Date of Award
3-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Department of Systems Engineering and Management
First Advisor
Benjamin R. Knost, PhD
Abstract
This research investigates the intricate aspect of infrastructure resilience, focusing on the distinction between hardening and resilience. Hardening, often used interchangeably, with enhancing resilience, involves strategies to strengthen facilities, networks, or systems against various threats. Despite its recognized importance in mitigating physical disruptions and enhancing facility functionality amid different threats, a significant vagueness persists in quantitatively defining hardening. This thesis addresses this gap by developing a quantifiable metric for facility hardening, separate from general resilience measures. The study begins by exploring the historical context of facility hardening, linked to catastrophic events and the need for resilient infrastructure. It explores various definitions and applications of hardening, highlighting its critical role in infrastructure management. The research identifies significant gaps in existing literature, particularly the lack of a standardized, quantifiable metric for hardening. Addressing this, the thesis proposes a novel hardening metric to precisely assess hardening interventions, offering a unique tool for evaluating, comparing, and enhancing infrastructure robustness against threats. This work contributes to the field of infrastructure resilience by providing a measure for hardening, using existing and available facility characteristic data that is shown to be a significant predictor of failure during an extreme event.
AFIT Designator
AFIT-ENV-MS-24-M-166
Recommended Citation
Solorzano, Jesse C., "Development of a Metric to Quantify Facility Hardening" (2024). Theses and Dissertations. 7771.
https://scholar.afit.edu/etd/7771
Comments
A 12-month embargo was observed for posting this work on AFIT Scholar.
Distribution Statement A, Approved for Public Release. PA case number on file.