HIGHLY EFFICIENT AND ACCURATE BUFFETING ANALYSIS OF COMPLEX STRUCTURES

A convenient and effective finite-element-based method for buffeting a nalysis of complex structures is presented. This method is very effici ent for structures with the natural frequencies closely spaced because their corresponding modes and the cross-correlation terms between the m should be included in the mode-superposition analysis. The imperfect correlation between gust excitations can also be dealt with convenien tly. A numerical example is given which shows that by using this metho d the buffeting analysis of complex structures with thousands of degre es of freedom, dozens of imperfectly related excitations and a number of participating modes can be executed quite easily on an ordinary IBM /486 (or 586) personal computer. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.