The purpose of this thesis is to develop a discrete event simulation model of post-earthquake restoration for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) water supply system. Discrete event simulation, a new approach to modeling post-disaster lifeline restoration, offers many benefits for restoration modeling compared to alternative methods. The water supply system and restoration process are represented in great detail with few simplifications. The utility company's decision variables (e.g., number of repair crews, repair prioritization rules) are included explicitly, allowing exploration of their effects on the speed of the restoration. Restoration times are estimated separately for each region within the service area, and uncertainty in the process is modeled explicitly. With a service area of more than 1,200 km2 and 12,000 km of pipelines, the LADWP water supply system is the largest municipal system in the United States. Extensive review of the LADWP water organization, water supply system, and postearthquake restoration process was conducted. This review provided the basis for the restoration model. Crews, tasks, and the different phases in the restoration process came directly from discussions with LADWP personnel and the water organization's emergency response plans. For a particular earthquake, the restoration model takes as input information about damage to the system and the resulting hydraulic flow, both of which are provided by the Graphical Iterative Response Analysis for Flow Following Earthquakes (GIRAFFE) model that was developed for the LADWP system (Shi 2006, Wang 2006). Throughout the restoration simulation, the model interacts with GIRAFFE periodically in order to receive updates of the system functionality at specific times as the restoration process proceeds and damage is repaired. The restoration model provides several different types of output including system and subregion restoration curves; spatial distribution of restoration; material usage; crew usage; average time each customer is without water; and time to restore the system and subregions to 90%, 98%, and 100%. It can also include damage uncertainty by combining the output from runs for multiple realizations of damage associated with a single earthquake. The model can be used to help estimate economic and societal losses due to water supply system outages, and to evaluate the effectiveness of possible restoration improvement strategies. Ten simulations of the restoration model were run using real damage data from the 1994 Northridge earthquake as input, and the results were compared to the actual restoration that took place following Northridge. The average spatial distribution of restoration roughly matches what occurred in 1994. As in real life, the areas experiencing longer outages in the model are mainly in the north of the system service area or around the San Fernando Valley. The system restoration curves did not match exactly, as the range of outputs from all 10 runs of the restoration model shows that the restoration occurs too quickly, especially during the first day after the earthquake. Possible future model modifications that may improve the calibration are discussed. (Abstract).

A comprehensive review of state-of-the-art approaches to power systems forecasting from the most respected names in the field, internationally Advances in Electric Power and Energy Systems is the first book devoted exclusively to a subject of increasing urgency to power systems planning and operations. Written for practicing engineers, researchers, and post-grads concerned with power systems planning and forecasting, this book brings together contributions from many of the world’s foremost names in the field who address a range of critical issues, from forecasting power system load to power system pricing to post-storm service restoration times, river flow forecasting, and more. In a time of ever-increasing energy demands, mounting concerns over the environmental impacts of power generation, and the emergence of new, smart-grid technologies, electricity price forecasting has assumed a prominent role within both the academic and industrial arenas. Short-run forecasting of electricity prices has become necessary for power generation unit schedule, since it is the basis of every maximization strategy. This book fills a gap in the literature on this increasingly important topic. Following an introductory chapter offering background information necessary for a full understanding of the forecasting issues covered, this book: Introduces advanced methods of time series forecasting, as well as neural networks Provides in-depth coverage of state-of-the-art power system load forecasting and electricity price forecasting Addresses river flow forecasting based on autonomous neural network models Deals with price forecasting in a competitive market Includes estimation of post-storm restoration times for electric power distribution systems Features contributions from world-renowned experts sharing their insights and expertise in a series of self-contained chapters Advances in Electric Power and Energy Systems is a valuable resource for practicing engineers, regulators, planners, and consultants working in or concerned with the electric power industry. It is also a must read for senior undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers involved in power system planning and operation.

There are many regions worldwide which are susceptible to extreme loads such as earthquakes. These can cause loss of life and adverse impacts on civil infrastructures, the environment, and communities. A series of methods and measures have been used to mitigate the effects of these extreme loads. The adopted approaches and methods must enable civil structures to be resilient and sustainable. Therefore, to reduce damage and downtime in addition to protecting life and promoting safety, new resilient structure technologies must be proposed and developed. This special issue book focuses on methods of enhancing the sustainability and resilience of civil infrastructures in the event of extreme loads (e.g., earthquakes). This book contributes proposals of and theoretical, numerical, and experimental research on new and resilient civil structures and their structural performance under extreme loading events. These works will certainly play a significant role in promoting the application of new recoverable structures. Moreover, this book also introduces some case studies discussing the implementation of low-damage structural systems in buildings as well as articles on the development of design philosophies and performance criteria for resilient buildings and new sustainable communities.

Damage assessment, rehabilitation, decision-making, social consequences, repair and reconstruction; these are all critical factors for considerations following natural disasters such as earthquakes. In order to address these issues, the United States of America and the Peoples Republic of China regularly organize bilateral symposia/workshops to investigate multiple hazard mitigation, particularly with respect to earthquake engineering. This book contains state-of-the-art reports presented by world-renowned researchers at the US/PRC Sympsosium Workshop on Post-Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction held in Kunming, Yunnan, China, May 1995. The following key areas are addressed: damage assessment of structures after earthquakes; lessons of post-earthquake recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction, including public policy, land use options, urban planning, and design; issues in and examples of decision-making, and implementation of rehabilitation and reconstruction plans and policies; repair, strengthening, retrofit and control of structures and lifeline systems, post-earthquake socio-economic problems covering issues of relief and recovery; human and organizational behavior during emergency response, and strategies for improvement; real-time monitoring of earthquake response and damage.

Earthquakes are nearly unique among natural phenomena - they affect virtually everything within a region, from massive buildings and bridges, down to the furnishings within a home. Successful earthquake engineering therefore requires a broad background in subjects, ranging from the geologic causes and effects of earthquakes to understanding the imp

This volume is dedicated to the memory of Barclay G. Jones, Professor of City and Regional Planning and Regional Science at Cornell University. Over a decade ago, Barclay took on a fledgling area of study - economic modeling of disasters - and nurtured its early development. He served as the social science program director at the National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (NCEER), a university consortium sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the Federal Emergency Management Agency of the United States. In this capacity, Barclay shepherded and attracted a number of regional scientists to the study of disasters. He organized a conference, held in the ill-fated World Trade Center in September 1995, on "The Economic Consequences of Earthquakes: Preparing for the Unexpected. " He persistently advocated the importance of social science research in an establishment dominated by less-than-sympathetic natural scientists and engineers. In 1993, Barclay organized the first of a series of sessions on "Measuring Regional Economic Effects of Unscheduled Events" at the North American Meetings of the Regional Science Association International (RSAI). This unusual nomenclature brought attention to the challenge that disasters -largely unanticipated, often sudden, and always disorderly - pose to the regional science modeling tradition. The sessions provided an annual forum for a growing coalition of researchers, where previously the literature had been fragmentary, scattered, and episodic. Since Barclay's unexpected passing in 1997, we have continued this effort in his tradition.