Risk assessment of ice dams for water diversion projects based on fuzzy fault trees

Ice dams are among the important risks affecting the operational safety and water conveyance efficiency of water diversion projects in northern China. However, no evaluation indicator system for ice dam risk assessment of water diversion projects has been proposed. Therefore, in this paper, based on the formation mechanism of ice dams, the risk assessment indicator system and the possibility calculation model of ice dams were both proposed for water diversion projects based on the fuzzy fault tree analysis method. The ice dam risk fault tree constructed in this study mainly includes three aspects: ice production, ice transport, and ice submergence conditions. Eighteen basic risk indicators were identified, and 72 minimum cut sets were obtained by using the mountain climb method. Eight risk indicators were determined as the key risk indicators for ice dams, including meteorological conditions, narrowed cross section, sluice incident, erroneous scheduling judgment, ice cover influence, flat bed slope, control structures, and ice flow resistance of piers. Then, the canal from the Fenzhuanghe sluice to the Beijumahe sluice of the Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project was taken as the research object. Combined with the expert scoring method, the ice dam risk probability of the canal was determined to be 0.2029 × 10−2, which was defined as a level III risk, which is an occasionally occurring risk. The study results can support ice dam risk prevention and canal system operation in winter for water diversion projects.