A SWOT method to evaluate safety risks in life cycle of wind turbine extended by D number theory

Abstract

Wind power is a typical clean and renewable energy, which has been widely regarded as one of the replaceable energies in many countries. Wind turbine is the key equipment to generate wind power. It is necessary to evaluate the risks of each stage of the wind turbine with regard to occupational health and safety. In this study, the stage of production of life cycle of wind turbine is considered. The aim of this study is to propose a new method to identify and evaluate the risk factors based on strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-threats (SWOT) analysis and D number theory, named D-SWOT method. A wind turbine firm is used to demonstrate the detailed steps of the proposed method. SWOT is conducted to identify the risk factors of production stage of the wind turbine company. Experts are invited to perform the risk assessment, and D number theory is carried out to do the processes of information representation and integration. After that, some suggestions are provided to the company to lower the risks. The D-SWOT method obtains the same results as the previous method of hesitant fuzzy linguistic term set (HFLTS). Compared with HFLTS method, D-SWOT method simplifies the process of information processing, and D-SWOT method is more intuitional and concise. Besides, a property of pignistic probability transformation of D number theory (DPPT) is proposed in the manuscript, which extends D number theory and has been used in the process of decision making of D-SWOT.