Analyzing Vulnerabilities in the Northwest Arkansas Highway Network Using Mathematical Optimization

Author

Brandon Jerome, University of Arkansas, FayettevilleFollow

Date of Graduation

5-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Industrial Engineering

Advisor/Mentor

Sullivan, Kelly M.

Committee Member/Reader

Rainwater, Chase E.

Abstract

The highway and bridge network is a critical infrastructure that allows for the free transportation of citizens and enables truck-borne freight transportation. Disruption of this system could be caused by a terrorist attack, natural disaster, growth of population, required repairs and upgrades, or collapse caused by old age or malfunction. In the event of a disruption cities and regions can experience increased traffic and supply chain shortages, thus causing cascading effects throughout surrounding areas. With this motivation, we develop a network interdiction optimization model to identify a limited subset of roads that, if disrupted, causes the greatest increase in the weighted sum of shortest path distances associated with a collection of origin-destination pairs. We apply the model to perform a vulnerability analysis on the network consisting of interstate highways, U.S. highways, and state highways in Northwest Arkansas.

Keywords

Northwest Arkansas; highway; bridges; critical infrastructure; vulnerability analysis

Citation

Jerome, B. (2022). Analyzing Vulnerabilities in the Northwest Arkansas Highway Network Using Mathematical Optimization. Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/ineguht/81