A High Robustness and Low Cost Model for Cascading Failures

Abstract

We study numerically the cascading failure problem by using artificially created scale-free networks and the real network structure of the power grid. The capacity for a vertex is assigned as a monotonically increasing function of the load (or the betweenness centrality). Through the use of a simple functional form with two free parameters, revealed is that it is indeed possible to make networks more robust while spending less cost. We suggest that our method to prevent cascade by protecting less vertices is particularly important for the design of more robust real-world networks to cascading failures.