A Novel Pythagorean Fuzzy Extension of DEMATEL and Its Usage on Overcoat Selection Attributes for Antarctic Clothing

Abstract

Scientific explorations and research in the Antarctic region have specific issues which need to be handled with special measures. Clothing of the scientists is one of the main problems. The clothes are expected to be enduring against compelling conditions and they must have certain features to ensure the safety and comfort of the scientists. Polar clothing is a field that is yet to be studied with different engineering approaches. To generate a better understanding, the polar clothing can be approached as a multiple criteria decision-making problem because many criteria such as layer number, material type, and waterproofness should be considered while evaluating the various alternatives. In this evaluation, expert judgments are used because no strict objective rules determine the conditions of the polar clothing. Also, possible influences among these criteria should be revealed and considered while reaching a decision. In order to deal with the uncertainty and vagueness of the expert judgments, this study proposes a Pythagorean fuzzy version of DEMATEL which is one of the well-known multiple criteria decision-making tools with the aim of evaluating the related selection attributes affecting the decision and searching for the potential influences among them. Since Pythagorean fuzzy sets provide a wider preference domain to the experts, this version was developed as a contribution to the literature. Also, the decision process is kept Pythagorean fuzzy until a conclusion is reached so that there is no early defuzzification problem. The method’s application on overcoat selection for the Antarctic region reveals the relations among attributes, such as “Water Vapor Permeability”, “All-Weather Protection” and “Performing Best in Dry/Wet State”. A sensitivity analysis is conducted to find the changes in influences.