skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Reducing Cascading Failure Risk by Increasing Infrastructure Network Interdependence

Journal Article · · Scientific Reports
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/srep44499· OSTI ID:1349000
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5]
  1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States). Computational Engineering Division
  2. The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (United States)
  3. The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (United States); Univ. of Vermont, Burlington, VT (United States). Vermont Complex Systems Center
  4. Univ. of Vermont, Burlington, VT (United States). Vermont Complex Systems Center; Univ. of Vermont, Burlington, VT (United States). Dept. of Mathematics & Statistics
  5. Univ. of Vermont, Burlington, VT (United States). Vermont Complex Systems Center; Univ. of Vermont, Burlington, VT (United States). Dept. of Electrical and Biomedical Engineering

Increased coupling between critical infrastructure networks, such as power and communication systems, has important implications for the reliability and security of these systems. To understand the effects of power-communication coupling, several researchers have studied models of interdependent networks and reported that increased coupling can increase vulnerability. However, these conclusions come largely from models that have substantially different mechanisms of cascading failure, relative to those found in actual power and communication networks, and that do not capture the benefits of connecting systems with complementary capabilities. In order to understand the importance of these details, this paper compares network vulnerability in simple topological models and in models that more accurately capture the dynamics of cascading in power systems. First, we compare a simple model of topological contagion to a model of cascading in power systems and find that the power grid model shows a higher level of vulnerability, relative to the contagion model. Second, we compare a percolation model of topological cascading in coupled networks to three different models of power networks coupled to communication systems. Again, the more accurate models suggest very different conclusions than the percolation model. In all but the most extreme case, the physics-based power grid models indicate that increased power-communication coupling decreases vulnerability. This is opposite from what one would conclude from the percolation model, in which zero coupling is optimal. Only in an extreme case, in which communication failures immediately cause grid failures, did we find that increased coupling can be harmful. Together, these results suggest design strategies for reducing the risk of cascades in interdependent infrastructure systems.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344; ECCS-1254549; IIS-1447634
OSTI ID:
1349000
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-680884
Journal Information:
Scientific Reports, Vol. 7; ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 97 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (74)

