Choosing Tunneling Method, using “ANP”, with Environmental Approach (Case Study: 2nd Line of Mashhad Subway)

In the most of practical and industrial fields, specifically Civil engineering, important multi-criteria decisions have a fundamental impact on the seeking result. One of the popular methods for dealing with multi-criteria decisions is “Analytic Network Process” also known as ANP. In this paper, we try to choose the best tunneling system for the 2nd line of Mashhad subway, between the three alternatives: Cut & Cover, NATM, and TBM, using the above mentioned method and with taking environmental criteria into serious consideration. The results of this research indicate that decision-making and management methods like ANP can provide reliable and rational outcome, according to the approach we take (e.g. environment in this paper) and help optimizing any assessment process. Also, the results indicated that the technology TBM is preferable and reasonable between the three alternatives and has a reliable performance under most criteria except cost and land use related criteria.