Computational User Support Tool for Decision Making Processes

Abstract

A computational tool to perform calculations for the Decision-Support Problem (DSP) Technique is developed to aid decision-makers in evaluating technologies suited for design problems. The DSP Technique is presented in a step-by-step manner and an object-oriented analysis is performed to convert the steps of the DSP Technique to a computer system. The object-oriented analysis uses Unified Modeling Language (UML) to identify and visualize the system structure. From the object-oriented analysis, the DSP computational tool is developed in C++. A prototype user interface is created in Objective-C as an application for iPhone on the iOS platform to guide the user through the steps of the DSP Technique.The program is tested in two selected cases. The first case is the selection of a cryogenic separation process for CO2 removal from a natural gas field initially containing 30 mol% CO2. The Controlled Freeze Zone process is selected as the most suited process after performing the DSP Technique to evaluate the available solutions. In the second case, the DSP Technique is performed to evaluate solutions for a liquefaction process for an offshore production vessel for LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) production. The results from the computational tool does not provide a clear solution for the most suited liquefaction process, due to small differences in merits between the feasible alternatives.From testing the computational tool for the selected cases, it is concluded that, by letting a computer perform calculations for the DSP Technique, the method becomes more efficient and less time consuming. The program performs as expected and provides the user with correct results from the input given.