Use of cellular automata in assessment of risk and vulnerability

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to suggest the use of cellular automaton as a basis for risk and vulnerability assessment (RVA). A cellular automaton (CA) is a collection of ‘colored’ cells on a grid of specified shape that evolves through a number of discrete time steps according to a set of rules based on the states of neighboring cells. The rules are then applied iteratively for as many time steps as desired. von Neumann was one of the first people to consider such a model, and incorporated a cellular model into his ‘universal constructor.’ In present research, a model elaborating on CA application in assessing risk and vulnerability with an emphasis on forest, fire, and smoke is provided. Specifically, this research posits a model treating dispersion cloud as collection of ‘nanomachines’ (model’s ‘air blobs’, or ‘particles’), all advected with the wind, and each moving in the advected mass of air according to a simple rule expressing one dominant component of the Navier–Stokes equation for momentum conservation.