Analyzing Conflicts between Decision-Makers in Determining Criteria to Evaluate Segmentation in Water Distribution Network

In water distribution networks, maintenance activities to insulate pipes with isolation valves are common. From that perspective, the ideal situation would be to have one valve on each pipe end in order to insulate each pipe without impacting the whole network. However, the allocation of valves has a high cost and pipes become weaker next to valves thus increasing the deterioration indexes. Therefore, it is necessary to support decision-making on the number of valves and their allocation in the network. This process is usually made in a non-structured manner, especially when defining which criteria should be applied to evaluate network conditions. Furthermore, a group of decision-makers normally take part in this process with different points of view. So, in this paper we propose a model for capturing different perspectives from decision makers using cognitive maps and analyzing conflicts between them in order to enhance the decision-making process and promote resolution of existing conflicts.