Modeling Critical Infrastructures with Networked Agent-based Approaches

Speaker:
Dr. Robert J. Glass,
Distinguished Member of Technical Staff
Complex Adaptive Infrastructures and Behavioral Systems
National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center
Sandia National LaboratoryCritical Infrastructures are formed by large numbers of components that interact within complex networks. As a rule, infrastructures contain strong feedbacks either explicitly through the action of hardware/software control, or implicitly through the action/reaction of people. Individual infrastructures influence others and grow, adapt, and thus evolve in response to their multifaceted physical, economic, cultural, and political environments. Simply put, critical infrastructures are complex adaptive systems.Our general approach to modeling such systems distills the system of interest to a network (or multiple networks) of nodes and connections with a set of tailored interaction rules (static to adaptive) for each. Combined with drives and dissipations we can evaluate how general features, such as network connectivity and interaction rules, or specific perturbations such as a hurricane, can influence system failure (often cascading failure) and the choice of mitigation strategy once a cascade begins. Examples will be drawn from recent work that applies our general approach to areas as diverse as community mitigation for pandemic influenza (e.g., bird flu), congestion and cascades in coupled large value payment systems (e.g., foreign exchange coupled US and Euro systems, trillions of $ per day), and hurricane induced perturbations to US petrochemical supply chains.

Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Evangeline Reyes