A case-based decision support system for flooding crises onboard ships

This paper presents the development of an integrated system, namely the COMAND-DSS (Decision Support System created under project COMAND), for crisis management and real-time decision support in shipboard flooding emergencies. It employs the case-based reasoning approach to provide swift and effective decision-making support for shipboard personnel during an emergency on ship. The developed system, which focuses on decision support for flooding control, is also thought to be useful as a crew training system. In order to deal with a flooding damage in the COMAND-DSS, a multiple attribute decision-making methodology-Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS)-is used to be able to choose the set of counter-flooding tanks that should be filled in order to achieve an optimal response to a flooding accident. The COMAND-DSS is composed of a knowledge base, a reasoning process and a graphical user interface for the shipboard personnel to interact with the system. The friendly windows-based user interface of the COMAND-DSS enables the user to take full advantage of the capabilities of the system in order to make quick decisions. Using this system, when a crisis occurs the optimal decisions and responses can be made in a short time, thereby reducing the risk to life, property and environment. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.