Comprehensive performance evaluation and sensitivity analysis method of a cutter-changing robot for a large-diameter shield machine

Abstract

Cutter-changing robot is a new product to automatically replace the cutter in shield machine, whose performance is affected by multiple criteria with diversity, multiplicity and correlation, which is a complex multiple criteria decision-making problem with limited and fuzzy available information. This paper proposes a comprehensive performance evaluation model including the performance indicator hierarchy, weight determination, measurement and assessment methods of indicators and sensitivity analysis. Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) is applied to identify the construction requirements from external shield machine and environment and design characteristics in the whole cutter-changing process, weight for 3 first-level indicators and 14 s-level indicators are determined. The objective evaluation indexes measured by instrumentation and subjective evaluation indexes quantified by fuzzy logic are normalized within the range of 0–1. The scores and proportion of assessment grade for each indicator at each level are obtained through Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation (FCE). Furthermore, the sensitivity of weight and evaluation data on performance evaluation result are deeply analyzed. The applicability and validity of the proposed approach were demonstrated by a case study of a cutter-changing robot made by China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. According to the result, operational capacity is the most important criteria in the first level, and cutter grasping ability is the most important indicator in the second level. Path planning ability is the weakest indicators. Cutter grasping ability and time of replacement are the most critical affecting factors. The proposed method not only helps the designers capture the weak indicators accurately and improve the design quality, but also provides engineers with a holistic perspective to the cutter-changing robot before actual application.