Catastrophic cascade of failures in interdependent networks journal April 2010
Networks formed from interdependent networks journal December 2011
Evaluating North American electric grid reliability using the Barabási–Albert network model journal September 2005
Using Graph Models to Analyze the Vulnerability of Electric Power Networks journal August 2006
Error and attack tolerance of complex networks journal July 2000
Cascaded voltage collapse journal January 1990
Industry experience with special protection schemes journal January 1996
Abruptness of Cascade Failures in Power Grids journal January 2014
Cascading failures in complex infrastructure systems journal March 2009
The extreme vulnerability of interdependent spatially embedded networks journal August 2013
A random fuse model for breaking processes journal January 1985
Cascading Failures: Survival versus Prevention text January 1989
Does Size Matter? journal January 2012
Cascading dynamics and mitigation assessment in power system disturbances via a hidden failure model journal May 2005
A simple model of global cascades on random networks journal April 2002
Suppressing cascades of load in interdependent networks journal February 2012
Does size matter? journal June 2014
Model validation for the August 10, 1996 WSCC system outage journal January 1999
Cascading Failures in Spatially-Embedded Random Networks journal January 2014
Cascades in interdependent flow networks journal June 2016
Towards designing robust coupled networks journal June 2013
Transdisciplinary electric power grid science journal July 2013
The spatial structure of networks journal January 2006
Avoiding catastrophic failure in correlated networks of networks journal September 2014
Emergence of Scaling in Random Networks journal October 1999
Impact of random failures and attacks on Poisson and power-law random networks journal April 2011
Cascading Failures: Survival versus Prevention journal November 2003
Do topological models provide good information about electricity infrastructure vulnerability? journal September 2010
Criticality in a cascading failure blackout model journal November 2006
Complex systems analysis of series of blackouts: Cascading failure, critical points, and self-organization
  • Dobson, Ian; Carreras, Benjamin A.; Lynch, Vickie E.
  • Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science, Vol. 17, Issue 2, Article No. 026103 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2737822
journal June 2007
Cyber–Physical Security of a Smart Grid Infrastructure journal January 2012
Protecting Smart Grid Automation Systems Against Cyberattacks journal December 2011
Spread of epidemic disease on networks journal July 2002
Cascade-based attacks on complex networks journal December 2002
Model for cascading failures in complex networks journal April 2004
Structural vulnerability of the North American power grid journal February 2004
Revealing cascading failure vulnerability in power grids using risk-graph journal December 2014
Validating OPA with WECC Data conference January 2013
Detecting Critical Nodes in Interdependent Power Networks for Vulnerability Assessment journal March 2013
Interdependent Risk in Interacting Infrastructure Systems conference January 2007
Comparing the Topological and Electrical Structure of the North American Electric Power Infrastructure journal December 2012
On the role of power-grid and communication-system interdependencies on cascading failures conference December 2013
Phase transitions in supercritical explosive percolation journal May 2013
Digital Computer Solution of Power-Flow Problems [includes discussion] journal January 1956
Benchmarking and Validation of Cascading Failure Analysis Tools journal November 2016
Cascading Stall of Many Induction Motors in a Simple System journal November 2012
Causes of the 2003 Major Grid Blackouts in North America and Europe, and Recommended Means to Improve System Dynamic Performance journal November 2005
Design of a Real-Time Security Assessment Tool for Situational Awareness Enhancement in Modern Power Systems journal May 2010
Modelling interdependent infrastructures using interacting dynamical models journal January 2008
Robustness of a Network of Networks journal November 2011
Model-Predictive Cascade Mitigation in Electric Power Systems With Storage and Renewables—Part I: Theory and Implementation journal January 2015
IEEE PSRC Report on Global Industry Experiences With System Integrity Protection Schemes (SIPS) journal October 2010
MATPOWER: Steady-State Operations, Planning, and Analysis Tools for Power Systems Research and Education journal February 2011
Cascading Failures in Interdependent Lattice Networks: The Critical Role of the Length of Dependency Links journal May 2012
A “Random Chemistry” Algorithm for Identifying Collections of Multiple Contingencies That Initiate Cascading Failure journal August 2012
Statistical classification of cascading failures in power grids conference July 2011
Does size matter?: A qualitative study into areas of corruption where a firm's size influences prospects for distributors of foreign‐made goods in Russia journal January 2010
Towards designing robust coupled networks text January 2013
Does size matter? book March 2011
Cascading stall of many induction motors in a simple system conference January 2013
Cascading Failures: Survival versus Prevention text January 1989
Catastrophic cascade of failures in interdependent networks text January 2009
Robustness of a Network of Networks text January 2010
Suppressing cascades of load in interdependent networks text January 2011
Cascading Failures in Interdependent Lattice Networks: The Critical Role of the Length of Dependency Links preprint January 2012
The extreme vulnerability of interdependent spatially embedded networks text January 2012
Transdisciplinary electric power grid science text January 2013
Cascading failures in spatially-embedded random networks text January 2013
Cascades in interdependent flow networks text January 2015
The spread of epidemic disease on networks text January 2002
Cascade-based attacks on complex networks text January 2003
A model for cascading failures in complex networks text January 2003
Evaluating North American Electric Grid Reliability Using the Barabasi-Albert Network Model text January 2004
Statistical Classification of Cascading Failures in Power Grids text January 2010

Cited By (11)

A complex network theory analytical approach to power system cascading failure—From a cyber-physical perspective journal May 2019
Sentinel plants as programmable processing units: insights from a multidisciplinary perspective about stress memory and plant signaling and their relevance at community level journal September 2018
Curtailing cascading failures journal November 2017
On the Robustness of No-Feedback Interdependent Networks journal May 2018
Symmetries and cluster synchronization in multilayer networks journal June 2020
Cascading Failures in Interconnected Power-to-Water Networks journal April 2020
The Effective Healing Strategy against Localized Attacks on Interdependent Spatially Embedded Networks journal May 2019
Disaster Management in Smart Cities journal May 2021
Limits of Predictability of Cascading Overload Failures in Spatially-Embedded Networks with Distributed Flows text January 2017
The Key Player Problem in Complex Oscillator Networks and Electric Power Grids: Resistance Centralities Identify Local Vulnerabilities text January 2018
Component Importance and Interdependence Analysis for Transmission, Distribution and Communication Systems preprint January 2021