A combined AHP-PROMETHEE approach for intelligent risk prediction of leak in a storage tank

This paper describes the use of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluation (PROMETHEE) method for predicting risk of leakage in a storage tank. This is the first time AHP and PROMETHEE have been used in this way. Important decisions about day to day operations are continually made in a petroleum environment. Storage tanks in refineries contain large volumes of flammable and hazardous liquids. Decision processes need to evaluate and select alternatives with a higher probability of resulting in a hazard, among many different alternatives. The new model described in this paper will aid decision makers to predict which tank is likely to develop a leak and determine what criteria (source of risk) could result in a leak. Although the case study deals with a specific risk prediction problem, the combination of AHP and PROMETHEE methods can be applied to other decision problems.