Maintenance Work Research Articles

Drone inspection path planning with self-organizing neural network of elastic Hebbian learning rule

Abstract As the scale of the power grid continues to expand, inspection scenarios become increasingly complex, and inspection and maintenance work in the power industry faces huge challenges. The traditional manual inspection mode has problems such as high cost, low efficiency, and poor safety. Using electric drones to inspect all equipment nodes in the area can effectively reduce operation and maintenance costs and ensure personnel safety. As a key technology to realize autonomous power inspection, UAV path planning needs to overcome difficulties such as long solution time and intersection of inspection paths. Therefore, this article conducts research on UAV path planning algorithms for large-scale power inspections, which is of great significance to improving the efficiency of power inspections. To avoid the occurrence of path intersections and improve the path planning effect, this paper uses the convex hull property in graph theory to design elastic Hebbian learning rules and proposes a self-organizing neural network algorithm based on elastic Hebbian learning rules.

Chlorella vulgaris cold preservation (4∘C) as a means to stabilize biomass for bioreactor inoculation: A six-month study

Chlorella vulgaris cells were maintained over six months (or tentatively) using three protocols: two-week subculturing (positive control), storage at 4∘C, and simple abandonment (negative control). Cultures were monitored by their optical and cell densities over the trial period. Cells were characterized by their size, pigment profile, photosystem II status (OJIP test), electron transport rate assay (light curve), and lag phase duration when regrown. The abandoned cultures quickly showed cells deviating from their nominal state (increased size, a loss of their pigments, a negative alteration of their photosynthetic capacity, and an extended lag phase when inoculated into fresh medium). Frequent subculturing yielded reasonably stable performances. Yet, our experience showed that uncontrollable factors (human errors, lack of communication between teams) could expose the cultures to unfortunate incidents. 4∘C preservation allowed the cells to have a constant size and a slightly increased, yet stable, pigment profile associated to a dark acclimation (+12 % total chlorophyll). Finally, regrowth tests demonstrated that 4∘C preservation induces slightly improved performance (lag phase duration reduced by 9.5 %) than frequent subculturing. Those findings advocate for the use of 4∘C preservation to reduce cell maintenance work and conserve a pool of cells in a similar state to be used as repeatable inoculum for larger-scale experiments while nullifying otherwise batch-to-batch variation effects. Subculturing work can be reduced from once every two weeks to once every six months at least.

Nuclear Facilities Maintenance Culture Development Study

Maintenance is an essential part of the assets and facilities in the organization/company. This deserves serious attention because it is necessary for organizational/company resources, especially for aging nuclear facilities/installations. Maintenance is the main program used to manage company assets and facilities. A lack of asset and facility maintenance culture increases management and maintenance costs. A maintenance culture is needed to improve maintenance skills, tenacity, and perseverance. Maintenance culture is recognized as an essential aspect to improve the quality of maintenance work to maintain structures, systems, and components (SSC) so that they are ready for use at any time/when needed, as well as part of the implementation of aging management programs to extend the life of assets and facilities. This paper will discuss the development of the maintenance culture and review poor maintenance cultures and their solutions. This paper aims to develop a maintenance culture to prevent premature aging and extend the life of assets and facilities. Factors developing maintenance culture include leadership, communication, rewards and recognition, responsibility, rules and standards, empowerment, motivation, involvement, policies, work strategy and planning, teamwork, training and education, awareness, and organizational structure. Corruption, poor leadership, attitude problems, and lack of policy cause poor maintenance culture. The solution to a poor maintenance culture is selecting the right people, improving job skills and knowledge, repairing equipment, ensuring machine/equipment readiness, good planning, scheduling, and general organization, measuring performance, motivating and encouraging desire, and providing sufficient funding. Maintenance culture has an impact on facility performance. Keywords: maintenance culture, nuclear organization, assets, nuclear facility

Управление процессом обслуживания высокотехнологичного оборудования с использованием сетей Петри

