Resilience engineering: theory and practice in interdependent infrastructure systems

The economy and well-being of modern societies relies on complex and interdependent infrastructure systems to enable delivery of utilities and movement of goods, people and services. This complexity has resulted in an increased potential for cascading failures, whereby small scale initial failures i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environment systems & decisions 2018-09, Vol.38 (3), p.278-291
Main Authors: Hickford, Adrian J., Blainey, Simon P., Ortega Hortelano, Alejandro, Pant, Raghav
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Catastrophic events
Complex systems
Complexity
Control
Critical infrastructure
Earth and Environmental Science
Engineering
Environment
Environmental Management
Failure
Infrastructure
multidisciplinary
Quality Control
Reliability
Resilience
Safety and Risk
Science
Systems Theory
Utilities
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Summary:The economy and well-being of modern societies relies on complex and interdependent infrastructure systems to enable delivery of utilities and movement of goods, people and services. This complexity has resulted in an increased potential for cascading failures, whereby small scale initial failures in one system can result in events of catastrophic proportions across the wider network. Resilience and the emerging concept of resilience engineering within infrastructure are among the main concerns of those managing such complex systems. However, the disparate nature of resilience engineering development in various academic and industrial regimes has resulted in a diversity of definitions and characterisations. These are discussed in this paper, as are the commonalities between sectors and between different engineering disciplines. The paper also highlights the various methodologies used as part of resilience engineering implementation and monitoring, current practices including existing approaches and metrics, and an insight into the opportunities and potential barriers associated with these methodologies and practices. This research was undertaken for the Resilience Shift initiative to shift the approach to resilience in practice for critical infrastructure sectors. The programme aims to help practitioners involved in critical infrastructure to make decisions differently, contributing to a safer and better world.
ISSN:2194-5403
2194-5411
DOI:10.1007/s10669-018-9707-4