Problem Description

How does the "Find Segments by Element" feature work in the Outage Segment part of the criticality analysis?

Steps to Resolve

What the Find Segment by Element tool is doing is allowing you to see what outage segments would impact a given element. Outage Segments are based on the segmentation done in the criticality analysis. Outage Segments are defined by what happens if a given segment is closed. If the system was loops and ways of providing flow downstream of a segment, an outage segment may contain no elements. If the system has a more tree-like shape, an outage segment may impact a larger part of the model.

The "Find Segment by Element" feature in Outage Segments will display all outage segments that a given element falls in. An elements may be a part of more than one outage segment or it may not be in any at all.

If you want to see a specific outage segments and who is impacted, you should highlight the actual segments from the list under the Label section. You can the segments by looking at the list in the upper right. This list is in order with the most impacted elements at the top.

Most segments have zero impacted elements because if that segment is taken down, flow is still available for downstream customers through loops or other paths in the system. Some at dead ends only impact a small number of items. Others are larger can be larger, but the ultimate impact will depend on the model itself.

The "Find Segment by Element" tool in the Outage Segments section will display any segment that may impact that element. Some elements may not be impacted at all. Some may be be impacted by multiple segments.

Note that if you use the Find Segment by Element tool in the segmentation section instead of the Outage Segments section, it will highlight the segments related to the element you select. However, it will not show how an outage at a given segment will impact the demands in the system.

See Also

Running a Criticality Analysis