The paper considers the management of the maintenance process of high-tech equipment. The mechanism of operation, maintenance and repair of equipment elements and the availability of highly qualified personnel capable of performing certain types of work are described. The functioning of the Petri net reflects the process of using and maintaining high-tech equipment. The Petri net explores events that correlate certain transitions. The conditions for triggering transitions are considered, and the connections between positions and transitions are described. Each position of the selected set corresponds to the types of high-tech equipment being analyzed, the routine maintenance work performed and the teams carrying out these works. To simulate the processes of functioning of the Petri net, a transition function is formed, which allows determining new network states obtained when a transition is triggered. The rules of operation of the Petri net are described. Allowed transitions are implemented, which have non-zero values in each position at the label input. The transition is triggered not necessarily at the nearest allowed time. The change in the state of the Petri net and its labeling during the implementation of various transitions and changes in the order of their implementation is investigated. When performing any transition, the labeling of the Petri net in question changes. The labels in each position at the input of the implemented transition are reduced by one, and in each output position they increase by one, and the addition of chips at the output positions and decrease at the input positions occur simultaneously. A matrix approach is used to describe the process of functioning of a Petri net. The equipment in question can be aircraft, vehicles, machine tools, etc. As a result, the mechanism of operation, maintenance and repair of equipment elements is considered in the form of parallel processes that occur in the system under consideration independently of each other.

An assessment of maintenance works and their impact on macroinvertebrate communities and long-term recolonization to small lowland watercourses

Due to their small size and high anthropogenic pressure, small watercourses are particularly prone to severe siltation and are densely overgrown with macrophytes. Many of these watercourses are subject to regular maintenance works (RMW), consisting of seasonal desilting and vegetation clearance, in order to ensure unobstructed water flow. The aim of the study was to assess the impact of three types of maintenance works: dredging and mud removal (DMR), river channel vegetation removal (RCVR) and river bank vegetation removal (RBVR) on taxa species richness, macroinvertebrate density and the Shannon-Wiener diversity index, as well as their changes and long-term benthic recolonization one and two years after completion of the works. The study was carried out in 21 habitats on eight rivers in the European Central Plains Ecoregion. A total of 107 zoobenthic taxa were found at all sites, and their species composition was characteristic of highly hydrophytic waters with low hydrological and hydrochemical quality parameters. A significant decrease in macroinvertebrate taxa richness was observed one year after the works, as the average number of taxa had dropped from thirteen to eight, with a further fall to seven taxa two years after the RMW. The same was true for density, which had decreased from an average of 2496 to 786 individuals per square meter one year after the RMW, while, a gradual recolonization was recorded two years after the RMW, with an average density of 1295 individuals per square meter. The Shannon-Wiener index, which had averaged 2.528 before the RMW, also decreased, falling to 1.982 and 1.832 one and two years after. BACI statistical analyses showed that of the three types of maintenance work, desilting and bottom sediment removal had the largest negative impact, significantly reducing taxonomic composition (by an average of 53%), density (by an average of 43%), and ecological index values (by an average of 40%). Over-frequent maintenance can prevent macroinvertebrate populations from recovering, thus depleting the environment of valuable taxa, including those that provide food for fish and other vertebrates.

The Influence of Transformational Leadership Style and Work Motivation on the Performance of PT Tara's Outsourced Employees in the Maintenance Work Unit of PT Bukit Asam Kertapati Pier Unit

This study was conducted to determine the influence of transformational leadership style and work motivation on the performance of PT Tara's outsourced employees in the PT Bukit Asam Dermaga Kertapati Unit maintenance work unit. The population and sample in this study are all PT Tara's outsourced employees in the PT Bukit Asam Kertapati Pier Unit maintenance work unit in 2023-2024, with as many as 33 employees using the census method. The results of multiple linear regression analysis show that transnational leadership style and work motivation have a positive and significant effect on employee performance. In a transformational leadership style, it is hoped that the role of the boss can provide opportunities for employees to provide opinions. Work motivation: it is hoped that the boss can provide fair input to employees so that fellow employees can establish good relationships.

The influence of night shift work and associated factors on serum uric acid in aircraft maintenance workers

