A Spatiotemporal Model for Persisting Critical Infrastructure Interdependencies

Critical infrastructure (CI) is broadly defined as a set of important assets for producing or distributing a continuous flow of essential goods or services. When a disaster engenders failure of one CI system, it can be expected that other CI systems that need services or goods originally provided by the discontinued system will stop shortly, exacerbating the damage caused by the disaster. Currently, less research utilized a thorough methodology to model CI interdependencies. A comprehensive understanding of how networked CI systems work can provide the means to better evaluate vulnerabilities related to hazards. This research designed an integrated information model to best characterize CI interdependencies for disaster mitigation. The mechanisms of Unified Modeling Language were employed to derive new model elements. A literature review of current CI interdependency-related studies was conducted. Functional and non-functional requirements of the model were determined, followed by conclusions for the research.