Disruption propagation and repair response in interdependent system: Network model and simulation approach

With the development of modern systems, many infrastructure networks are coupled together and, therefore, having interdependent topology. The fundamental property of interdependent networks is that a node failure in one part can lead to a recursive failure of a dependent node. The cascading failure, disruption propagation, can happen from a fraction of node to complete network system causing catastrophic damage. Therefore, the disruption must be timely and adequately contained lest irreversible propagation occurs. Here we develop a Network Disruption and Response (NDR) model that contains disruption propagation and interacting response to maintain the network robustness. Five response policies and four performance measures have been designed to compare different parametric settings. The realistic case study with the military information network is designed based on Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane data. The discrete-event simulation is adapted to NDR and conducts a comparative and quantitative analysis to evaluate the effects of different parametric settings on a system. Furthermore, simulation-based optimization algorithms are developed to provide insights into the system and guide the management to eliminate disruption propagation.