Ideal location selection for new stone crusher machine and landfill using FAHP and TOPSIS method: a case study in a copper mine

Abstract

This study presents a practical approach used to find the best location for installing a new stone crusher machine and the landfill (waste) in the Sarcheshmeh copper in-pit mine located in the southeast of Iran. Fuzzy analytical hierarchal process (FAHP) and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) are the two methods, which applied in the study as a part of multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) analysis. In the first part FAHP method was utilized to find the ideal location for the stone crusher machine, and in the next part TOPSIS (in combination with Shannon entropy weighting) was used in landfill selection. The analysis was performed using the data collected from experts (engineers, mine specialists, and managers). The North, South, East, and West sides of the mine were considered as potential alternatives, and 21 factors were considered as criteria for computational analysis. The obtained results from FAHP suggested that the best alternative was alternative 3 (East side of the mine) to place the new stone crusher machine. Considering solid waste management, the TOPSIS method demonstrated that alternative 1 (North side of the mine) was the best location to be considered for landfills. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was carried out to examine the effects of changes in weights of criteria on the obtained results.

Keywords

• multi-criteria decision-making
• shannon entropy
• fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (fahp)
• location decision technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (topsis)
• çok kriterli karar verme
• shannon entropy
• bulanık analitik hiyerarşi prosesi (fahp)
• konum kararı
• ideal çözüme benzerliğe göre sipariş tercihi tekniği (topsis)