Prioritizing the common urban excavation supporting systems using AHP method: A step to crisis management in urban constructions

In urban areas, the number of deep excavations has been increasing due to the rising population and land cost.Hence, the application of different supporting systems for the excavations has become a common issue to engineers.Considering the critical accidents statistics in excavation works, this article has focused on prioritizingthe most common supporting systems in the urban areas, using the AHP method. In the first step, by interviewingthe experts on this issue, six common supporting systems and six criterions for prioritization of them were identified.Then, by designing a questionnaire, the pairwise comparison of the alternatives and criterions has beenconducted. According to the expert's opinions, each of the supporting systems received different priorities in eachof the six criterions. Finally, after the analysis of the questionnaires using EXPERT CHOICE, the final prioritiesof the supporting systems were presented. Accounting all the priorities in different criterions, “Soil Nailing” wasrecognized as the most appreciable method for supporting the excavation in shallow-to-medium excavation pits.In the final step, the article analysis results were evaluated compared with the real process of choosing the supportingsystems in practical excavations.