Modeling cascading failure of interdependent critical infrastructure systems using HLA-based co-simulation

Cascading failure modeling in interdependent critical infrastructure systems (CISs) is an important but challenging work that lays the foundation for disaster impact assessment and recovery planning. However, despite the increasing volume of studies that examine cascading failure across interdependent CISs, the majority of modeling approaches proposed in prior studies do not capture the complex heterogeneous nature and behavior of the CISs under disaster, limiting the ability of these approaches to detailly model the cascading failure process. To address the above limitation, this study proposes a high level architecture (HLA)-based co-simulation approach to integrate heterogeneous domain-specific CIS models and model the cross-domain interdependencies and failure propagation processes. Moreover, the approach provides a novel solution for modeling the dynamic impact of disaster on CISs and analyze its impact on the cascading failure of interdependent CISs. A case study of two interdependent power and water systems was conducted, which demonstrated the efficacy of the proposed approach. The results showed that the model developed using the proposed approach could provide granular data of the state and heterogeneous behaviors of the systems, capture the dynamic evolution of disaster impact on system components, and reveal the paths and mechanisms of failure propagation within and across the systems. The proposed modeling approach can overcome the drawbacks in current interdependent CISs cascading failure models, and provide a foundation for resilience assessment of CISs. • A new approach for modeling infrastructure system cascading failure is proposed. • The approach adopts co-simulation and follows the high level architecture standards. • The approach ensures interoperability among heterogeneous models. • The approach models the dynamic impact of disaster events on infrastructure systems. • A case study of power and water systems demonstrates the efficacy of the approach.