Background and objectiveThe prevalence of 12-hour shift work is increasing in various occupations. Shift work has been linked to circadian rhythm disruption, which may lead to hormonal changes and metabolic disorders, including alterations in glucose, lipid, and purine metabolism. Despite this, there is limited research on the potential connection between work shifts and abnormal serum uric acid (SUA) levels. Furthermore, the factors that contribute to abnormal SUA levels in shift workers are not well-understood. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the SUA levels of shift workers employed in an aircraft maintenance company, investigate the potential association between shift work and SUA levels, and explore the factors that may influence abnormal SUA levels in shift workers.MethodsA total of 2263 male workers from an aircraft maintenance company were included in this study using the cluster sampling method. The workers were divided into two groups based on their working shifts: night shift (N = 1047, 46.27%) and day working (N = 1216, 53.73%). A survey was conducted between April 1st and June 30th, 2022 to gather information on work, lifestyle, physical examination results, and other relevant factors. The survey included a self-designed demographic information questionnaire to collect data on workers’ characteristics, medical history, years of employment, smoking and drinking habits, and main lifestyle behaviors. The workers’ SUA levels were measured using uricase colorimetry. One-way ANOVA was used to compare the difference in the abnormal detection rate of SUA between the two groups, and multi-factor logistic regression analysis was used to identify the factors that influence abnormal SUA levels.ResultsThe study indicated that 48.9% of night shift workers and 43.8% in the regular day workers had abnormal SUA levels, with a significant difference between the two groups (χ2 = 6.125, P = 0.013). Factors such as circadian rhythm type, shift work, age, the taste of diet, type of diet, smoking, overweight or obesity based on body mass index (BMI), concentration of urine creatinine (CREA), total cholesterol, triglyceride, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol were found to be correlated with SUA abnormalities (P < 0.05). The risk of developing SUA abnormalities was found to be higher in individuals with an intermittent (OR = 1.34, 95% CI: 0.83–2.12, P < 0.05) or evening circadian rhythm type (OR = 1.45, 95% CI: 0.86–2.43, P > 0.05) compared to those with a morning type. Additionally, factors such as night shift work, a high-sodium diet, smoking, a diet high in meat and low in vegetables, being overweight or obese, and higher levels of CREA were also found to increase the risk of developing SUA abnormalities. The study also revealed a significant dose-response relationship between BMI and abnormal uric acid levels. After controlling for other factors, the risk of developing SUA abnormalities was found to be 1.18 times higher in the night shift work group than in the day work group (OR = 1.18, 95% CI:1.02–1.34, P = 0.01).ConclusionShift work has been linked to a higher risk of developing SUA abnormalities, and there are several factors that may contribute to this risk. To prevent diseases, it is recommended that enterprises implement better health monitoring and management practices for shift workers.

Research on the health monitoring and maintenance strategy of highway structuresg

Under the current background of The Times, China's economic and social development presents a good situation, the construction of transportation infrastructure has been better developed, and the highway transportation industry has made outstanding achievements. At the present stage, the highway transportation industry has become an important pillar industry of China's national economy, and is an important guarantee to promote economic growth and facilitate people's travel. Highway transportation infrastructure is an important foundation for China's national economic and social development, especially in the process of "Belt and Road" construction, highway transportation infrastructure has played a vital role. Under the influence of the increasing number of expressways and heavy-haul transport vehicles, there are also some problems in the highway traffic infrastructure. Therefore, this paper studies and analyzes the health monitoring and maintenance strategy of highway structure, aiming to provide some reference for further improving the health monitoring and maintenance work of highway structure in China.

Integration of BIM Tools for the Facility Management of Railway Bridges

Current railway infrastructure maintenance work, which is mostly carried out by visual inspection, has a reactive approach, dissociated information, and limited follow-up. On the other hand, railway bridges, being critical infrastructures, require effective monitoring and maintenance to guarantee their safety and operation over time. The designed tool links a parametric BIM model in Revit® with an automated spreadsheet in MS Excel® through visual programming in Dynamo, generating BIM/data automation as an initial step towards a digital twin. This achieves a bidirectional flow to exchange data on the structural condition of elements. The procedure was applied to a railway bridge in use for over 100 years, representing its geometry and damage information according to technical standards. The value lies in laying the foundations for adopting preventive approaches for this key infrastructure. The BIM/data automation allows the BIM model to visually reflect the condition of the elements, depending on their damage, consolidate the inspection information, and generate a visual management tool. In conclusion, the designed BIM/data automation improves the monitoring of railway bridges compared to traditional methods, facilitating the interaction and relationship between the damage records and the actual bridge elements, laying the foundations for the construction of digital twins.

