Physics-driven based resilience analysis of interdependent civil infrastructure systems – a case study in Hong Kong

Abstract

Operationalizing resilience principles, in particular when interdependency is considered, remains a major challenge. Using two interconnected infrastructure systems in an urban district of Hong Kong as case study, this paper conducts a precursor vulnerability analysis and investigates their resilience and interdependency in respond to weather-related events. The study incorporates relevant infrastructure information using the ArcGIS platform and integrates the physics-driven vulnerability analysis methods from the two distinct knowledge domains. Cascading effects are also delineated using an empirical nominal damage function. The research findings show that the incapacity of vulnerable components in one infrastructure system could degrade the performance of sub-systems of other infrastructures, and even lead to their network-level resilience performance deterioration. This research combines the multiple approaches for quantitative infrastructure vulnerability analysis and lays technical foundation for subsequent restoration and adaptability analysis of infrastructure resilience, and provides an interactive and integrative environment for resilience analysis from multidisciplinary perspectives.