ABSTRACT
The mechanisms of damage transmission play an essential role in the process of simulation of interdependence. The objective of a probabilistic systemic fragility assessment is to obtain probabilities of a system exceeding levels of global systemic performance. For interdependent systems, this process includes the fragility propagation from weaker systems to the system under study, in effect merging the inherent and external fragilities into a final interdependent estimate. In the process of Monte Carlo simulation, three steps are followed for determining the stable operational conditions of interdependent systems after perturbation. First, the direct action of the external perturbation is accounted; second, possible disconnection of surviving nodes is assessed; and third, the interdependent damage is identified and propagated among systems. It is in this third step that the damage propagation strategies play an essential role.
