Fuzzy Multicriteria Decision-Making Model for Maintenance Management of Irrigation Projects

This paper proposes a fuzzy multicriteria decision-making model to obtain the best maintenance management strategy for irrigation projects. The Abu Ghraib Irrigation Project in Iraq is considered as a case study. The principles of failure mode and effect analysis and risk-based maintenance were applied to calculate the risk priority index (RPIC) and total intensity (TI) of each project component. Finally, an RPIC-TI diagram was created to select the optimal maintenance policy. The results show that the construction of the regulator structures and repair of cracks for the canal system have the highest priority and intensity ranks, respectively. Hence, construction work on the regulator structures is in the high-priority zone of the RPIC-TI diagram. Using the proposed model. a project manager can easily plan and efficiently implement maintenance activities according to their importance, considering the consequences of failure and financial constraints. The proposed model can be applied to other water resource projects such as dams and barrages.