Methodology for Ranking the Elements of Water-Supply Networks
Publication: Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 12, Issue 4
Abstract
This paper presents a scenario-based methodology for the ranking of the elements of a water-supply network according to their value to the network’s owner. The failures of the elements due to random causes and to malevolent acts are considered. The methodology is based on multiattribute utility theory and a graph theory-based network analysis algorithm. This methodology extends approaches proposed in the literature by taking into consideration the capacity of the infrastructure’s elements and their mean time to repair. The water-supply infrastructure of a midsize city serves as a case study. We model the infrastructure system as a network and create scenarios to evaluate the consequences of the failure of each of its elements. For each scenario, we evaluate the supply level to the various users considering the capacity of their connection to the available resources. We then evaluate the disutility of this supply level to the decision makers using multiattribute utility theory. The accident scenarios are ranked according to their expected disutility. The vulnerabilities to malevolent acts are ranked using a subjective combination of the disutilities and the scenario susceptibility to attack. The results are provided to the decision makers for evaluation and risk management. The limitations of the proposed methodology and its applicability to other infrastructures are discussed.
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Acknowledgments
The writers thank the decision makers of the water-supply authority in the city that served as a case study for the development of this approach for their willingness to prepare and provide the data required for the analysis, and for the time they spent sharing their experience and insights during the development and evaluation of this approach.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 12 • Issue 4 • December 2006
Pages: 230 - 242
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Jul 20, 2005
Accepted: Feb 21, 2006
Published online: Dec 1, 2006
Published in print: Dec 2006
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