Modelling a network as a spring system to estimate edge vulnerability.

In this study, I show how it is possible to have a quantitative estimation of the robustness of a network towards the stimuli or stresses on its nodes and arcs through the implementation of a spring model. The results obtained confirm that a scale-free network is more robust than a non-scale-free network. The method presented here may prove useful in various application domains from materials physics to network biology to ecological and social networks.