• Wind and Structures
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.223-245
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• 2012

Multivariate simulation is necessary for cases where non-Gaussian processes at spatially distributed locations are desired. A simulation algorithm to generate non-Gaussian wind pressure fields is proposed. Gaussian sample fields are generated based on the spectral representation method using wavelet transforms method and then mapped into non-Gaussian sample fields with the aid of a CDF mapping transformation technique. To illustrate the procedure, this approach is applied to experimental results obtained from wind tunnel tests on the domes. A multivariate Gaussian simulation technique is developed and then extended to multivariate non-Gaussian simulation using the CDF mapping technique. It is proposed to develop a new wavelet-based CDF mapping technique for simulation of multivariate non-Gaussian wind pressure process. The efficiency of the proposed methodology for the non-Gaussian nature of pressure fluctuations on separated flow regions of different rise-span ratios of domes is also discussed.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.549-560
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• 2020

Methods for stochastic simulation of non-Gaussian wind pressure have increasingly addressed the efficiency and accuracy contents to offer an accurate description of the extreme value estimation of the long-span and high-rise structures. This paper presents a linear prediction and z-transform (LPZ) based Cumulative distribution function (CDF) mapping algorithm for the simulation of multivariate non-Gaussian fluctuating wind pressure. The new algorithm generates realizations of non-Gaussian with prescribed marginal probability distribution function (PDF) and prescribed spectral density function (PSD). The inverse linear prediction and z-transform function (ILPZ) is deduced. LPZ is improved and applied to non-Gaussian wind pressure simulation for the first time. The new algorithm is demonstrated to be efficient, flexible, and more accurate in comparison with the FFT-based method and Hermite polynomial model method in two examples for transverse softening and longitudinal hardening non-Gaussian wind pressures.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.275-300
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• 2016

Synchronous multi-pressure measurements were carried out with relatively long time duration for a double-layer reticulated shell roof model in the atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel. Since the long roof is open at two ends for the storage of coal piles, three different testing cases were considered as the empty roof without coal piles (Case A), half coal piles inside (Case B) and full coal piles inside (Case C). Based on the wind tunnel test results, non-Gaussian time-dependent statistics of net wind pressure on the shell roof were quantified in terms of skewness and kurtosis. It was found that the direct statistical estimation of high-order moments and peak factors is quite sensitive to the duration of wind pressure time-history data. The maximum value of COVs (Coefficients of variations) of high-order moments is up to 1.05 for several measured pressure processes. The Mixture distribution models are proposed for better modeling the distribution of a parent pressure process. With the aid of mixture parent distribution models, the existing translated-peak-process (TPP) method has been revised and improved in the estimation of non-Gaussian peak factors. Finally, non-Gaussian peak factors of wind pressure, particularly for those observed hardening pressure process, were calculated by employing various state-of-the-art methods and compared to the direct statistical analysis of the measured long-duration wind pressure data. The estimated non-Gaussian peak factors for a hardening pressure process at the leading edge of the roof were varying from 3.6229, 3.3693 to 3.3416 corresponding to three different cases of A, B and C.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.211-227
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• 2023

To investigate the non-Gaussian feature of fluctuating wind pressures on rectangular high-rise buildings, wind tunnel tests were conducted on scale models with side ratios ranging from 1/9~9 in an open exposure for various wind directions. The high-order statistical moments, time histories, probability density distributions, and peak factors of pressure fluctuations are analyzed. The mixed normal-Weibull distribution, Gumbel-Weibull distribution, and lognormal-Weibull distribution are adopted to fit the probability density distribution of different non-Gaussian wind pressures. Zones of Gaussian and non-Gaussian are classified for rectangular buildings with various side ratios. The results indicate that on the side wall, the non-Gaussian wind pressures are related to the distance from the leading edge. Apart from the non-Gaussianity in the separated flow regions noted by some literature, wind pressures behind the area where reattachment happens present non-Gaussian nature as well. There is a new probability density distribution type of non-Gaussian wind pressure which has both long positive and negative tail found behind the reattachment regions. The correlation coefficient of wind pressures is proved to reflect the non-Gaussianity and a new method to estimate the mean reattachment length of rectangular high-rise building side wall is proposed by evaluating the correlation coefficient. For rectangular high-rise buildings, the mean reattachment length calculated by the correlation coefficient method along the height changes in a parabolic shape. Distributions of Gaussian and non-Gaussian wind pressures vary with side ratios. It is inappropriate to estimate the extreme loads of wind pressures using a fixed peak factor. The trend of the peak factor with side ratios on different walls is given.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2000

Recently, an efficient and practical method has been developed for the generation of univariate non-Gaussian wind pressure time histories on low building roofs; this methodology requires intermittent exponential random numbers for the simulation. On the other hand, the conventional spectral representation scheme with random phase is found suitable for the generation of univariate Gaussian wind pressure time histories on low building roofs; this simulation scheme requires uniform random numbers. The dependency of these simulation methodologies on the random number generator is one of the items affecting the accuracy of the simultion result; therefore, an attempt has been made to investigate the issue. This note presents the observed sensitivity of random number sets in repetitive simulations of Gaussian and non-Gaussian wind pressures.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.589-608
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• 2017

A novel probabilistic approach is presented for estimating the equivalent static wind loads that produce a static response of the structure, which is "equivalent" in a probabilistic sense, to the extreme dynamic responses due to the unsteady pressure random field induced by the wind. This approach has especially been developed for complex structures (such as stadium roofs) for which the unsteady pressure field is measured in a boundary layer wind tunnel with a turbulent incident flow. The proposed method deals with the non-Gaussian nature of the unsteady pressure random field and presents a model that yields a good representation of both the quasi-static part and the dynamical part of the structural responses. The proposed approach is experimentally validated with a relatively simple application and is then applied to a stadium roof structure for which experimental measurements of unsteady pressures have been performed in boundary layer wind tunnel.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.11-24
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• 2018

Full-scale measurements of wind action on the open roof structure of the WuXi grand theater, which is composed of eight large-span free-form leaf-shaped space trusses with the largest span of 76.79 m, were conducted during the passage of Typhoons HaiKui and SuLi. The wind pressure field data were continuously and simultaneously monitored using a wind pressure monitoring system installed on the roof structure during the typhoons. A detailed analysis of the field data was performed to investigate the characteristics of the fluctuating wind pressure on the open roof, such as the wind pressure spectrum, spatial correlation coefficients, peak wind pressures and non-Gaussian wind pressure characteristics, under typhoon conditions. Three classical methods were used to calculate the peak factors of the wind pressure on the open roof, and the suggested design method and peak factors were given. The non-Gaussianity of the wind pressure was discussed in terms of the third and fourth statistical moments of the measured wind pressure, and the corresponding indication of the non-Gaussianity on the open roof was proposed. The result shows that there were large pulses in the time-histories of the measured wind pressure on Roof A2 in the field. The spatial correlation of the wind pressures on roof A2 between the upper surface and lower surface is very weak. When the skewness is larger than 0.3 and the kurtosis is larger than 3.7, the wind pressure time series on roof A2 can be taken as a non-Gaussian distribution, and the other series can be taken as a Gaussian distribution.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.421-435
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• 2022

To investigate the non-Gaussian properties of fluctuating wind pressures and the error margin of extreme wind loads on a long-span curved roof with matching and mismatching ratios of turbulence integral scales to depth (L_u^x/D), a series of synchronized pressure tests on the rigid model of the complex curved roof were conducted. The regions of Gaussian distribution and non-Gaussian distribution were identified by two criteria, which were based on the cumulative probabilities of higher-order statistical moments (skewness and kurtosis coefficients, S_k and K_u) and spatial correlation of fluctuating wind pressures, respectively. Then the characteristics of fluctuating wind-loads in the non-Gaussian region were analyzed in detail in order to understand the effects of turbulence integral-scale. Results showed that the fluctuating pressures with obvious negative-skewness appear in the area near the leading edge, which is categorized as the non-Gaussian region by both two identification criteria. Comparing with those in the wind field with matching L_u^x/D, the range of non-Gaussian region almost unchanged with a smaller L_u^x/D, while the non-Gaussian features become more evident, leading to higher values of S_k, Ku and peak factor. On contrary, the values of fluctuating pressures become lower in the wind field with a smaller L_u^x/D, eventually resulting in underestimation of extreme wind loads. Hence, the matching relationship of turbulence integral scale to depth should be carefully considered as estimating the extreme wind loads of long-span roof by wind tunnel tests.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.15-29
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• 2023

To better estimate the non-Gaussian extreme wind pressures for high-rise buildings, a data-driven revised Hermitetype peak factor estimation model is proposed in this papar. Subsequently, a comparative study on three types of methods, such as Hermite-type models, short-time estimate Gumbel method (STE), and new translated-peak-process method (TPP) is carried out. The investigations show that the proposed Hermite-type peak factor has better accuracy and applicability than the other Hermite-type models, and its absolute accuracy is slightly inferior to the STE and new TPP methods for non-Gaussian wind pressures by comparing with the observed values. Moreover, these methods generally overestimate the Gaussian wind pressures especially the STE.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.651-668
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• 2014

Wind tunnel tests are conducted to investigate the wind loads on vertical fixed-roof cylindrical tanks with a very low aspect ratio of 0.275, which is a typical ratio for practical tanks with a volume of $100,000m^3$. Both the flat-roof tank and the dome-roof tank are investigated in present study. The first four moments of the measured wind pressure, including the mean and normalized deviation pressure, kurtosis and skewness of the pressure signal, are obtained to study the feature of the wind loads. It is shown that the wind loads are closely related to the behavior of flow around the structure. For either tank, the mean wind pressures on the cylinder are positive on the windward area and negative on the sides and the wake area, and the mean wind pressures on the whole roof are negative. The roof configurations have no considerable influence on the mean pressure distributions of cylindrical wall in general. Highly non-Gaussian feature is found in either tank. Conditional sampling technique, envelope method, and the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) analysis are employed to investigate the characteristics of wind loads on the cylinder in more detail. It is shown that the patterns of wind pressure obtained from conditional sampling are similar to the mean pressure patterns.An instantaneous pressure coefficient can present a wide range from the maximum value to the minimum value. The quasi-steady assumption is not valid for structures considered in this paper according to the POD analysis.