Building an integrated metric for quantifying the resilience of interdependent infrastructure systems

Abstract

Resilience is a dynamic multi-faceted term and complements other terms commonly used in risk analysis, e.g., reliability, availability, vulnerability, etc. The importance of fully understanding system resilience and identifying ways to enhance it, especially for infrastructure systems our daily life depends on, has been recognized not only by researchers, but also by public. During last decade, researchers have proposed different methods and frameworks to quantify/assess system resilience. However, they are tailored to specific disruptive hazards/ events, or fail to properly include all the phases such as mitigation, adaptation and recovery. In this paper, an integrated metric for resilience quantification with capabilities of incorporating different performance measures is proposed, which can be used to quantify the performance of interdependent infrastructure systems in a more comprehensive way. The feasibility and applicability of the proposed metric will be tested using an electric power supply system as the exemplary system with the help of advanced modelling and simulation techniques. Furthermore, the discussion related to the effects of interdependencies among systems on their resilience capabilities is also included in this paper.