A new approach for simulation of non-Gaussian processes

To realise the significant non-Gaussian features of the wind pressure acting on structures, such as high-rise buildings and roof structures, a new simulation approach is proposed for generating sample functions of multivariate stationary non-Gaussian processes. A standard cubic polynomial is proposed to represent the translation of a Gaussian process to a non-Gaussian wind pressure process. Then a set of non-linear equations is derived to determine the parameters of the polynomial. The relation for translation of correlation functions is obtained based on the properties of the Gaussian stochastic vector. Also, the weighted amplitude wave superposition method is employed to generate the underlying Gaussian processes. Further, the proposed new approach is demonstrated by simulation of the non-Gaussian wind pressure field acting on a large-span stadium roof. The numerical results show that the proposed approach is quite accurate and efficient. Hence the method is advantageous for wind pressure field simulation of structures with a large number of nodes.