Reconstruction of the envelope of non-Gaussian structural responses with principal static wind loads

In current practice, structural engineers commonly focus on the wind-resistant design by means of static wind loads. In case of non-Gaussianities, there is room for improvement to properly derive these static loads. First, this paper extends in a non-Gaussian context the concept of the load-response correlation (LRC) method establishing equivalent static wind loads (ESWLs). This is done by a proper recourse to the new concept of conditional expected static wind load and a proposed bicubic model for the joint and conditional distribution functions. Second, this paper investigates the envelope reconstruction problem targeting the efficient reconstruction of the envelope values of a set of non-Gaussian structural responses by means of principal static wind loads (PSWLs). They have been introduced in a Gaussian context and are obtained by a singular value decomposition of ESWLs. This paper addresses the extension of PSWLs to non-Gaussian structural responses, as well. The developments apply to structures with a linear behavior and subjected to an aerodynamic pressure field exhibiting mildly to strongly non-Gaussian features. In this context, the well-known load-response correlation and conditional sampling methods are used for comparisons. This study is undertaken for quasi-static analysis of structures and is illustrated on a low-rise building.