Abstract:The picture fuzzy set, characterized by three membership degrees, is a helpful tool for multi-criteria decision making (MCDM). This paper investigates the structure of the closed operational laws in the picture fuzzy numbers (PFNs) and proposes efficient picture fuzzy MCDM methods. We first introduce an admissible order for PFNs and prove that all PFNs form a complete lattice under this order. Then, we give some specific examples to show the non-closeness of some existing picture fuzzy aggregation operators. To ensure the closeness of the operational laws in PFNs, we construct a new class of picture fuzzy operators based on strict triangular norms, which consider the interaction between the positive degrees (negative degrees) and the neutral degrees. Based on these new operators, we obtain the picture fuzzy interactional weighted average (PFIWA) operator and the picture fuzzy interactional weighted geometric (PFIWG) operator. They are proved to be monotonous, idempotent, bounded, shift-invariant, and homogeneous. We also establish a novel MCDM method under the picture fuzzy environment applying PFIWA and PFIWG operators. Furthermore, we present an illustrative example for a clear understanding of our method. We also give the comparative analysis among the operators induced by six classes of famous triangular norms.