Expanding a major airport terminal involves more than creating space for passengers and aircraft. Behind the gates and passenger facilities, electrical systems must support interconnected operations, from baggage handling and security to gate functions and life-safety services. How these systems respond to equipment failures can be just as important as how they perform during normal operations.
That challenge is central to the DFW Terminal F expansion. At Multipoint Engineering, formerly known as MEPCE, Mridul Agrawal serves as Electrical Engineer of Record, electrical discipline lead, and senior project manager, leading electrical engineering efforts for Terminal F Phase 1A while supporting the broader Phase 1 program.
A defining challenge of Phase 1A is coordinating a large-scale electrical distribution network involving numerous utility services and switchgear systems distributed throughout the terminal. The complexity lies not simply in the amount of equipment, but in developing an integrated electrical architecture that supports redundancy, operational reliability, and long-term maintainability.
Designing Beyond Redundancy
In critical infrastructure, adding redundant equipment does not automatically guarantee resilience. The way electrical loads are distributed, and equipment is interconnected can determine whether a localized failure remains limited or affects a much larger portion of a facility.
For Terminal F, Mridul contributes to an electrical distribution approach organized around the terminal’s operational dependencies. Passenger processing, baggage systems, security, gate functions, building systems, and life-safety infrastructure must all be considered when determining how electrical loads are supplied and distributed.
The objective is to avoid unnecessarily concentrating critical functions on a single electrical source or potential point of failure. By considering these dependencies during design, the electrical architecture is intended to limit the reach of individual failures, preserve essential terminal functions where practical, and support continued operation under degraded conditions.
This approach places operational needs alongside conventional electrical design requirements. Rather than treating power availability as the only measure of system performance, it considers the consequences an interruption could have for the services that depend on the electrical network.
Coordinating Complex Electrical Systems
Developing this architecture requires attention to several technical constraints. The design must account for available utility fault current, equipment ampere-interrupting-capacity (AIC) ratings, transfer conditions, and switchgear configurations. These factors influence how the system can operate safely under normal conditions and respond when a fault or switching event occurs.
Alternate supply paths must remain compatible with equipment ratings and actual electrical conditions. Designing for resilience therefore requires coordination between system configuration, equipment capabilities, and operational requirements.
Mridul’s responsibilities span electrical-system architecture, utility coordination, medium- and low-voltage distribution, transformers, switchgear, emergency and standby power, electrical-room planning, aviation-specific electrical systems, and quality assurance and quality control.
He also coordinates with DFW, American Airlines, Oncor, architects, contractors, and other engineering disciplines. This collaboration helps align electrical design decisions with the terminal’s wider infrastructure requirements, ensuring that the electrical system is considered as part of an interconnected facility rather than an isolated engineering package.
The work also requires balancing technical specifications with maintainability, construction considerations, and future capacity. These factors are especially important in a large terminal development, where electrical design decisions must accommodate multiple operational functions and evolving project requirements.
An Operational Perspective on Critical Infrastructure
Mridul’s work on Terminal F reflects a broader focus on critical-infrastructure electrical engineering. His experience across airport and healthcare projects informs a central principle: resilient electrical infrastructure should be designed around the essential services it supports, not simply the equipment it keeps energized.
Airports and healthcare facilities have different operating requirements, but both demand careful consideration of the consequences of electrical disruptions. In each environment, engineering decisions must account for how individual components support larger operational functions.
For airport infrastructure, this means considering how the electrical network may respond when a major source or equipment component becomes unavailable, how maintenance and switching can be accommodated, and how the system can support future development. These operational considerations belong alongside capacity planning, equipment specifications, and electrical safety.
Coordination across engineering disciplines is equally important. Electrical infrastructure must work in conjunction with terminal architecture, building systems, and operational requirements. Its effectiveness depends not only on individual components but also on how the overall system is configured.
Building for Long-Term Reliability
The DFW Terminal F expansion remains in progress, so its full operational outcomes have yet to be established. The significance of the current work lies in the infrastructure being designed and the measures intended to reduce the potential impact of disruptions as the terminal develops.
Through his leadership on Phase 1A and support for the broader Phase 1 program, Mridul is contributing to an approach that considers operational resilience alongside capacity, maintainability, and electrical safety. The distributed transformer and switchgear architecture illustrates how these priorities can inform the planning of a large, interconnected facility.
The principles extend beyond aviation. As critical facilities grow more complex, engineers must look beyond whether equipment can deliver power and examine how the wider system will respond when conditions change. That requires anticipating failure scenarios, understanding operational dependencies, and arranging electrical distribution to limit disruption where practical.
At DFW Terminal F, these considerations are being incorporated into the design process. Mridul’s contribution centers on developing electrical infrastructure around not only the power a terminal requires, but also the essential functions that power must support.
About Mridul Agrawal
Mridul Agrawal, P.E., is a Texas-licensed Professional Engineer with 15 years of Industry experience designing electrical systems for critical facilities. His background includes airport terminal programs and more than 70 healthcare projects across nine states. He holds a master’s degree in Architectural Engineering from Purdue University.
