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When Disaster Strikes! the Devil is in the SCADA Details
Author(s) -
Robillard Brian P.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
opflow
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1551-8701
pISSN - 0149-8029
DOI - 10.1002/j.1551-8701.2007.tb01947.x
Subject(s) - scada , timeline , life span , control (management) , engineering , computer science , aeronautics , environmental science , reliability engineering , computer security , forensic engineering , electrical engineering , geography , medicine , gerontology , archaeology , artificial intelligence
This article describes how supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system data helped operators establish a timeline of events in a complex catastrophe involving a water main break in Hamden, Connecticut, in 2003. According to SCADA data, more than 0.5 million gallons of water poured under a residential street in a time span of 45 minutes. The article discusses how the SCADA system indicated that the storage tank was filling when it was actually emptying, clearly demonstrating that the SCADA‐reported tank level can be inaccurate in scale and direction. During a catastrophic failure, an automated system may instantly activate every available well and pump, causing high‐ and low‐pressure transients in the immediate areas, making additional failures likely.