A physics-based framework for analyzing the resilience of interdependent civil infrastructure systems: a climatic extreme event case in Hong Kong

Abstract

Operationalizing resilience concepts and principles, in particular when interdependency is considered, remains a major challenge for the sustainable development of urban infrastructures and future cities. From theoretical perspective, not only does it call for sector-specific infrastructure asset management knowledge, traditional risk-based disaster analysis and emergency management techniques, but it also demands quality data and stakeholders’ competency to holistically integrate the information and analyze the data. To address these limitations, this research provides a physics-based synthesis framework for interdependent civil infrastructure system resilience analysis. The framework consists of four major components: (i) setting resilience analysis boundary through the prescribed criteria; (ii) establishing an infrastructure resilience management lifecycle; (iii) defining the physics-based modeling of infrastructure system functions; and (iv) designing the interfaces between interdependent infrastructure systems. The feasibility and applicability of the proposed framework are tested through a case study involving two interconnected infrastructure systems (i.e. stormwater drainage system and road transport system) located in Hong Kong. It incorporates relevant infrastructure information by using the ArcGIS platform which is integrated with the physics-based vulnerability analysis methods from the two distinct knowledge domains. Cascading effects of adverse events propagating through the two infrastructures are delineated using an empirical nominal damage function.