Comparing Network Indicators for Identifying Critical Facilities among Interdependent Infrastructure

Identifying critical facilities is pivotal for enhancing the resilience of interdependent infrastructure networks (IINs). Existing studies employ a broad spectrum of network-related indicators (e.g., centrality, betweenness, and degree) to pinpoint critical facilities of different IIN scenarios. However, whether there are discrepancies in the critical facilities identified using these different network indicators remains an unresolved question. This study (1) collects commonly used network indicators, (2) identifies critical facilities within the same IIN case using different indicators, and (3) exploits the Kendall test to compare the rankings of critical facilities identified by different indicators. Notably, our analysis reveals that the correlation between Betweenness and Clustering Coefficient is markedly negative, with a τ coefficient of −0.152. The results show that the rankings of critical facilities in IINs exhibit significant differences when assessed using diverse network indicators. Consequently, this research reveals the risks associated with evaluating facility criticality using a singular indicator, as well as underscoring the necessity of integrating multiple indicators for the more comprehensive identification of critical facilities in IINs.