Christian Posse | Searcharxiv

arXiv2005

Evaluating North American Electric Grid Reliability Using the Barabasi-Albert Network Model

The reliability of electric transmission systems is examined using a scale-free model of network structure and failure propagation. The topologies of the North American eastern and western electric networks are analyzed to estimate their reliability based on the Barabasi-Albert network model. A commonly used power system reliability index is computed using a simple failure propagation model. The results are compared to the values of power system reliability indices previously obtained using standard power system reliability analysis methods, and they suggest that scale-free network models are useful for estimating aggregate electric network reliability.

nlin.AO↗

arXiv2004

Managing Complexity

Physical analogs have shown considerable promise for understanding the behavior of complex adaptive systems, including macroeconomics, biological systems, social networks, and electric power markets. Many of today's most challenging technical and policy questions can be reduced to a distributed economic control problem. Indeed, economically-based control of large-scale systems is founded on the conjecture that the price-based regulation (e.g., auctions, markets) results in an optimal allocation of resources and emergent optimal system control. This paper explores the state of the art in the use physical analogs for understanding the behavior of some econophysical systems and deriving stable and robust control strategies for them. In particular we review and discuss applications of some analytic methods based on a thermodynamic metaphor according to which the interplay between system entropy and conservation laws gives rise to intuitive and governing global properties of complex systems that cannot be otherwise understood.

nlin.AO↗