Purpose: to evaluate the performance of the left-bank coastal protection dam of the Great Stavropol Canal based on visual inspection materials and verification calculations, to determine the degree of its hazard, and to formulate recommendations for restoring performance reliability and safety. The results of estimating the technical condition and stability of the canal's bank protection dam in a section with an increased hazard level are discussed.
Materials and Methods. Based on the visual inspection data, engineering and geological condition analysis, and the results of numerical modeling using the GeoStab 8.1 software package, the stability number of slope was calculated using the Fellenius method. The physicomechanical characteristics of the impermeable element were adopted based on the results of laboratory soil tests.
Results. Slope stability calculations using the Fellenius method in the GeoStab 8.1 software package, taking into account seismic activity of magnitude 8, yielded a safety factor of 1.301, which formally exceeds the lowest acceptable minimum permitted by regulatory documents of 1.25. Due to the active development of seepage processes and potential suffusion, there is a high probability of a decrease in the strength characteristics of the impervious membrane and foundation. The actual condition of the dam is estimated as limited functioning due to the progressive seepage processes within its body.
Conclusions. The need for bank protection and impervious measures to bring the structure up to standard technical condition is substantiated. A full range of recommended works, including dam reinforcement, the protective impervious membrane installation, and the automated monitoring organization will bring the hydraulic structure up to standard condition and improve its safety.
the Great Stavropol Canal, dam, slope stability, Fellenius method, filtration, impervious membrane, technical condition
Rybalko D. S., Baev O. A. Evaluation of the bank protection dam performance of the Great Stavropol Canal. Ways of Increasing the Efficiency of Irrigated Agriculture. 2026;99(2):21–34. (In Russ.).
1. Blokhina T.I., Blokhin N.F., 2002. Vodnye resursy Stavropol'y [Water Resources of the Stavropol Territory]. Stavropol, Stavropolkraivodkhoz Publ., 286 p. (In Russian).
2. Gostishchev V.D., Kuzmichev A.A., 2017. Analiz ekspluatatsionnykh kharakteristik Bol'shogo Stavropol'skogo kanala [Performance analysis of the Great Stavropol Canal]. Puti povysheniya effektivnosti oroshaemogo zemledeliya [Ways of Increasing the Efficiency of Irrigated Agriculture], no. 3(67), pp. 74-79, EDN: ZSQGSL. (In Russian).
3. Kosichenko M.Yu, Talalaeva V.F., 2023. Primenenie kanalov perebroski stoka na territorii Rossii i za rubezhom [Flow transfer channels use in Russia and abroad]. Puti povysheniya effektivnosti oroshaemogo zemledeliya [Ways of Increasing the Efficiency of Irrigated Agriculture], vol. 91, no. 3, pp. 169-185, EDN: EEAXRT. (In Russian).
4. Sobisevich A.V., Shirokova V.A., 2018. Bol'shoy Stavropol'skiy kanal – obvodnitel'no-orositel'naya sistema Severnogo Kavkaza [The Great Stavropol Canal as water supply and irrigation system of the North Caucasus]. Groznenskiy yestestvennonauchnyy byulleten [Grozny Natural Science Bulletin], vol. 3, no. 1(9), pp. 81-89, DOI: 10.25744/genb.2018.9.14716, EDN: XTCRUL. (In Russian).
5. Blokhina T.I., Blokhin N.F., Kondratenko A.A., 2007. Bol'shoy Stavropol'skiy kanal: K 50-letiyu nachala stroitel'stva. Cherkessk: Upravlenie ekspluatatsii BSK [The Great Stavropol Canal: On the 50th Anniversary of the Start of Construction]. Cherkessk, BSC Operations Department, 256 p. (In Russian).
6. Tkachev A.A., Dakaev M.U., Pleshakov M.S., 2023. Analiz inzhenerno-geologicheskikh usloviy na golovnom uchastke Bol'shogo Stavropol'skogo kanala [Analysis of engineering and geological conditions at the head section of the Great Stavropol Canal]. Nauka, tekhnologii, obshchestvo: Ekologicheskiy inzhiniring v interesakh ustoychivogo razvitiya territorii: sb. nauch. st. [Science, Technology, Society: Environmental Engineering for Sustainable Development of the Territory: Coll. sci. articles]. Krasnoyarsk, pp. 50-58, DOI: 10.47813/nto.4.2023.10.50-58, EDN: AYXDZB. (In Russian).
7. Ullaha S., Khanb M.U., Rehman G., 2020. A brief review of the slope stability analysis methods. Geological Behavior (GBR), vol. 4(2), pp. 73-77, DOI: 10.26480/gbr.02.2020.73.77.
8. Rybalko D.S., Baev O.A., Talalaeva V.F., 2026. Issledovanie effektivnosti berego-zashchitnykh sooruzheniy Proletarskogo magistral'nogo kanala [The study of the bank protection structure efficiency at the Proletarsky Main Canal]. Melioratsiya i gidrotekhnika [Land Reclamation and Hydraulic Structures], vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 205-229, DOI: 10.31774/2712-9357-2026-16-1-205-229, EDN: BXIUPE. (In Russian).
9. Kolosov M.A., Morgunov K.P., Chinakov P.P., 2023. Razrushenie gruntovykh sooruzheniy pri nasyshchenii ikh vodoy [Destruction of soil structures when saturated with water]. Innovatsionnye tekhnologii v vodnom, kommunal'nom khozyaystve i vodnom transporte: materialy III Respub. nauch.-tekhn. konferentsii [Innovative Technologies in Water, Public Utilities and Water Transport: Proceed. of the III Republican Scientific-Technical Conference]. Minsk, Belarusian National Technical University, pp. 318-324, EDN: NGKGVG. (In Russian).
10. Orekhov G.V., Kyong Ch.M., 2024. Osobennosti proyavleniya gidravlicheskogo razryva v gruntovykh plotinakh [Stress-strain state of some special places in earth dam from viewpoint of hydraulic fracturing]. Stroitel'stvo: Nauka i obrazovanie [Construction: Science and Education], vol. 14, iss. 1, pp. 45-60, DOI: 10.22227/2305-5502.2024.1.3, EDN: TZKMPG (In Russian).
