# Rockburst Hazard Evaluation Using an Extended COPRAS Method with Interval-Valued Fuzzy Information
## 6 Conclusions  
Evaluating rockburst hazards is of great significance for the development of deep mining engineering. In this study, an integrated methodology was developed for rockburst hazard evaluation. First, considering that evaluation indicators are subject to some uncertainties, the IVFNs were used to express indicator values, so that the inherent uncertainties of indicator values were better captured. Second, the uncertainties of indicator weights were also taken into account. By extending the DEMATEL and entropy methods with IVFNs, the comprehensive fuzzy indicator weights were determined. Third, the COPRAS method was extended with IVFNs to evaluate the hazard levels of rockbursts under uncertain environments. Subsequently, an example of evaluating rockburst hazards in the Jiaojia gold mine was illustrated. The results showed that rockburst hazards in three critical areas belonged to the strong level (IV), and those of the other four areas belonged to the moderate level (III). The determined levels were consistent with the field status, and showed a tendency to increase with depth in the same district. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis was conducted by assigning different values to preference factors, and the fluctuating trends of middle-point curves and half-width curves demonstrated the stability of the proposed methodology. Compared with the evaluation results obtained using the extended TOPSIS and VIKOR methods, the effectiveness of the proposed approach was demonstrated. The evaluation results can provide an effective reference for rockburst prevention. Specifically, the prevention measures should be specially designed according to different hazard levels.  
It should be noted that the proposed methodology still has some limitations. Potential outliers in data collection are capable of distorting IVFNs. Whenever possible, it is suggested to collect high-quality data or to conduct data cleaning with poor-quality data. Moreover, due to the complex geological environments of deep mining engineering, the mechanism and influencing factors of rockbursts are complicated. It is necessary to develop some appropriate principles for indicator selection in the future.  
Conceptualization, W.L. and Z.L.; methodology, Z.L.; software, Z.L.; validation, W.L.; resources, W.L.; data curation, Z.L.; writing--original draft preparation, Z.L.; writing--review and editing, W.L.; supervision, G.Z.; project administration, G.Z.; funding acquisition, W.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This research was funded by the National Natural Science Fundation of China, grant number 52204117, and the Provincial Natural Science Fundation of Hunan, grant number 2022 JJ40601.  
Not applicable.  
The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author.  
Financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52204117) and the Provincial Natural Science Foundation of Hunan (2022 JJ40601) is gratefully acknowledged. The authors are also grateful to the reviewers for their constructive suggestions for the improvement of the work.  
The authors declare no conflict of interest.  
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