The new comprehensive evaluation system for subsea tunnel site selection: A case study of the Qiongzhou Strait, China.

Qiongzhou Strait subsea tunnel is a challenging project with a long-distance, large investment, and long construction period. Scientific location planning is the key to this project construction. Therefore, we attempted to establish a new evaluation method for the Qiongzhou Strait subsea tunnel site selection. By analyzing the geological data of the Qiongzhou Strait and combining it with previous literature research results, we selected nine first-level and seventeen second-level evaluation indicators. We employed an analytic hierarchy process to calculate the weight of each indicator and evaluated each alternative route using the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method and the cloud model method. We obtained an accurate and reliable optimal route through mutual verification and the final results of the two methods. This research can provide guidance or reference for the evaluation and decision-making of complex system engineering problems, and indicate a direction for further research on site selection and decision-making issues of major projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]