Listing material properties to detect and prevent water loss and leakage: Integrated B-TODIM and TOPSIS methods

Water is the source of life for all living beings on earth, and it exists in limited quantities on earth despite its indispensable structure. Rapid population growth, urbanization and industrialization, agricultural development and unconscious use increase water consumption, and climate change and global warming caused by the negative use of natural resources cause water resources to decrease. The exponentially increasing water demand and decreasing resources make efficient use of water available on the earth and integrated water resources management essential. Physical water losses and leaks in water distribution networks are the main reason for the destruction of usable water. The main steps to reduce water loss and leakage are detection and prevention. In this study, an application was made for the most appropriate selection of materials used to detect and prevent physical water losses and leaks. It is aimed to obtain material properties order of importance to be used in material selection and purchasing. Therefore, a new approach based on the integrated use of B-TODIM and TOPSIS methods, one of the MCDM methods, has been proposed. The criterion weights to be used in obtaining the order of importance of the material properties were determined with the B-TODIM method, and the material properties were listed by using the obtained criterion weights in the TOPSIS method. In order to create alternative sorting structures and to make comparisons, the proposed approach was applied on the basis of Euclidean and Manhattan distance criteria, and two different material properties order of importance was proposed for each material. Within the scope of this thesis, for the first time in the literature, integrated B-TODIM and TOPSIS methods based on different distance criteria were used for material property importance ordering.