Modeling near-real-time multiphase cascading failures across interdependent power, water, and gas infrastructure

The interdependencies among infrastructures including power, water and gas (PWG) are complex, often hidden and therefore poorly understood. This paper presents a near-real-time transient-based model where the inter-network interactions are delineated at short time intervals across PWG systems, and cascading failure scenarios (e.g., hurricanes) are considered at multiphase levels. By considering the PWG systems of a coastal urban area, this study: (1) presents a transient-flow-based interdependent critical infrastructure (ICI) model that captures dynamic interactions between the infrastructures at 10-second intervals at the critical exchange points in PWG networks, (2) investigates the spatial and temporal cascading failure pathways triggered by a failure event in the water network, (3) investigates the sensitivity of the ICI failures to buffer systems at the very exchange points that serve as backup supplies in ICIs, and (4) presents sensitivity analyses to investigate how different failure thresholds affect the synergic behavior across networks. For future endeavors, this study offers promising insights into how smart multinetwork modeling (potentially powered by artificial intelligence) of ICI interactions can be leveraged in real-time for the primitive development of a predictive tool to provide risk mitigation strategies prior to and during extreme events.