POST-DISASTER NETWORK MANAGEMENT WITH THE USE OF AN INTEGRATED NETWORK DESIGN MODEL

Abstract eng:
Due to their inherent vulnerability to structural and functional degradation, transportation networks are severely challenged by the extreme conditions the disaster environment poses on them during a catastrophic event. In such cases, the impaired transportation infrastructures are expected to maintain a minimum level of serviceability in order to ensure physical access to the affected communities and provide services according to the generated needs. In this setting of operational conditions and service needs which deviate from normal, a re-structuring of network functioning is deemed to be beneficial for overall network serviceability. This paper studies the deployment of emergency management strategies on a network in the aftermath of a catastrophic event. Lane reversal, path activation and demand regulation are employed to provide an optimally re-configured network with re-allocated demand so that network performance is maximized. The problem is treated as an instance of the Network Design Problem (NDP): the upper level determines the optimal network management strategies' implementation scheme while the lower level assigns traffic on the network. Total network travel time, total network flow and OD-pair accessibility are used as upper-level performance indicators. A genetic algorithm coupled with a traffic assignment process is used as a solution methodology. Application of the model on a real urban network proves the computational efficiency of the algorithm; the model systematically produces robust results of enhanced network performance, indicating its value as an operations' planning tool.

• Export as: BibTeX | MARC | MARCXML | DC | EndNote | NLM | RefWorks
• Add to your basket