Record Details
Design of robust infrastructure systems incorporating user behavior
ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Title | Design of robust infrastructure systems incorporating user behavior |
| Names |
Piacenza, Joseph R.
(creator) Tumer, Irem Y. (advisor) Hoyle, Christopher J. (advisor) |
| Date Issued | 2014-05-27 (iso8601) |
| Note | Graduation date: 2014 |
| Abstract | Infrastructure systems are a critical component supporting today's modern society. From power grids to traffic networks, we rely on these systems to perform as intended, despite the various sources of uncertainty present in their operation. Designing for system robustness can help mitigate the impact of failures caused by unexpected events. However, this poses a challenge as the distributed topology and complex heterogeneous nature of infrastructure systems causes unanticipated behavior when subjected to a single failure event. In addition, infrastructure systems often require multiple individuals (i.e., humans) to control nominal operation, as well as minimize performance loss due to failures. This human in-the-loop system interaction further increases complexity when designing these systems. This dissertation presents a concept-stage framework for robust infrastructure system design that explores emergent behavior due to network topology, subsystem interactions, and the impact of human behavior driving these interactions. Motivated by historical failures in the North American Power Grid, several case studies are presented that illustrate the methods. First, subsystem/system interactions are modeled by examining user preferences for sustainable building designs, capturing how energy conservation mandates influence system-level robustness. Next, system topology is optimized, which minimizes performance losses from cascading failures, expanding the model. Finally, the impact of human decision-making within an infrastructure system is incorporated, to further increase robustness. In summary, this research demonstrates a concept-stage design framework for creating robust infrastructure systems by minimizing performance variability due to uncertain events and user behavior. |
| Genre | Thesis/Dissertation |
| Access Condition | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ |
| Topic | Robust |
| Identifier | http://hdl.handle.net/1957/50656 |
