Invulnerability of power grids based on maximum flow theory

The invulnerability analysis against cascades is of great significance in evaluating the reliability of power systems. In this paper, we propose a novel cascading failure model based on the maximum flow theory to analyze the invulnerability of power grids. In the model, node initial loads are built on the feasible flows of nodes with a tunable parameter gamma used to control the initial node load distribution. The simulation results show that both the invulnerability against cascades and the tolerance parameter threshold alpha(T) are affected by node load distribution greatly. As gamma grows, the invulnerability shows the distinct change rules under different attack strategies and different tolerance parameters alpha respectively. These results are useful in power grid planning and cascading failure prevention. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.