-SYS021, the CAS Strategic Research and Decision Support System Development under Grant GHJ-ZLZX-2019-33-3, Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation under Grant MMW 2015.0007, and the International Partnership Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Grant No.211211KYSB20180042.
Citation
Karamoozian, A. and Wu, D. (2020), "A hybrid risk prioritization approach in construction projects using failure mode and effective analysis", Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol. 27 No. 9, pp. 2661-2686. https://doi.org/10.1108/ECAM-10-2019-0535
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited