2026/07/31 by Mohamad Fani Sulaima, Ondrej Krejcar, Hamidreza Namazi
paper · doi:10.1142/s0218348x26300059
Cascading failures in modern energy systems represent one of the most critical challenges for system reliability and resilience, as localized disturbances can propagate across interconnected networks and lead to large-scale systemic collapse. Conventional modeling approaches, including deterministic contingency analysis, dynamic simulation, agent-based models, branching-process models, and complex-network methods, have provided valuable insights into cascading failure mechanisms; however, they may face limitations in consistently representing scale-invariant behavior, long-range correlations, and multi-scale propagation across complex energy infrastructures. In this context, fractal theory provides a useful framework for modeling cascading failures by characterizing related but distinct features such as fractal behavior, scale invariance, power-law event statistics, long-range dependence, and possible self-organized critical dynamics. This paper presents a comprehensive review of cascading failure mechanisms in energy systems and examines the application of fractal-based approaches for modeling failure propagation across multiple scales. A novel fractal-based cascading failure framework is proposed, integrating multi-scale disturbance characterization, fractal propagation modeling, and system-level collapse analysis. The framework enables improved understanding of how local disturbances evolve into systemic failures, enhances early warning capabilities, and supports resilience-oriented system design. The paper further identifies key challenges and outlines future research directions for developing scalable, predictive, and adaptive models of cascading failures in next-generation energy systems.