An extended generalized TODIM for risk evaluation and prioritization of failure modes considering risk indicators interaction

Abstract

Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) is considered as a proactive risk prevention and control technique that has been widely applied to identify, assess and eliminate the risk of failure modes in various fields. Nevertheless, the interactions between risk indicators and decision maker’s psychological behavior characteristics are seldom considered simultaneously in the current FMEA method. In this article, we develop a hybrid FMEA framework integrating generalized TODIM (an acronym in Portuguese of Interactive and Multi-criteria Decision Making) method, Choquet integral and Shapley index to remedy this gap. In the proposed FMEA framework, fuzzy measures and Shapley index are used to model the interaction relationships among risk indicators and to determine the weights of these indicators. The extended generalized TODIM method with fuzzy measure and Shapley index is presented to simulate the psychological behavior characteristics of FMEA team members. It is also applied to calculate the risk priority of each failure mode. Trapezoidal Fuzzy Numbers (TrFNs) are adopted to depict the uncertainty in the risk evaluation process. Furthermore, a new risk evaluation information fusion with TrFNs-WAIA (weighted arithmetic interaction averaging operator of the trapezoidal fuzzy numbers) operator based on Shapley Choquet is developed to aggregate individual risk evaluation information of FMEA team member into a group risk evaluation matrix, which considers the potential correlations among these members. Finally, a practical example of FMEA problem is presented to demonstrate the application and feasibility of the proposed hybrid FMEA framework, and comparison and sensitivity studies are also conducted to validate the effectiveness of the improved FMEA approach.