Protecting Interdependent Critical Infrastructures from Multi-Mode Attacks & Failures: Vulnerability, Consequences, & Mitigation for Linked Urban Water & Fire Response Systems
This project addresses the risk, consequences, and protective strategies appropriate to a multi-mode attack or failure (MMAF) which simultaneously disables the water system and ignites an urban fire. The project will proceed in three phases. First, techniques for vulnerability analysis of urban areas to potential MMAF water-fire events will be developed. Several potential MMAF events will be defined, and risk analysis methodologies will be adapted to determine probabilities of each MMAF event. Second, a dual-system simulation tool for consequence analysis of MMAF water-fire events will be developed and tested using a ?virtual city.? This simulation tool will link and adapt existing models of water distribution systems and urban fire spread along with optimization algorithms to calculate and rank fire damage scores under the MMAF events defined in Phase 1. Third, mitigation strategies will be developed in response to the damage scores determined in Phase 2. These strategies will include infrastructure management, physical infrastructure changes, deterrence, response capacity building, and public education, among others. The virtual city developed for project case studies will be made freely available to the research and education communities in electronic forms (i.e., GIS and hydraulic model files). This virtual laboratory will allow for comparative studies of various topics with a publishable dataset.
