Prioritizing simulation-based stress tests to assess the resilience of transport systems: a computation-free methodology

Abstract This paper introduces a computation-free method for evaluating and prioritizing simulation-based stress tests for resilience assessment of transport systems. It enables infrastructure managers to efficiently screen and rank stress tests, optimizing the selection process to maximize insights...

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Main Authors: Hossein Nasrazadani, Maria Nogal, Bryan T. Adey, Stergios A. Mitoulis
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2025-04-01
Series:Journal of Infrastructure Preservation and Resilience
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s43065-025-00128-0
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author Hossein Nasrazadani
Maria Nogal
Bryan T. Adey
Stergios A. Mitoulis
author_facet Hossein Nasrazadani
Maria Nogal
Bryan T. Adey
Stergios A. Mitoulis
author_sort Hossein Nasrazadani
collection DOAJ
description Abstract This paper introduces a computation-free method for evaluating and prioritizing simulation-based stress tests for resilience assessment of transport systems. It enables infrastructure managers to efficiently screen and rank stress tests, optimizing the selection process to maximize insights into system resilience while minimizing computational demands. Stress tests have been proven to be a practical tool for understanding and mitigating the impact of disruptive events, yet conducting all possible tests using simulations, particularly for complex systems including plausible scenarios to account for climate change and other stressors, is computationally impractical, thus discouraging their use in practice. To address this, the paper suggests a methodology to estimate the impact of stress tests on risks at no computation cost and rank them accordingly to be selected for more detailed assessment. It uses the results of an initial risk assessment and, through a novel implementation of importance sampling and Bootstrapping resampling, selects subsets of the initial results to mimic specific stress test conditions, estimating their impact on risks. The methodology was validated through application to a Swiss road network facing flooding, demonstrating its practical effectiveness in identifying stress tests with significant potential impact on risks, hence having higher priority for more detailed assessment. In the presented case study, the proposed method enabled instant screening of 80 stress test scenarios, saving approximately 56 weeks of computation.
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spelling doaj-art-3df0540c788e448383b7b2bea5cc26f22025-08-20T03:18:41ZengSpringerOpenJournal of Infrastructure Preservation and Resilience2662-25212025-04-016112310.1186/s43065-025-00128-0Prioritizing simulation-based stress tests to assess the resilience of transport systems: a computation-free methodologyHossein Nasrazadani0Maria Nogal1Bryan T. Adey2Stergios A. Mitoulis3ETH ZurichTU DelftETH ZurichUniversity of BirminghamAbstract This paper introduces a computation-free method for evaluating and prioritizing simulation-based stress tests for resilience assessment of transport systems. It enables infrastructure managers to efficiently screen and rank stress tests, optimizing the selection process to maximize insights into system resilience while minimizing computational demands. Stress tests have been proven to be a practical tool for understanding and mitigating the impact of disruptive events, yet conducting all possible tests using simulations, particularly for complex systems including plausible scenarios to account for climate change and other stressors, is computationally impractical, thus discouraging their use in practice. To address this, the paper suggests a methodology to estimate the impact of stress tests on risks at no computation cost and rank them accordingly to be selected for more detailed assessment. It uses the results of an initial risk assessment and, through a novel implementation of importance sampling and Bootstrapping resampling, selects subsets of the initial results to mimic specific stress test conditions, estimating their impact on risks. The methodology was validated through application to a Swiss road network facing flooding, demonstrating its practical effectiveness in identifying stress tests with significant potential impact on risks, hence having higher priority for more detailed assessment. In the presented case study, the proposed method enabled instant screening of 80 stress test scenarios, saving approximately 56 weeks of computation.https://doi.org/10.1186/s43065-025-00128-0ResilienceStress TestBootstrappingImportance samplingTransportation SystemsClimate Change
spellingShingle Hossein Nasrazadani
Maria Nogal
Bryan T. Adey
Stergios A. Mitoulis
Prioritizing simulation-based stress tests to assess the resilience of transport systems: a computation-free methodology
Journal of Infrastructure Preservation and Resilience
Resilience
Stress Test
Bootstrapping
Importance sampling
Transportation Systems
Climate Change
title Prioritizing simulation-based stress tests to assess the resilience of transport systems: a computation-free methodology
title_full Prioritizing simulation-based stress tests to assess the resilience of transport systems: a computation-free methodology
title_fullStr Prioritizing simulation-based stress tests to assess the resilience of transport systems: a computation-free methodology
title_full_unstemmed Prioritizing simulation-based stress tests to assess the resilience of transport systems: a computation-free methodology
title_short Prioritizing simulation-based stress tests to assess the resilience of transport systems: a computation-free methodology
title_sort prioritizing simulation based stress tests to assess the resilience of transport systems a computation free methodology
topic Resilience
Stress Test
Bootstrapping
Importance sampling
Transportation Systems
Climate Change
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s43065-025-00128-0
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AT marianogal prioritizingsimulationbasedstressteststoassesstheresilienceoftransportsystemsacomputationfreemethodology
AT bryantadey prioritizingsimulationbasedstressteststoassesstheresilienceoftransportsystemsacomputationfreemethodology
AT stergiosamitoulis prioritizingsimulationbasedstressteststoassesstheresilienceoftransportsystemsacomputationfreemethodology