Peak Factor Deviation Ratio Method for Division of Gaussian and Non-Gaussian Wind Pressures on High-Rise Buildings

The reasonable division of Gaussian and non-Gaussian wind pressures of building structure is beneficial to study the mechanism of wind load and adopt a reasonable peak factor estimation method. In this study, a pressure measurement wind tunnel test of a square high-rise building was conducted to study the division method for Gaussian and non-Gaussian wind pressures. Firstly, the skewness and kurtosis of wind pressures were analyzed, and then a normalized kurtosis-skewness linear distance difference (δ) was proposed. Moreover, the Gaussian and non-Gaussian criticality of wind pressure was discussed in combination with the wind pressure guarantee rate, and a peak factor deviation ratio (that is the deviation ratio between the complete probability peak factor with 99.95% guarantee rate and the Davenport peak factor) was proposed as the basis for Gaussian and non-Gaussian division. Subsequently, the functional relationships between the deviation ratio and the skewness and kurtosis as well as the δ were proposed, and then two classification criteria for Gaussian, weak non-Gaussian, and strong non-Gaussian regions were provided. Finally, the building surface wind pressures were divided into regions according to the classification criteria. The results show that the two Gaussian and non-Gaussian region division methods are reliable.