The emergence of performance-based wind engineering calls for improved probabilistic modeling of wind effects on buildings. This paper focuses on the development of probabilistic models of the peak distribution and peak factor for non-Gaussian processes and explores the applications of this development in wind engineering. The closed-form expressions for the mean, SD, and fractile levels of extremes are derived for a random process whose peaks are modeled by the parametric Weibull distribution. A new translated-peak-process method is then developed for the estimation of the peak distribution, peak factor, and variability of extremes, based on the Weibull distribution and point-to-point mapping procedure. The proposed translated-peak-process method is validated by wind-tunnel pressure measurements on a standard tall building and is shown to be more robust and practical than many existing methods in analyzing non-Gaussian wind pressure data. (C) 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers

This paper describes a proposed wind-excited benchmark tall building incorporating three-dimensional lateral-torsional modes of vibration, which is typical of a significant number of modern tall buildings. A series of wind tunnel pressure tests were conducted on a 1:400 scale model to determine the translational and torsional wind forces acting on the benchmark building. A finite element model was also constructed and mass, damping, and stiffness matrices were subsequently formulated as an evaluation model for numerical analysis. The evaluation model was further simplified to a state reduced-order system (ROS) using the state order reduction method. A numerical vibration control example was conducted to demonstrate the suppression of the wind-induced three-dimensional lateral-torsional motions using a bi-directional tuned mass damper (TMD) incorporating two magnetorheological (MR) dampers, one in each orthogonal direction, to act as a semi-active control system, referred to as a smart tuned mass damper (STMD). The optimal control forces generated by the MR dampers were obtained through the linear quadratic regulator (LQR) to minimize the storey accelerations. The formulation details, methodology and numerical simulation results are outlined in this paper.