Author(s)

A. A. L. S. Duarte, J. Pinto, L. Afonso, I. Bentes, H. Varum, J. Varajão & J. Agarwal

Abstract

The emerging theory of vulnerability of water pipe networks intends to give an important contribution for the design of this important component of water supply systems, as well as, for the assessment, rehabilitation and management of the existing ones. The fundamental contribution of this theory is to design water pipe networks more robust since it is able to identify the most vulnerable parts of them. The concept of vulnerability is associated with the disproportionateness of the failure consequences in relation to the initial damage. It is not a theory of robustness. The main objective of this research work is to explain how the risk of a vulnerable failure scenario of a water pipe network may be accessed and how the theory of vulnerability can be relevant. Keywords: risk analysis, water pipe networks, vulnerability, failure scenarios. 1 Introduction The structural vulnerability theory (SVT) has been developed in Bristol University, UK, [1–6]. This theory is able to identify the vulnerable parts of a structure in which the vulnerability concept is related to the possible existence of a disproportionately between failure demand and structural failure consequence. A structure is vulnerable when a small damage demand leads to a

Keywords

risk analysis, water pipe networks, vulnerability, failure scenarios