The Use of the AHP in Civil Engineering Projects

Abstract

Most engineering, economic, social and institutional decisions are made with explicit notions of optimal behavior and implicit human motivations. In such a process, manipulation of both tangible and intangible data and satisfaction of multiple criteria are essential to the success of decision-making. In this paper an approach to multiple-criteria decision making known as the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is presented. Some mathematical details of the procedure are briefly discussed. The application of the method to a real life civil engineering project for the selection of an appropriate bridge design is also presented.multi-criteria decision making, analytic hierarchy process, bridge design