Faculty and Student Teams Program

Modeling Cascading Failures in Electric Power Grids

Requesting applications from science or engineering faculty members at institutions serving students underrepresented in science, engineering, mathematics and technology to work on the following projects at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

Project Description

The US power transmission system is one of the most complex and interconnected systems of our time. Unfortunately, the capability of the system that allow power to be transferred over hundreds of miles also enable the propagation of local failures into grid-wide events. As the demand on the transmission system continue to rise and generation patterns shift, the electric power grid is subjected to flows in magnitudes and directions that have not been studied or for which there is minimal operating experience. It is increasingly recognized that understanding the complex emergent behaviors of the power grid can only be understood from a systems perspective, taking advantage of the recent advances in network science. When for any reason a line goes down, its load is automatically shifted to the neighboring lines, which in most of the cases are able to handle the extra load. Sometimes, however, these lines are also overloaded and must redistribute their increased load to their neighbors due to reduction in network efficiency. This eventually leads to a cascade of failures – a large number of transmission lines are overloaded and malfunction at the same time.

The objective of this project is to develop network-based computational methods for modeling and analyzing cascading failure events. Specific modeling methods and grids that are of mutual interest to the project, the faculty, and the students will be determined at the start of the project.

Laboratory contact: Femi Omitaomu, omitaomuoa@ornl.gov

Applicants’ Responsibilities and Relationship to Project

Applicants will receive support under the Department of Energy Faculty Student Team Research Program (FaST) to work collaboratively with the project research team at the Laboratory for up to 10 weeks during the summer of 2010. The exact appointment period in the time frame of June to August will be scheduled by mutual agreement between the host divisions at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the successful applicant.  Faculty will be expected to identify two to three students from their campuses to participate in the FaST program. The faculty member will provide some mentorship to students during the summer research activities. The faculty and students must participate as a group and serve their appointments concurrently.  It is expected that the faculty member and the students become an integral part of the research team working on this project and that opportunities for continued collaboration may be identified.

Qualifications of Ideal Candidate

Faculty: Ph.D. in mathematics, operations research or computer science. Should have taught courses on these and related materials in network science, and be willing to develop a pedagogical framework for the students. Have experience in modeling complex engineering networks.

Student: Working towards a BS in mathematics, operations research, or computer science with an emphasis in network science or graph theory. Have good programming skills.

The successful candidate will receive a stipend based on the academic salary, travel expenses to and from the Laboratory, and a housing allowance. Students recommended by the faculty member for participation in the program will receive a stipend of $425/week for each week at the Laboratory, plus a housing allowance, and reimbursement for transportation expenses to and from the ORNL.  Funds are provided for this program from the US Department of Energy, Office of Science in partnership with the National Science Foundation, from ORNL, and from other sources.

See Financial Information.