H-CLAS: A Hybrid Continual Learning Framework for Adaptive Fault Detection and Self-Healing in IoT-Enabled Smart Grids

The rapid expansion of Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled smart grids has intensified the need for reliable fault detection and autonomous self-healing under non-stationary operating conditions characterized by frequent concept drift. To address the limitations of static and single-strategy adaptive models, this paper proposes H-CLAS, a novel Hybrid Continual Learning for Adaptive Self-healing framework that unifies regularization-based, memory-based, architectural, and meta-learning strategies within a single adaptive pipeline. The framework integrates convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for fault detection, graph neural networks for topology-aware fault localization, reinforcement learning for self-healing control, and a hybrid drift detection mechanism combining ADWIN and Page–Hinkley tests. Continual adaptation is achieved through the synergistic use of Elastic Weight Consolidation, memory-augmented replay, progressive neural network expansion, and Model-Agnostic Meta-Learning for rapid adaptation to emerging drifts. Extensive experiments conducted on the Smart City Air Quality and Network Intrusion Detection Dataset (NSL-KDD) demonstrate that H-CLAS achieves accuracy improvements of 12–15% over baseline methods, reduces false positives by over 50%, and enables 2–3× faster recovery after drift events. By enhancing resilience, reliability, and autonomy in critical IoT-driven infrastructures, the proposed framework contributes to improved grid stability, reduced downtime, and safer, more sustainable energy and urban monitoring systems, thereby providing significant societal and environmental benefits.