Assessing vulnerabilities in transport networks: a graph-theoretic approach

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14295/transportes.v29i1.2250

Keywords:

Network Vulnerability, Resilience, Complex Networks

Abstract

The design and maintenance of sustainable and resilient transport systems depend on the identification of possible vulnerabilities before crises occur so that infrastructure and strategies of action are effectively developed for times of crisis. However, given the complexity of transport systems, the proposed methods for assessing vulnerabilities are difficult to implement and require data inaccessible to most Brazilian municipalities. Given this scenario, and intending to simplify the preliminary analysis of a system in the search for vulnerabilities, the objective of this paper is to present the centrality measure from graph theory that best represents the local vulnerability of inland transport networks in Brazilian cities. The method proposed in the study was the systematic degradation of the network measuring the decay in continuity on the system, defined as the proportion of valid paths that remain in the network after the removal of a certain number of roads. The results pointed out the betweenness centrality is the metric that best reflects vulnerability since the attack strategy that progressively removes the roads with greater betweenness centrality presents a faster decay of continuity. With this result, we expect to facilitate the detection of vulnerabilities in transport systems and to guide the creation of more resilient transport systems.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

André Borgato Morelli, University of São Paulo, São Paulo – Brazil

University of São Paulo - Department of Transportation Engineering, São Carlos School of Engineering 

André Luiz Cunha, University of São Paulo, São Paulo – Brazil

University of São Paulo - Department of Transportation Engineering, São Carlos School of Engineering 

References

Appert, M. and C. Laurent (2013) Measuring urban road network vulnerability using graph theory: the case of Montpellier’s road network theory: the case of Montpellier’s road network. La mise en carte des risques naturels, pp. 1–22.

Berche, B.; C. Von Ferber; T. Holovatch and Y. Holovatch (2009) Resilience of public transport networks against attacks. Euro-pean Physical Journal B, 71(1), pp. 125–137. doi: 10.1140/epjb/e2009-00291-3.

Cox, A.; F. Prager and A. Rose (2011) Transportation security and the role of resilience: A foundation for operational metrics. Transport Policy, 18(2), pp. 307–317. doi: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2010.09.004.

Folke, C.; S. R. Carpenter; B. Walker; M. Scheffer; T. Chapin and J. Rockström (2010) Resilience thinking: Integrating resilience, adaptability and transformability. Ecology and Society, 15(4). doi: 10.5751/ES-03610-150420.

Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) (2018) Estimativas de população. Available at: <https://ftp.ibge.gov.br/Estimativas_de_Populacao/Estimativas_2018/POP2018_20210331.xls> (Accessed: 23/March/2019).

Ip, W. H. and D. Wang (2011) Resilience and friability of transportation networks: Evaluation, analysis and optimization. IEEE Systems Journal, 5(2), pp. 189–198. doi: 10.1109/JSYST.2010.2096670.

Leu, G.; H. Abbass and N. Curtis (2010) Resilience of ground transportation networks: A case study on Melbourne. ATRF 2010: 33rd Australasian Transport Research Forum.

Litman, T. (2006) Lessons from Katrina and Rita: What major disasters can teach transportation planners. Journal of Trans-portation Engineering, 132(1), pp. 11–18. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-947X(2006)132:1(11).

Lu, Q. C.; Z. R. Peng and J. Zhang (2015) Identification and prioritization of critical transportation infrastructure: Case study of coastal flooding. Journal of Transportation Engineering, 141(3). doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)TE.1943-5436.0000743.

Martins, M. C. M.; A. N. Rodrigues da Silva and N. Pinto (2019) An indicator-based methodology for assessing resilience in urban mobility. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 77, pp. 352–363. doi: 10.1016/j.trd.2019.01.004.

Mattsson, L. G. and E. Jenelius (2015) Vulnerability and resilience of transport systems - A discussion of recent research. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 81, pp. 16–34. doi: 10.1016/j.tra.2015.06.002.

Morelli, A. B. and A. L. Cunha (2019) Measuring urban resilience: A road network-oriented method. Available at: <http://arxiv.org/abs/1912.01739>.

Newman, M. (2010) Networks: An Introduction. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199206650.001.0001.

Newman, P.; T. Beatley and H. Boyer (2009) Resilient cities: Responsing to peak oil and climate change. Australian Planner, 46(1), p. 59. doi: 10.1080/07293682.2009.9995295.

OpenStreetMap (2019). Available at: (Accessed: 27/March/2019)

Rodríguez-Núñez, E. and J. C. García-Palomares (2014) Measuring the vulnerability of public transport networks. Journal of Transport Geography, 35, pp. 50–63. doi: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2014.01.008.

Wang, Y.; H. Liu; K. Han; T. L. Friesz and T. Yao (2015) Day-to-day congestion pricing and network resilience. Transportmetrica A: Transport Science, 11(9), pp. 873–895. doi: 10.1080/23249935.2015.1087234.

Westrum, R. (2012) A typology of resilience situations. Resilience Engineering: Concepts and Precepts, pp. 55–66.

Zhang, X.; E. Miller-Hooks and K. Denny (2015) Assessing the role of network topology in transportation network resilience. Journal of Transport Geography, 46, pp. 35–45. doi: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2015.05.006.

Downloads

Published

2021-04-30 — Updated on 2021-05-17

Versions

How to Cite

Morelli, A. B., & Cunha, A. L. (2021). Assessing vulnerabilities in transport networks: a graph-theoretic approach. TRANSPORTES, 29(1), 161–172. https://doi.org/10.14295/transportes.v29i1.2250 (Original work published April 30, 2021)

Issue

Section

Artigos