Developing an efficient planning process for heritage buildings maintenance in Iraq

Abstract Heritage buildings and sites are significant assets for any country, they hold values of the past to the new generation. This research focuses on the problem of deterioration and demolition of heritage buildings due to negligence or aspiration for more profitable projects, which will lead to the loss of valuable heritage buildings. Assuming that this problem can be solved initially from the planning stage, this research aims to enhance the planning process for heritage buildings by specifying the main factors that affect the planning process for the maintenance work and developing a framework of sequential steps for planning process activities to help in creating an efficient plan. The research evaluates the current situation of heritage building conservation in Baghdad, Iraq as a case study, by classifying the relevant categories into maintenance and non-maintenance categories, which describe the reasons that led to the deterioration of numerous local heritage buildings. The results found in this research specify the main factors that lead to an efficient plan that are budget, methods and techniques, level of skills of the workers, schedule, and required materials. A framework for a successive conservation plan is suggested to be adapted, including a series of sequenced processes to get a sound plan. Finally, some recommendations are suggested to develop planning for heritage building conservation, like reevaluating the legislations and laws to enhance the heritage sector, serious work to make the heritage sites take place in the community activities, paying maximum care to the heritage sector by the governmental authorities, and using modern tools in planning in addition to other recommendations.

Influence of transformational leadership style and work motivation on the performance of PT Tara Outsourcing Employees in PT Bukit Asam Maintenance Work Unit Kertapati Dock Unit

This study was conducted to determine the effect of transformational leadership style and work motivation on the performance of outsourced employees of PT Tara in the maintenance work unit of PT Bukit Asam Kertapati Dock Unit. The population and sample in this study were all outsourced employees of PT Tara in the maintenance work unit of PT Bukit Asam Kertapati Dock Unit in 2023-2024 as many as 33 employees using the census method. The results of multiple linear regression analysis show that transformational leadership style and work motivation have a positive and significant effect on employee performance. Transformational leadership style, it is expected that the role of superiors can provide opportunities for employees to give opinions. Work motivation, it is expected that superiors can provide fair input to employees so that fellow employees can establish good relationships.

Examining the complexities of estate management practices in Central mosques: a case study of Kumasi Central mosque in Ghana

PurposeTo analyze the challenges and intricacies involved in managing the physical and administrative aspects of central mosques, with a specific focus on the Kumasi Central Mosque in Ghana. Through this case study, the paper aims to provide insights into the unique estate management practices and design a conceptual framework that incorporates efficient estate management practices for Ghana’s central mosques.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopted a mixed-methods approach. Structured questionnaires were used to gather the data administered to the head of the development office, maintenance workers and mosque users. The data were analyzed using descriptive methods.FindingsThe overall findings of the study indicate that the estate management practices of the mosque are having difficulties financing maintenance. Other difficulties include the type of maintenance regime, the period of planned maintenance, the lack of an asset register, the absence of insurance policies and the causes of emergency maintenance.Practical implicationsThe research provides valuable insights into the management of central mosques in Ghana and offers scalable practical recommendations such as adopting a planned maintenance regime, insuring mosque facilities and implementing comprehensive recording-keeping guidelines guided by policies.Originality/valueThe paper will assist stakeholders in comprehending the most practical approach to mosque estate management practices.

Flow cytometric genome size estimation of Hungarian grass varieties

In Keszthely, the breeding of grass species have several decades long history. Among other things, the aim of the maintenance work of the registered varieties is to preserve the ploidy levels that have been reported in the variety descriptions. Flow cytometry is a fast, modern tool for examining plant DNA content. In our pilot study, we compared the genome size of the four grass species maintained at the MATE Georgikon Campus with the data of known samples of similar ploidy levels published for the given grass species in the international database. Our results showed a high degree of agreement with the theoretically expected values, supporting the applicability of flow cytometry in plant breeding and in variety maintenance.

Workforce forecasting in the building maintenance and repair work: Evaluating machine learning and LSTM models

