Variability in fracture-critical systems

This chapter will consider one aspect of how complex infrastructure systems fail, often in sudden and catastrophic ways. The first part of this chapter will attempt to explain this phenomenon, called “fracture-critical” failure, the second part will examine the various reasons for its occurrence, and the third part will explore ways of addressing it in the design of systems. This chapter will draw from a book that I have written on the topic (Fisher, 2012) and will expand on it in ways that reflect further research on the topic since then.