Robustness analysis of interdependent network accounting for failure probability and coupling patterns.

The robustness of interdependent networks against perturbations is an important problem for network design and operation. This paper focuses on establishing a cascading failure dynamics model and analyzing the robustness for interdependent networks, in which the states of the nodes follow certain failure probability and various connectivity patterns. First, to describe the removal mechanism of an overloaded node, the failure probability associated with the load distribution of components was proposed. Then, we present the node capacity cost and the average capacity cost of the network to investigate the propagation of cascading failures. Finally, to discuss the impact of the configuration parameters on robustness, some numerical examples are conducted, where the robustness was analyzed based on the proposed method and different interdependence types. Our results show that, the larger the overload parameter, the more robust the network is, but this also increases the network cost. Furthermore, we find that allocating more protection resources to the nodes with higher degree can enhance the robustness of the interdependent network. The robustness of multiple-to-multiple interdependent networks outperforms that of one-to-one interdependent networks under the same coupling pattern. In addition, our results unveil that the impact of coupling strategies on the robustness of multiple-to-multiple interdependent networks is smaller than that of one-to-one interdependent networks.

Analysis of Vulnerability on Weighted Power Networks under Line Breakdowns.

Vulnerability is a major concern for power networks. Malicious attacks have the potential to trigger cascading failures and large blackouts. The robustness of power networks against line failure has been of interest in the past several years. However, this scenario cannot cover weighted situations in the real world. This paper investigates the vulnerability of weighted power networks. Firstly, we propose a more practical capacity model to investigate the cascading failure of weighted power networks under different attack strategies. Results show that the smaller threshold of the capacity parameter can enhance the vulnerability of weighted power networks. Furthermore, a weighted electrical cyber-physical interdependent network is developed to study the vulnerability and failure dynamics of the entire power network. We perform simulations in the IEEE 118 Bus case to evaluate the vulnerability under various coupling schemes and different attack strategies. Simulation results show that heavier loads increase the likelihood of blackouts and that different coupling strategies play a crucial role in the cascading failure performance.