Decision-Making Frameworks for Lateral Earth Support and Groundwater Control System Selection in Deep Excavations

Deep excavations are increasingly required to deliver critical infrastructure in dense urban environments, where project success depends on both lateral earth support (LES) and groundwater control (GWC). Although these systems are physically interdependent in practice, the literature has largely treated them as separate decision problems. This paper presents a PRISMA-guided systematic review evaluating how the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and related multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods have been applied to LES and GWC system selection. The reviewed literature was assessed against claims addressing the dual-system nature and selection complexity of deep excavations, the application of MCDM methods, the physical interdependence of LES and GWC, and the absence of a coupled selection architecture. The review found that when deep excavations require both LES and GWC, their selection is a complex multi-criteria problem. However, existing MCDM applications remain predominantly single-system, with one system commonly treated as subordinate to the other. This review makes two contributions. First, it systematically identifies the structural gap in the current LES–GWC decision literature. Second, it proposes a project-adaptable decision architecture in which LES and GWC are evaluated through co-equal, parallel MCDM processes and then screened for compatibility as a combined excavation system.