Masami Nakagawa and Masao Satake
Department of Civil Engineering, Tohoku University, Aoba, Sendai 980, Japan
(Received March 29, 1990; Accepted June 10, 1990)
Keywords: Lifeline Network Systems, Fractals
Abstract. Since the San Fernando earthquake in 1971, the reliability of buried lifeline systems has been one of the most active research subjects. Most researchers, however, have been concerned with the analysis of main network systems. In such systems, network geometries are necessarily simple and conventional computational methods such as the Monte Carlo simulation technique are effective. Methodologies for analyzing these main network systems are well established. In contrast, minor networks with very complex geometrical arrangements have virtually been ignored. Due to their inherently complex network structures, a method for damage evaluation has not even been established yet. It is the. purpose of this paper to first characterize lifeline network systems with the help of fractal dimensions and to further apply them to evaluate damage done on systems. This is the first attempt to carry out an analysis of very complex lifeline network systems.