System-of-Systems Integration for Civil Infrastructures Resiliency Toward Multi-Hazard Events

Civil infrastructure systems—facilities that supply principal services, such as electricity, water, transportation, etc., to a community—are the backbone of modern society. These systems are frequently subject to multi-hazard events, such as earthquakes. The poor resiliency of these infrastructures results in many human casualties and significant economic losses every year. An outline of a holistic view that considers how different civil infrastructure systems operate independently and how they interact and communicate with each other is required to have a resilient infrastructure system. More specifically a systems engineering approach is required to enable infrastructure to remain resilient in the case of extreme events, including natural disasters. To address these challenges, this research builds on the proposal that the infrastructure systems be equipped with state-of-the-art sensor networks that continuously record the condition and performance of the infrastructure. The sensor data from each infrastructure are then transferred to a data analysis system component that employs artificial intelligence techniques to constantly analyze the infrastructure’s resiliency and energy efficiency performance. This research models the resilient infrastructure problem as a System of Systems (SoS) comprised of the abovementioned components. It explores system integration and operability challenges and proposes solutions to meet the requirements of the SoS. An integration ontology, as well as a data-centric architecture, is developed to enable infrastructure resiliency toward multi-hazard events. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and infrastructure managers, such as Departments of Transportation (DOTs) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), can learn from and integrate these solutions to make civil infrastructure systems more resilient for all.