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J. E. Mitchell
Department of Mathematical Sciences
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY 12180 USA
mitchj@rpi.edu
W. A.
Wallace
DSES
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY 12180 USA
wallaw@rpi.edu
Modern society depends on the operations of civil infrastructure systems, such as transportation, energy, telecommunications and water. Clearly, disruption of any of these systems would present a significant detriment to daily living. However, these systems have become so interconnected, one relying on another, that disruption of one may lead to disruptions in all. The focus of this research is on developing techniques which can be used to respond to events that have the capability to impact interdependent infrastructure systems. As discussed in the paper, infrastructure interdependencies become critical when an impact on one infrastructure system affects one or more other infrastructure systems. The approach is to model the salient elements of these systems and provide decision makers with a means to manipulate the model.
Definitions of five types of interdependency identified during the research are presented and incorporated into a network flows mathematical representation. The mathematical representation, i.e. an interdependent layer network model, is described, including the formulation of the infrastructure interdependencies. Using the lower Manhattan region of New York, USA for illustrative purposes, implementation of the model is shown. First the data requirements are presented with realistic data on the interdependent infrastructure systems of power, telecommunications and subways. Next, a scenario is given that causes major disruption in the services provided by these infrastructures. Finally, three cases of possible restoration of services are presented depicting progressive stages of service recovery following a disruption. The paper concludes with a discussion of accomplishments and opportunities for future work.
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