A rating based fuzzy analytic network process (F-ANP) model for evaluation of ship maneuverability

In this paper, a novel rating based fuzzy analytic network process (F-ANP) model is proposed for the evaluation of ship maneuverability and the improvement of maneuverability standards. By incorporating the F-ANP technique into the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) maneuverability standards, the proposed model is able to solve the problem of mutual dependencies of the maneuvering factors inherent in the evaluation of ship maneuverability and the insufficiency of unreasonable weights of maneuvering factors assigned in current maneuverability standards. Following this model, the more synthesized and advanced evaluation process for ship maneuverability is achieved and the more reasonable weights for each maneuvering factor are assigned. The pairwise comparison matrices are formed by the expert team. To deal with the problem of ambiguity and vagueness, the index attribute values are fuzzied with triangular fuzzy number. Furthermore, the maneuvering data of three ships are applied to the case studies and discussions to illustrate the reasonableness, effectiveness and advantages of the proposed rating based F-ANP model by comparing with the common F-AHP model and current ABS standards. The comparative results are encouraging, and show that the proposed rating based F-ANP approach is a viable and effective tool for evaluation of ship maneuverability.