A Many-Objective Multistage Optimization-Based Fuzzy Decision-Making Model for Coal Production Prediction

Abstract

The traditional coal energy system cannot meet the requirements of modern industrial production for sustainable development because extensive economic growth has caused significant coal consumption. Therefore, it is particularly important to formulate an effective coal production decision-making scheme to support complex coal production systems for sustainable development. To address this challenge, an improved many-objective fuzzy decision-making model with human participation for coal production prediction is established in this article. The model includes five objective functions: economic, energetic, environmental, coal gangue, and safety profits. Moreover, a novel multistage many-objective optimization algorithm is designed to adjust relevant model parameters and make the obtained model solution more accurate when compared with involved algorithms. In the algorithm, there are three stages of optimization. In stage one, the model with the relatively good convergence solution is chosen. In stage two, the diversity of the model solution needs to be retained by employing a diversity maintenance mechanism. In stage three, a comprehensive measurement approach is designed to ensure the balance of convergence and diversity during population evolution. To verify the validity of the model and the superiority of the optimization algorithm, five other advanced many-objective algorithms are used for comparison. The results from simulations on a benchmark function show that the proposed optimization algorithm has better performance than involved algorithms. Model solutions obtained on different metrics have better convergence and diversity for the coal fuzzy decision-making problem.