A knowledge-based material selection system for interactive pressure vessel design

Continual introduction of new materials and improvements in existing materials increase the variety of materials that can be used for pressure vessel components. Among wide variety of materials, the most suitable one must be selected for a component by matching its functional requirements with various available materials’ specifications. This study proposes an interactive knowledge-based decision support system for selecting the most suitable material for a given pressure vessel component and its working environment. The developed decision support system, namely Pressure Vessel SELection (PVSEL), consists of two separate phases. In the first elimination phase of PVSEL, the user obtains a feasible set of alternative materials by answering various questions and providing lower-limit values at materials’ critical specifications. PVSEL, then, uses a ranking phase which uses ELECTRE, TOPSIS and VIKOR methods to rank the feasible materials. In the second phase, each alternative material’s ranking is determined by combining its performance values at weighted critical specifications (selection criteria), which are considered as important in meeting the functional requirements of the component. Usage of PVSEL is illustrated in the paper and the results show that the proposed PVSEL is an effective selection tool and provides meaningful results for the designers.