Abstract: Described herein are systems and methods for assessing a computing network's physical robustness to node and/or link failure during operation of the computing network. In one or more examples, the systems and methods can incorporate graph modeling and analysis techniques to assess the impact of node removal from a computing network and determine the impact that such removal has on the overall physical connectivity of the network. In one or more examples, a user or other entity can provide the system with a graph representation of a computing network, as well as specify the number of nodes to be removed (i.e., to simulate failure) to test the connectivity of the network. The system using these inputs can determine a worst-case scenario operating condition based on the inputs provided by the user, and can also assess the “network merit” which can represent a user-programmable definition that can represent a plurality desired types of connectivity.