Effective workforce forecasting is critical to strategic management in construction projects, particularly ensuring staffing is optimized for efficient and timely project completion. This aspect holds particular importance in densely populated urban environments, where the complexity and scale of high-rise building construction exacerbate the need for proactive maintenance strategies. This research aims to compare the efficacy of various machine learning models, including support vector machine (SVM), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), gradient-boosted decision trees (GBDT), and multi-layer perceptron (MLP) models, in predicting the workforce demand for building maintenance and repair work. Accordingly, 128 sets of data composed of seven indicators collected from the Hong Kong building maintenance and repair contractors were curated to serve as input-dependent variables to forecast the demands for different labor categories in addition to the overall workforce demands. The performance metrics for the four machine learning models were evaluated using mean absolute error (MAE), mean squared error (MSE), root mean squared error (RMSE), and determination coefficient (R2), with GridSearch employed to optimize their hyperparameters for enhanced predictive accuracy. The evaluation using MAE, MSE, RMSE, and R2 revealed that the XGBoost model achieved the most favorable results for predicting workforce demand on the testing sets (0.1790, 0.0582, 0.2412, 0.9915). Compared to MLP (0.1828, 0.0775, 0.2783, 0.8821) and GBDT (0.1828, 0.0828, 0.2878, 0.8739), XGBoost demonstrated a stronger performance in this specific task. Furthermore, the study also explored the potential of a long short-term memory (LSTM) model to forecast the gross value of building maintenance and repair work undertaken by main contractors, which strongly correlates with workforce demand. This approach aimed to capture the consistent growth trend observed across various maintenance activities. Consequently, the models developed in this study serve as valuable tools for optimizing workforce allocation and financial planning, particularly in dynamic and ever-changing environments.

Analysis of the Productivity of Garden Maintenance Work and Efforts to Improve Effective and Efficient Work Procedures

Weeds growing wild among the staple crops cultivated by farmers have become a serious problem and must be immediately controlled, especially in forestry, agricultural and plantation areas. Therefore, practical knowledge is needed about how to manage the problem of weeds that grow undesirable and how to overcome them. Non-chemical weed control is carried out with physical activity. Physical activity carried out by workers while working is a physical workload that will affect their work productivity. The weight or lightness of work done by workers can be measured through direct measurements of human limbs or physique, among others, heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, sweat rate, consumption of inhaled oxygen and chemical content in the blood. This study aims to identify the use of semi mechanical weed tools and brush cutter as well as analyze the physical workload experienced by workers. The stages and methods of research are carried out by measuring and testing tools in the field based on technical aspects including theoretical work capacity, effective work, field efficiency, fuel consumption, while ergonomic work aspects by measuring workload and fatigue levels directly on the operator's heart rate. From the measurement and calculation of the Increase Ratio of Heart Rate (IRHR), the lowest workload level was obtained with an index of 1.15 and the highest workload level of 1.51.

Development of operational standards procedures for maintenance and maintenance of public railway infrastructure infrastructure and electrical mechanical and architectural components in Wbs-based station buildings to improve maintenance and maintenance performance

A railway station is a place of departure and stoppage for trains. Poor, inappropriate maintenance and upkeep of infrastructure without strict supervision can result in physical damage to the infrastructure itself, thus losing its initial value and reducing the service life of the infrastructure. If the maintenance and upkeep of infrastructure in the transportation sector is not done properly, it can cause delays or, in the worst case, accidents. To ensure a high level of reliability and availability, the implementation of an effective maintenance program is very important. This is then clarified if poor maintenance and upkeep practices, such as in the transportation sector, can also affect the reliability of the transportation system and even cause life-threatening accidents. Damage or accidents that occur can also lower the company's image and customer or consumer trust. This research aims to develop Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for maintenance and upkeep work on station buildings, architectural components, and mechanical electrical. The method used is based on a Literature Study, survey, and case study. The result of this research is the development of SOP maintenance and upkeep work on architectural components and mechanical electrical to improve maintenance performance.

Natural and anthropogenic impact on the microclimate and particulate matter in the UNESCO show cave

Particulate matter concentrations (PM10, PM2.5, PM1) and microclimatic parameters (air temperature, CO2) were monitored in the Škocjan Caves (Slovenia). The effects of tourist visits on the PM concentrations and the cave’s microclimate are immediate and direct, but these values normalise relatively quickly. The results showed seasonal, diurnal, and spatial differences in all parameters studied. Due to the higher number of visitors, their influence on the cave’s microclimate and PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations is greater in summer than in winter. The measured PM1 levels depend on the ventilation in the cave, as air transport plays an important role in their introduction into the cave. PM consists of minerals of natural origin resulting from the re-suspension of cave sediments due to strong air currents generated by the opening of the doors to tourists and their walks. The second most common influence is the anthropogenic phases originating from maintenance work in the cave, electronic devices, cave lighting and emissions from outside the cave (aerosols from the polluted Reka River, industry, traffic, gypsum waste disposal). In order to upgrade the sustainable use of the UNESCO-listed Škocjan Caves for tourism, we propose regular monitoring of PM and a detailed characterization of individual PMs and their sources, in addition to monitoring of the cave’s microclimate and biology.

