Interdependent infrastructures and multi-mode attacks and failures: improving the security of urban water systems and fire response

Interdependent Infrastructures and Multi-Mode Attacks and Failures: Improving the Security of Urban Water Systems and Fire Response. (December 2006) Elizabeth Catherine Bristow, B.S., Texas A&M University; M. Eng., Texas A&M University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Kelly Brumbelow This dissertation examines the interdependence between urban water distribution systems and urban fire response. The focus on interdependent critical infrastructures is driven by concern for security of water systems and the effects on related infrastructures if water distribution systems are damaged by terrorist attack or natural disaster. A model of interdependent infrastructures (principally water distribution systems and fire response) is developed called the Model of Urban Fire Spread (MUFS). The model includes the capacity to simulate firefighting water demands in a community water system hydraulic model, building-to-building urban fire spread, and suppression activities. MUFS is an improvement over previous similar models because it allows simulation of urban fires at the level of individual buildings and it permits simulation of interdependent infrastructures working in concert. MUFS is used to simulate a series of multi-mode attacks and failures (MMAFs) – events which disable the water distribution system and simultaneously ignite an urban fire. The consequences of MMAF scenarios are analyzed to determine the most serious

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