Vulnerability analysis of critical infrastructure network

Abstract

Critical infrastructure networks such as transportation networks, power grids, internet, etc. play a crucial role in the economic development of a country and also in the well-being of its citizens. These systems are however vulnerable to failures due to natural disasters, component aging, terrorist attacks and so on and the resulting service disruptions may result in debilitating impacts on the whole society. Hence, it is crucial to understand how the failure of the components in such a network affects the performance and integrity of the whole network. In order to investigate this, the paper studies the effect of random as well as intentional removal of components (nodes) on the functioning of critical infrastructure networks. The paper also proposes a flow redistribution mechanism incorporating geographic proximities to distribute the load on the failed or removed nodes. Two vulnerability indicators: network efficiency and accessibility have been used to measure the failure consequences in the network after node removals. The proposed framework for vulnerability analysis has been applied to a real world urban transit rail network, a bus network and a combined rapid transit-bus network to test its validity. The results from the study can help to gain foresight in safety management and can thus help to protect the system before failure/harm occurs.