Abstract
Water distribution networks (WDNs), an interconnected collection of hydraulic control elements, are susceptible to a small disturbance that may induce unbalancing flows within a WDN and trigger large-scale losses and secondary failures. Identifying critical regions in a water distribution network (WDN) to formulate a scientific reinforcement strategy is significant for improving the resilience when network disruption occurs. This paper proposes a framework that identifies critical regions within WDNs, based on the three metrics that integrate the characteristics of WDNs with an external service function; the criticality of urban function zones, nodal supply water level and water shortage. Then, the identified critical regions are reinforced to minimize service loss due to disruptions. The framework was applied for a WDN in Dalian, China, as a case study. The results showed the framework efficiently identified critical regions required for effective WDN reinforcements. In addition, this study shows that the attributes of urban function zones play an important role in the distribution of water shortage and service loss of each region.
Highlights
The functioning and resilience of modern societies have become more and more dependent on critical infrastructures
The present study focused on reinforcement strategies that can reduce damages owing to disruptive events, using an actual Water distribution networks (WDNs) as an example
Based on the characteristics of WDN and the principle of geographical close proximity, the area of the WDN can be divided into multiple regions where if a region is subjected to damage, all the components distributed in close proximity to each other within that region will be completely cut off, and removed from the WDN
Summary
The functioning and resilience of modern societies have become more and more dependent on critical infrastructures. As one of the most critical infrastructures, the water distribution network (WDN) plays an important role in the normal operation of modern societies. Disruptive events, such as intentional attacks, natural disasters or human-caused accidents (e.g., destructive earthquakes and terrorist attacks), can have significant consequences on WDNs composed of numerous interconnected functional and structural components [1,2]. In order to comprehensively assess the losses to the urban caused by the malfunction of the WDN, not just from the viewpoint of the performance degradation of the WDN itself, this paper takes the criticality of urban function zones into components importance measures. J∈JL where JL is the set of pipes in a certain loop
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