Abstract This study investigates the propagation characteristics of cascading failures in power systems following an attack and proposes defense strategies to limit their spread. First, a system model that integrates Kirchhoff's law with complex network theory is employed to analyze the cascading failure process. Second, a circular plate graph of IEEE Standard Test Cases, centered on a specific zone, is introduced to examine the propagation of cascading failures originating from an attack targeted at its center. Based on the out-in ratio of removed nodes and the propagation potential of cascading failures, a protection strategy is developed to mitigate their spread through additional node removal. Simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed strategy in preventing cascading failures under different scenarios.
Chen et al. (2025) studied this question.