A fuzzy inference-based approach for building damage risk assessment on mining terrains

Reliable evaluation of risk of building damage due to the mining impact is problematic owing to the magnitude, diversity and uncertainty of factors that may affect the surface, as well as the subjective character of methods of assessing resistance of the objects. The uncertainty and ambiguity elements in the decision process can be accounted for by fuzzy inference method. This tool employed together with GIS enabled one to integrate such diverse factors affecting damage risk as surface deformations and resistance of building objects, taking into account uncertainty of data and subjectivity of evaluation of experts making the assessment. The results of investigations of the damage risk model based on fuzzy inference are presented in the paper. The successive stages of working out a fuzzy model are presented, the most important stages indicated and the choice of specific elements of the model justified. The advantages of fuzzification are presented on the example of building data subjected to the mining impact in one of the Polish mining areas. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.