Abstract
Evaluating network reliability is an important topic in the planning, designing and control of network systems. Modifications are common for network expansion or reinforcement evaluation and planning. A modified network is an updated network after inserting a branch string (a special path) between two nodes in the original network. The problem of searching all minimal cuts (MCs) in a modified network is discussed and solved in this study. The proposed algorithm is easier to understand and implement than the existing known related algorithms. The accuracy of the proposed algorithm will be validated. The computational complexity of the proposed algorithm is analyzed and compared with the existing best-known methods. One benchmark example is illustrated to show how to find all MCs in a modified network using the information of all the MCs in the corresponding original network. © 2012 ICIC International.