Balanced Design of Important Components in Multi-Commodity Networks
Gupta, Himadri Sen ; Barker, Kash ; González, Andrés D. ; Christensen, Mick B ; Johansson, Jonas LU
and Zio, Enrico
(2026)
In Networks and Spatial Economics
- Abstract
Critical infrastructure networks are susceptible to disruptions, and an imbalanced distribution of component importance can significantly amplify their vulnerability to cascading failures or targeted attacks. This study introduces a novel bi-objective optimization framework designed to enhance network resilience by strategically balancing component importance in multi-commodity spatial networks. The first objective minimizes the total deviation of flow-based, commodity-specific component importance measures (derived from single-link interdiction scenarios) from their respective averages, achieved through targeted capacity augmentations. The second objective minimizes the network’s overall proportional unmet demand, reflecting... (More)
Critical infrastructure networks are susceptible to disruptions, and an imbalanced distribution of component importance can significantly amplify their vulnerability to cascading failures or targeted attacks. This study introduces a novel bi-objective optimization framework designed to enhance network resilience by strategically balancing component importance in multi-commodity spatial networks. The first objective minimizes the total deviation of flow-based, commodity-specific component importance measures (derived from single-link interdiction scenarios) from their respective averages, achieved through targeted capacity augmentations. The second objective minimizes the network’s overall proportional unmet demand, reflecting operational performance. The -constraint method is utilized to generate Pareto-optimal solutions, explicitly quantifying the trade-offs between achieving importance balance and maintaining unmet demands. We demonstrate this approach using a comprehensive case study of the Swedish multi-commodity railway network. The results reveal distinct commodity-specific vulnerability profiles and show that strategic capacity additions can substantially improve importance balance, with the analysis detailing the performance trade-offs under various capacity augmentation limits.
(Less)
- author
- Gupta, Himadri Sen
; Barker, Kash
; González, Andrés D.
; Christensen, Mick B
; Johansson, Jonas
LU
and Zio, Enrico
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- epub
- subject
- keywords
- Component importance measures, Multi-commodity network, Network balancing, Network interdiction, Swedish railway network
- in
- Networks and Spatial Economics
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105039684684
- ISSN
- 1566-113X
- DOI
- 10.1007/s11067-026-09750-1
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2026.
- id
- 2545a6b2-979f-4394-b029-f338c7ffede1
- date added to LUP
- 2026-06-04 10:00:59
- date last changed
- 2026-07-06 13:03:55
@article{2545a6b2-979f-4394-b029-f338c7ffede1,
abstract = {{<p>Critical infrastructure networks are susceptible to disruptions, and an imbalanced distribution of component importance can significantly amplify their vulnerability to cascading failures or targeted attacks. This study introduces a novel bi-objective optimization framework designed to enhance network resilience by strategically balancing component importance in multi-commodity spatial networks. The first objective minimizes the total deviation of flow-based, commodity-specific component importance measures (derived from single-link interdiction scenarios) from their respective averages, achieved through targeted capacity augmentations. The second objective minimizes the network’s overall proportional unmet demand, reflecting operational performance. The -constraint method is utilized to generate Pareto-optimal solutions, explicitly quantifying the trade-offs between achieving importance balance and maintaining unmet demands. We demonstrate this approach using a comprehensive case study of the Swedish multi-commodity railway network. The results reveal distinct commodity-specific vulnerability profiles and show that strategic capacity additions can substantially improve importance balance, with the analysis detailing the performance trade-offs under various capacity augmentation limits.</p>}},
author = {{Gupta, Himadri Sen and Barker, Kash and González, Andrés D. and Christensen, Mick B and Johansson, Jonas and Zio, Enrico}},
issn = {{1566-113X}},
keywords = {{Component importance measures; Multi-commodity network; Network balancing; Network interdiction; Swedish railway network}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Springer}},
series = {{Networks and Spatial Economics}},
title = {{Balanced Design of Important Components in Multi-Commodity Networks}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11067-026-09750-1}},
doi = {{10.1007/s11067-026-09750-1}},
year = {{2026}},
}