Risk assessment of coal mining above confined aquifer based on maximizing deviation in a GIS environment

Abstract

Accidents in coal mining may lead to personnel fatalities, economic losses, and delayed production, and safety has long been a primary concern in coal mining. So, decision-making in coal mine safety is important. In this study, with respect to multicriteria decision-making problems associated with geographic space, based on maximizing deviation, a decision model is established to evaluate safety of coal mining above confined aquifer. Then, a weighted linear combination operator composed of geographic space information which corresponds to each criterion has been established in a geographic information system (GIS) environment. The decision model is demonstrated by using the data from the Xiegou Coal Mine in Shanxi Province, China. The result indicates that an optimization model needs to be established when the information on the criteria weight is completely unknown. However, the safety of mining is affected by faults as there is a complicated geological structure in the coal mine. Then, another optimization model needs to be proposed, in which the active participation of decision-makers (experts) is included. The weights of criteria need to be limited within a certain range in accordance with the judgement of the decision-makers. This new decision model is effective and advantageous in dealing with spatial decision problems in coal mine safety, since the completely unknown weight information can be considered, but the weights of criteria which are limited within a certain range in accordance with the preference of the decision-makers (experts) are also considered.