Implementation and validation of robot-enabled embedded sensors for structural health monitoring

In the past decades, structural health monitoring (SHM) has matured into a viable supplement to regular inspections, allowing to execute repair and maintenance work at early stages of structural damage, thus resulting in relatively low rehabilitation costs. With the advent of wireless technologies and advancements in information and communication technologies, civil infrastructure has been increasingly instrumented with wireless sensor nodes to record, analyze, and communicate structural data relevant to SHM. However, in harsh environments, wireless sensor nodes may be damaged and fail to operate. A promising alternative to wireless sensor nodes is to embed sensors directly into concrete. In this paper, a sensor system for embedment into concrete is proposed, able to self-assess the structural data recorded from the concrete. Moreover, the data and information provided by the sensors are collected by robotic systems via RFID data transfer in an attempt to reduce the amount of human interaction and to overcome the limitations with respect to communication range and power supply. In laboratory experiments, the sensor systems are embedded into a concrete structural element, validating the capabilities of the sensors to record and to analyze the structural data. Furthermore, as will be shown in the paper, power will be supplied on-demand by legged robots that are deployed to collect the data and information, which is provided by the sensors for persistent storage. In summary, this study corroborates that the embedded sensors represent a crucial step towards intelligent, self-assessing concrete.

Examining the effect of maintenance work on employees’ physical and mental health, as well as their overall well-being, in industrial settings

This study examines the impact of maintenance work on the physical, mental health, and overall well-being (PMHOW) of employees in some industry types in South Eastern Nigeria. The research aims to enhance occupational health standards and support interventions for industrial maintenance workers. It identifies the stressors that maintenance workers face (physical work demands, high-pressure work environment, shift work and irregular work hours, lack of recognition and support, exposure to hazardous conditions, job complexity and technical challenges, and; monotony and repetitive tasks), these stressors affect employees’ health and well-being through musculoskeletal disorders, mental fatigue, increased risk of accidents, stress, anxiety, and burnout to mention but a few, it proposes strategies for mitigating them which include ergonomic practices, realistic workloads, supportive work culture, adequate staffing etc. Employee Satisfaction Survey was conducted across targeted industries. Based on survey results, employees' perceptions of variances in work characteristics reveal a mix of stable and fluctuating trends. This information helped identify which work characteristics were consistently experienced and which ones vary significantly among employees. Euclidean Distance assessment carried out also aided in identifying areas of intervention by focusing on specific groups of related work characteristics to enhance the work environment and promote better health outcomes. To enhance the mental and physical well-being of maintenance workers, organizations should implement comprehensive strategies that are tailored to the unique stressors and challenges of their work. This approach will not only boost job satisfaction but also contribute to a more efficient and healthier workforce.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE EFFICIENCY OF PARABOLIC AND TRAPEZOIDAL SECTIONS IN IRRIGATIONCANALS

One of the current scientific directions in hydraulic engineering is to give irrigation canals a hydraulically and statically stable cross-sectional shape in the form of the most advantageous parabolic profile. This approach allows maximizing the sediment transport capacity of the flow and significantly reducing the time and costs of construction and maintenance works, using optimization criteria for next-generation machinery and mechanisms. The significance of this research lies in developing a new concept for designing, constructing, and operating irrigation canals in hydraulic engineering systems with cross-sectional shapes that are both hydraulically and statically stable. These shapes aim to maximize sediment transport capacity, ensure ecological sustainability of natural-technical basin systems, and contribute to national food security. The objects of study are hydraulic engineering structures, specifically the inter-farm canals of irrigation systems within the Syr Darya river basin in the southern region of the Republic of Kazakhstan. For the study, methods were used including stability analysis of earth slopes using circular-cylindrical sliding surfaces, methods based on analogy between shear curves and slopes, and methods based on the theory of limit equilibrium. Calculations have demonstrated the advantages, including increased resistance to cross-section deformation, reduced earthwork volumes during irrigation canal construction and cleaning by 20-25%, decreased materials and work volume for possible lining by 13-18%, narrower canal top width and land acquisition zones by 11-17%, lower labor costs by 13-16%, reduced construction costs by 14-18%, and decreased specific adjusted costs by 15-18%.