An ε-Constraint Method for Multiobjective Linear Programming in Intuitionistic Fuzzy Environment

Abstract

Effective decision-making requires well-founded optimization models and algorithms tolerant of real-world uncertainties. In the mid-1980s, intuitionistic fuzzy set theory emerged as another mathematical framework to deal with the uncertainty of subjective judgments and made it possible to represent hesitancy in a decision-making problem. Nowadays, intuitionistic fuzzy multiobjective linear programming (IFMOLP) problems are a topic of extensive research, for which a considerable number of solution approaches are being developed. Among the available solution approaches, ranking function-based approaches stand out for their simplicity to transform these problems into conventional ones. However, these approaches do not always guarantee Pareto optimal solutions. In this study, the concepts of dominance and Pareto optimality are extended to the intuitionistic fuzzy case by using lexicographic criteria for ranking triangular intuitionistic fuzzy numbers (TIFNs). Furthermore, an intuitionistic fuzzy epsilon-constraint method is proposed to solve IFMOLP problems with TIFNs. The proposed method is illustrated by solving two intuitionistic fuzzy transportation problems addressed in two studies (S. Mahajan and S. K. Gupta's, "On fully intuitionistic fuzzy multiobjective transportation problems using different membership functions," Ann Oper Res, vol. 296, no. 1, pp. 211-241, 2021, and Ghosh et al.'s, "Multi-objective fully intuitionistic fuzzy fixed-charge solid transportation problem," Complex Intell Syst, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 1009-1023, 2021). Results show that, in contrast with Mahajan and Gupta's and Ghosh et al.'s methods, the proposed method guarantees Pareto optimality and also makes it possible to obtain multiple solutions to the problems.